A RACIST letter sent to at a senior lecturer at the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester has caused an outcry on social media.

Navaratnam Partheeban, a lecturer in Livestock Production posted the letter he received on Twitter on Friday, November 30.

It came after he wrote a column in Farmers Weekly ‘calling for the breakdown of the remaining ethnic barriers in agriculture.’

In the column he detailed how he has lived in the UK his entire life, and has a British passport but has had incidents before related to his skin colour.

Mr Partheeban received positive feedback on the column before receiving the letter telling him ‘if you don’t like it, go back to your parents world.’

The letter also read ‘You may think you are British but there has never been a black English man and there never will be.

It finished ‘Your black, get over it!’.

Since Mr Partheeban shared the letter on Twitter, he has had over 2,000 messages in support.

Navaratnam Partheeban said: "The letter was unacceptable and shocking.

"It exposes the extreme end of the spectrum of a problem that has to be addressed.

"I’ve been really encouraged by the huge amount of support I received after posting it online, from university colleagues, politicians, people working at all levels of the farming industry, the veterinary profession and the general public.

“I teach the new generation of students who want to get involved in farming here in Gloucestershire and work alongside some of the farmers here.

"It is an industry I love and am proud of.

"The vast majority of people I meet treat me with warmth, friendship and respect.

"It is incidences like this that increase the awareness and start the conversation to help lead to change.

“I’d love my children to come into this industry without experiencing what I have.

"We have so many people in this country from a mixture of backgrounds who may want to be part of our industry and so my aim is to try and create an atmosphere that encourages these people to join farming or veterinary practice and know they can succeed.

"We need role models for people to aspire to become.”

RAU vice-chancellor Professor Joanna Price added: “We are proud of our senior lecturer Navaratnam Partheeban’s campaigning work against prejudice in all its forms and he has our complete support.

"The abhorrent views in the letter he courageously shared highlight the need for universities, colleges, schools, industry, policy-makers and other organisations to work together to fight ignorance and prejudice with education and to promote diversity and tolerance.”