Mirror Online: LONDON, England – Marcus Rashford has hit back at vile racists who sent him discriminatory abuse online in the wake of Man Utd’s 0-0 draw with Arsenal on Saturday.
“Humanity and social media at its worst,” he wrote. “Yes I’m a black man and I live every day proud that I am.
“No one, or no one comment, is going to make me feel any different. So sorry if you were looking for a strong reaction, you’re just simply not going to get it here.
“I’m not sharing screenshots. It would be irresponsible to do so and as you can imagine there’s nothing original in them.
“I have beautiful children of all colours following me and they don’t need to read it. Beautiful colours that should only be celebrated.”
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The 23-year-old is the latest player to receive racist abuse online in a recent string of sickening incidents.
Only earlier this week his Man Utd teammates Anthony Martial and Axel Tuanzebe were subjected to the same disgusting treatment following their defeat to Sheffield United on Wednesday.
Chelsea’s Reece James has also been the victim of online racist abuse, while a 49-year-old man has been arrested by West Midlands Police in connection with discrimination aimed at West Brom star Romaine Sawyers.
Rashford has become an immensely popular figure over the last year due to his tireless campaigning for disadvantaged children to receive free school meals.
His work earned him an MBE and as such he has become a big role model to the younger generation.
It was against this backdrop that Rashford refused to shame the racists publicly.
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He finished his thread by instead thanking Arsenal for putting him on the cover of their own programme for Saturday’s match, which read: ‘Thank you Marcus, from everyone at Arsenal.’
“In nicer news, @arsenal thank you for the match day programme, really lovely touch that was appreciated,” Rashford wrote.
“Although I would have felt better if we’d taken the 3 points…”
There are now increased calls for social media platforms such as Twitter to demand users sign up with a form of identification so any abusers can be held to account.
Meanwhile the FA have condemned the actions of those responsible.
“We are united with all of football in our abhorrence of any racist abuse. This is not acceptable in any part of society,” the FA said in a statement on Saturday.
“We will continue to work with the rest of the game, the government and social media platforms to remove this – and all elements of – discrimination from our sport.”
