Black Lives Matter is an emblem which as we all know stemmed from the death of George Floyd in America with ‘I can’t breathe’ being all we can hear. When you hear BLM or Black Lives Matter, you can still hear that voice echoing in the background which is a wakeup call. It’s a wakeup call to bring the issues that the Black communities are facing within their communities and the systematic racism that still exists to this day. There are a lot of instances with issues around here that happened within the Black communities, for example, especially in cities like Cardiff with the police. Recently we had an issue here in Mountain Ash with Chris Kapessa and the way his case was treated by the police. It’s a reminder that racism is always here. It has never disappeared altogether.
Seeing what’s going on in America, you couldn’t just sit still and do nothing. Due to the nature of my work politically and also the nature of my personal work as a businessman, it was very difficult, obviously, to come physically to Aberdeen Square where Martha organised the BLM protest. So, I made a placard and took the protest from the front door of my house to social media, which is, again, a platform where we had a really good response and we had a lot of support through that as well. In my 28 years in this valley, I have always worked with communities and tried to get people to be part of our communities as I was lucky enough to be one of the three people who established a mosque in Aberdare. As a politician, I strive for ethnic minorities to have a voice in the council and throughout Wales.
Black Lives Matter irrespective of the part of the world you are and if it affects one in a specific location then it affects all around the world. It’s a call to stand with all humans calling for the end of racism in all its forms
It hasn’t been that many because we’ve tried to integrate into the community and so we feel that there is no difference between us and the community though the majority are white. There have been instances of being mistaken for a Pakistan and they refer to us with Paki names, issues with police with biased treatments, but at the end, if you push and ask for your rights, you get your rights in the end. Don’t sit back and just accept things as they are.
The advice that I would give to the young generation is get involved. Don’t be afraid, don’t be scared. If you have got what it takes, you can make a change. Go out there, get involved, either politically or in the community or educating people in any way. You can just get out there and be part of basically the movement. If we’re going to change the way things are, we have to just get up and have a go. Don’t sit back, whatever, and don’t let nothing hold you. And I say good luck on changing your future.
No justice, no peace.
