Arit Anderson: Gardeners' World presenter says racial abuse she faced at triathlon made her feel 'worthless'
Anderson, who hosts a number of BBC gardening shows, says the man’s abuse caused her friend to break down in tears.
Garden designer Arit Anderson has revealed the racial abuse she and a friend suffered at a recent event - amid a sporting world crackdown on punters hurling racist comments at athletes.
In an Instagram post on Tuesday (11 June), Anderson - who has presented a number of BBC shows including Gardeners’ World and Garden Rescue, as well as coverage of this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show - posted a photo of her and two friends, who had recently completed the Blenheim Palace Triathlon with. But although her last post on the event had been thanking everyone for helping them raise money for Parkinson’s UK, this one was to draw attention to racist abuse she suffered on the day.
Anderson said that only a few hours before her last post, a man on a bike had called out to her as he rode past, “get out of here s****” - using a derogatory word for black people. “To say that two women in their fifties and one who is 70 were shocked was an understatement,” she wrote.
Her friend Louisa, who was half Pakistani, instantly burst into tears she wrote, “because in those few seconds she was thrown back to the 60s and 70s when she was continually racially abused”. “For me in those few seconds I was not a daughter, a sister, a friend, partner, step mother, garden designer, healing therapist and much more… I was nothing, nobody, just worthless.”
Anderson pointed out how absurd it was to tell her to get out of a country she was born in, had educated herself in, worked in, paid taxes in and contributed to. “Did that person care they said those words on a special day of taking part in an event to raise money for the charity [Parkinson’s UK]?” she asked. “Because both Louisa and I have family members who have passed due to this disease, and my sister is coping every day with symptoms. But that clearly didn’t matter. He didn’t know me or my friends. The colour of my skin was all he needed to know.”
Although she said she usually tried to keep her Instagram page positive and uplifting, but the incident had been a cruel reminder that while most people were decent, “the veil of ‘likes’ and editing is not the real world”. “[But] what to do? Just everyday be as helpful as you can to others, be kind to yourself, and bang your positive drum loudly to deafen the sound of hatred,” she continued. “Please don’t think of me as a victim as people have worse experiences of abuse than what I experienced. It’s not just race it’s ‘being different’ to what someone else sees as right or normal... And that in my eyes is not right,” Anderson added. “Luckily my mum embraced difference and always told me the world would be a boring place if we were all the same.”
Racial abuse, particularly that in sport, has been in the spotlight recently. This week, three Valencia fans were jailed for eight months after hurling racist chants at Real Madrid and Brazil star Vinicius Jr - the first conviction of its kind in Spain.
Vinicius broke down in tears at a press conference back in March while speaking about the abuse he has received from football fans during his time at Spanish champions Real Madrid. “I just want to play football, but it’s hard to move forward … I feel less and less like playing. It never crossed my mind (to leave Spain) because, if I leave Spain, I give the racists exactly what they want. I will stay because, that way, the racists can continue to see my face more and more.”
In the UK, a 31-year-old man is due to appear in court next month after being accused of racially abusing former England international rugby player Ugo Monye.