With one early-morning Instagram post Raheem Sterling has got everyone talking about racism. Racism in football, racism in the media, racism in society as a whole and from certain high-up quarters the response has been to show sympathy and support for Sterling and call for change. But here’s the thing: nothing will change. It never does when it comes to racism in this country. Britain now is as it was in the 1970s, when I was growing up in Cannock, a mixed-raced child within a community that was, and remains, 99.9% white. In this post-Brexit vote environment, people again feel free to be openly racist, saying and writing the types of things that vilify certain sections of society for no other reason than the way they look. There’s a blame culture at play and, more often than not, it’s black and Asian people who get the blame. That is what Sterling picked up on in his post. Two footballers, his Manchester City teammates Tosin Adarabioyo and Phil Foden, have bought expensive properties at a relatively young age but, while one is portrayed as the nice kid next door doing something for his mum, the other is made out to be greedy and thick. You don’t have to be a genius, or indeed have seen Sterling’s post, to figure out which is which. Sterling has, of course, experienced this first-hand – the stories about his expensive sink and his easyJet flight, lazy tabloid tales told by lazy tabloid journalists, painting him out to be a villain, the black kid riding around in a hoodie ready to knife you and your family at any given moment – and he’s finally had enough. What is alleged to have happened to him during City’s 2-0 defeat by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday has tipped this usually quiet, shy young man over the edge, which in itself speaks volumes. So yes, we have a race problem in this country and it’s nice to see so many people acknowledge that. Especially all the white middle‑class men who work in the national, mainstream media who simply couldn’t wait to get on Twitter on Sunday and tell the world how they feel Sterling’s pain and how it’s time to ease not only that pain but the pain of all young black people in this country. Yet how much do you want to bet that, come Monday morning, this will all be forgotten by those same people? They’ll move on to the next story, feeling they’ve done their bit, while in truth they have done nothing at all. Because that’s what race is to the national, mainstream media in this country – a story for today. It’s not something they actually want to tackle or rectify. And why would they when practically all the people in power – the CEOs, the editors, the main broadcasters and main writers – are all white? They make the decisions and, ultimately, they look after themselves. Black people are allowed in but only if they play certain roles. Hence why you see jovial types such as Ian Wright and Chris Kamara go far, or safe, nice types like Jermaine Jenas and Alex Scott do the same. They are the acceptable faces of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) representation in this country’s media, a minority within a minority, so is it any wonder that the coverage of BAME sportspeople, and young black footballers especially, is so skewed and harmful? I’ve made this point countless times on Twitter and, more often than not, been told to stop playing the race card. This has come from people who have no idea, or chose to ignore, the fact I am qualified to speak on this topic, partly because of my upbringing – someone who was raised by a white mother and had only white friends but was made to feel an outcast because of my negro features – and partly because I have been there both as a footballer and as a broadcaster. I, too, bought my mum a council house when I could afford to do so and have also seen my career after retiring as a player suffer as a consequence of my outspoken nature. As far as the British media are concerned, someone who looks like me is not allowed to talk like me. I’m dangerous, not to be trusted and tolerated. Of course it’s OK for Roy Keane to be outspoken and controversial. If anything, he’s not controversial enough. But me – no, it’s not accepted. Hence me finding myself off screens and radios in my own country and having to work instead in Russia. Some people will call me paranoid or outright wrong but I’m not and I have recent proof of this. In June I did an interview with the Guardian in which I made similar points to those I’m making here – calling out racist attitudes in the media. Did anyone in the media pay attention, show sympathy or an appetite to change things? Of course they didn’t. Instead the whole thing was reduced to a “war of words” between Stan Collymore and Ian Wright, and of course “Wrighty” won because everyone loves “Wrighty”. He’s the guy with the cheeky grin and infectious laugh, while I’m the big, bad black man that’s not to be trusted. All of which ignores the fact Ian works for the Sun, a newspaper which has done as much as any other to vilify Sterling. But that’s what always happens – the double standards and hypocrisy get swept under the carpet because nobody in this country, and in the media especially, actually wants to tackle race in this country. Everyone’s speaking about it now because one of our most famous, and brilliant, footballers has raised the issue, but it will soon be forgotten. If not tomorrow then certainly in the days and weeks that follow. So thank you to all the white, middle-class media personalities in this country for showing you care. But until you actually turn your words into actions and get more BAME people into your organizations to make sure BAME coverage is fairer, kinder and more balanced, I don’t want to know. And, judging by his Instagram post, I’m pretty sure Raheem Sterling feels the same way.(The Guardian)