John Barnes believes racism is not isolated to the most tribal areas of the football terraces but is a major problem in British society in general.
The former England and Liverpool winger, who suffered racial abuse during his playing career, spoke out following the abuse directed at Raheem Sterling on Saturday.
“Society has to change. The only way we can change racism is if we change the perception of the average black person in the street and then you will have many more average black people being given what they deserve,” Barnes told BBC Breakfast.
Read more: Sterling’s reaction shows us football’s dark days are not yet behind us
“It’s a very long-term process, we’re talking about hundreds of years of indoctrination ensuring that there are certain groups of people who are more worthy than others.”
‘This is what we go through every single day’
Barnes, capped 79 times by his country, was the victim of persistent abuse during his playing days, including monkey chants and having bananas thrown at him.
He believes the Sterling incident would not have come as a surprise to the black community and supported the player’s assessment that the media is partly to blame.
Read more: Black Chelsea fan explains why he didn’t react to alleged racist abuse hurled at Raheem Sterling
“When people talk about, ‘Oh isn’t that terrible what happened to Raheem Sterling?’, you speak to black people in the inner cities and they say ‘this is what we go through every single day’,” Barnes added.
“It’s not a surprise to us. It’s prevalent in society as you go into the inner cities and see how disenfranchised and what a lack of opportunities there are for members of ethnic minorities.
“So why should football be any different?”
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