'My daughter suffered same racism in school I did'

Councillor Mirna Juarez says her daughter also experienced racist abuse in school

A councillor, who was told as a child to "go back where you came from", has said her daughter suffered the same kind of racism in school decades later.

Councillor Mirna Juarez told a Liverpool Town Hall meeting that as an eight-year-old she was racially abused by other pupils and her own daughter had been distressed by similar taunts.

She was speaking as a new report found a third of young people in Liverpool did not believe schools tackled racism adequately, with half of the city's black students sharing this belief.

Council leader Liam Robinson, said it was "completely unacceptable" children did not feel supported

Ms Juarez, independent member for Much Woolton and Hunts Cross, said: "I have had experiences of racism as an eight-year-old immigrant in this country.

"I was often shouted at by other children to go back to where I came from and this taught me to stay away from those with those kinds of beliefs.

"Now, fast forward 36 years, sadly my daughter also experienced racism in her school.

"She experienced name-calling, this caused her quite a lot of distress. We believe as a family more can be done."

Inclusion work

Ms Jaurez told the BBC she wanted to speak about her family's experience to show how in two generations nothing had changed.

"I don't want to have to think in future that I would have to console any future grandchildren," she said.

Local Democracy Reporting Service said that the meeting heard a 2023 survey by the University of Oxford found a third of 15,000 students surveyed in the city did not believe their school dealt well with racism.

Among the black students, this figure jumped to more than 50%.

Responding to Ms Juarez’ concerns, Mr Robinson said: "Mirna, I was really sorry to hear about yours and your family’s experiences and I think that really highlights all of the work we’ve got to keep doing on inclusion.

"You have our commitment as an administration that we will all work together on that issue."