I grew up in Wales and attended predominantly white schools. I was always the only Black kid which made me notice that I was different from everyone else and it affected me mentally as no one likes to be an outsider especially at that age.
One major incident that I remembered was walking near the Grand Theatre, and there was this drunk man who said ‘’why didn’t you go back home to your own country? You Black people are just here’’. I could not respond, I just kept walking but it got to me.
As a Black girl watching the videos of George Floyd on social media, I felt awful as no one deserves to be treated like that especially because of their skin colour. It was an eye opener.
Stand up for things you really care about because it can make a difference. Sometimes you feel like no one is going to listen to you or you feel like you do not have enough confidence to say what you have to say, just believe in yourself. Never keep silent as you will regret not saying anything. Persevere and be resilient to keep pushing until you get to where you want. Remember, you are going to be part of history one day.
No justice, no peace.
It was important to have the protest where people were able to celebrate the lost hero and also stand against racism. The protest brought lots of people together in Swansea, Cardiff, Port Talbot, etc with a common goal of celebrating the life of George Floyd and a call to end racism.
Although this movement started in America but we have the same happening in the United Kingdom. Just because we do not see police officers with guns killing people of colour in the UK does not mean it does not happen, it is not just brought to light as much as it is been done in the United States. So, racism is here in the UK, we have Black people here, and BLM should be celebrated everywhere because Black Lives do matter everywhere all over the world.
This was my first protest even though I have attended and spoken at other online protests. Attending my first protest bought back memories of when I was younger, how I felt growing up being the only Black kid in my society, and how much of my emotions I had buried.
People coming together to stand up against a common goal meant a lot to me and the protest we had was beautiful, positive, and emotional. I enjoyed being part of the organisers and to be there in person to witness the movement that would go down as history and have the opportunity of telling my children and grandchildren about the cause we fought for, for younger generation to be comfortable growing up in Wales regardless of their skin colour, and not experience what I experienced growing up. So, I am just here to create a better life for everyone, to do what I can do to make the world a better place.
To be able to picture an antiracist world where people of different ethnicities have more opportunities and not feel lesser of themselves because of their skin colour or where they originated from would be great.
