The city of Liverpool has been on the wrong side of race relations and has been quite a racist city throughout its history, even up until fairly recently too.
Back in the mid-1800s, during the American Civil War, there were numerous fundraising events for the Confederate Army in Liverpool. Ammo, weapons and uniforms were regularly sent from Liverpool to the Confederates. It was said that at the time, ‘more Confederate flags flew over Liverpool than Richmond, Virginia’.
The last belligerent Confederate Flag of the American Civil War was lowered in Liverpool as well as the final war ship from the war surrendering in Liverpool; chosen symbolically because of the city’s support of the Confederates, as if to say, ‘look, Liverpool, you’ve lost’.
Previous to this, Liverpool’s wealth as a city was built off the back of the Atlantic Slave Trade.
And right up to as recently as 2005, the Liverpool Echo wrote an article asking whether Liverpool was a uniquely racist city. In 2019 Howard Gayle did an interview with Al Jazeera where he spoke of being racially abused by his Liverpool teammate, Tommy Smith, in the late 1970s and early 80s with nobody else in the team ever stepping in to stop it or offer support. You can also hear many stories from City fans who attended games in Liverpool at both Anfield and Goodison where the large black contingent of our support were regularly racially abused at both grounds and more than anywhere else in the country - probably moreso at Goodison, where for a time there was the saying ‘Everton are white’, but there was a period of time where City fans referred to Anfield as ‘KKKlanfield’.
Even today, as you mention, there is a hell of a lot anti-Emirati and anti-Arab language and attitudes that come from the Liverpool fanbase. However, since 90% of Liverpool’s fanbase aren’t Scouse, it would be difficult today whether that is coming from Liverpudlian Liverpool fans or the wider fanbase.
