Mason To from Glenrothes uploaded the video to his Tik Tok account after his son Ethan suffered racist abuse at school. The video depicts 10 year old Ethan holding up placards bearing the horrifying insults used against him at school in just one week.
Mason, who is of Chinese descent, said the video was an attempt to address the issue in a different way than how he dealt with it as a youngster.
Mason said: “Initially Ethan had a bit of a bother last year and from past experience I was trying to deal with it in a more diplomatic way than I used to when I was younger. My methods didn’t work. I used my fists and I often came off worse but I’m also looking at this from a father’s point of view as well. I’ve also got a four year old, Jaxson, and I don’t want him growing into all these issues as well”.
Mason said that the abuse he experienced started around the same age for Ethan as himself. When Ethan’s issues reoccurred, Mason looked at how he could address them.
He explained: “I think that was a shock to me when I put two and two together and realised it was exactly the same age as when I started receiving these comments. When I pieced that together I thought I wanted to approach it in a different way”.
Mason said that education is key to improving the situation but he stressed that it should take place earlier than currently.
He said: “It’s not that these subjects aren’t getting spoken about, it’s that they’re getting spoken about too late.
“I believe that if we had a topic, an hour topic in primary four, five, six or seven, where it was a safe space for the kids to talk and talk about day to day topics like racism, bullying, poverty. There are so many issues that don’t get talked about, and kids don’t get educated in”.
Mason said he has offered his services to speak about his experiences to pupils at Fife’s schools and there has been positive feedback from authorities.
Shelagh McLean, Fife Council’s Head of education and children’s services commented: “The welfare and wellbeing of the young people in our schools is our priority and our schools place the importance of positive relationships at the centre of what they do.
“Bullying in any form is unacceptable and our schools all have systems in place to support children. The young people involved have to be our first consideration and we will always work to support them and protect their health and wellbeing.
“The family and the school are already working together to create a new video that we hope can be used to educate the wider community on the issues raised. This will form part of a bigger piece of work in all our schools around promoting equality, fairness and respect.”
