Anti-racism campaigners in Newport will today join an international movement calling for institutional change on issues of injustice and inequality. NICHOLAS THOMAS finds out the motivation for taking part

SPARKED in America by the death of George Floyd – a black man – in police custody, Black Lives Matter (BLM) marches and demonstrations have spread throughout the USA and across the world in the past fortnight.

Today, in Newport, people will add their own voices to the cause, taking part in a BLM march in the city centre.

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“This movement is about being respected and wanting equality,” organiser Andrew Ogun said. “It’s a human right to be respected, to have justice, and to [be able to] act and move in a way that isn’t hindered by the colour of your skin.”

South Wales Argus:

Andrew Ogun, one of the organisers of the Black Lives Matter march through Newport. Picture: Andrew Ogun

Roughly 90 per cent of Newport’s residents are white, but the city is still one of the most diverse areas of Wales.

Zak Gordon-Evans, 21, said he felt more comfortable in the city than in other parts of Wales where, due to the low numbers of Black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) residents, people had reacted to him with surprise and suspicion – bouncers searching him or turning him away from nightclubs, people staring at him or making comments in the street, and others questioning why he was embracing the ‘black’ aspects of his mixed-race background.

“People just don’t realise what they’re saying half the time. A lot of people are in their ‘bubbles’ because they don’t see a lot of black people, and when they do they just take what they’ve heard in history and in the media.”

South Wales Argus:

Zak Gordon-Evans

He added: “The media portray black people a certain way. If you’re black and in an altercation, it’s ‘three thugs’ or if there are ten of you it’s a ‘gang’.

“But if it’s a group of white [youths] it’s a ‘social gathering gone wrong.’”

Mr Ogun, 22, said everyone growing up in Newport has their own experiences, but in his views things had “got better”. However, he said as a youngster he felt “wrongly singled out” by the police and by some people in the community, simply because of the “negative stigmas” around groups of BAME teenagers.

“When growing up black you’re made acutely aware of your race,” he said.

In school, Mr Gordon-Evans said he had been subjected to monkey noises and racial slurs, and he believes those experiences are far from uncommon.

A recent study by charity Show Racism The Red Card found 77 per cent of pupils said racism existed in their schools, and 30 per cent admitted using racist language in school.

Discrimination in school was also more “insidious”, Mr Ogun said.

The only black child in his primary school class, he was hurt to be left off his close friend’s birthday party list – he later found out that the friend’s mother had told her son not to invite any black people.

And Mr Gordon-Evans said the sense of exclusion extended into the playground, where friends playing superheroes would tell him he could only be a black character – if there was one.

The BLM movement had started to encourage people to think about their actions, he added.

“I know a lot of kids who’ve messaged me and apologised, saying they didn’t know what they were doing – it was just the norm,” he said.

“People are open to listening now.”

Mr Gordon-Evans said schools could still do more to address gaps in education, confronting Britain’s imperial past and role in the international slave trade.

“For me, I want to create awareness because people can’t help when they don’t understand,” he said, adding: “Change can’t just be saying ‘Let’s all stop being racist’ – there’s got to be internal change.”

Des Mannay, 55, has lived in Newport for around 20 years.

Since 2014, he has written poetry about his experiences as a mixed-race person in Wales, as well as wider discrimination and racism in the UK.

He said the BLM movement showed the country was “at a crossroads” following a hardening of political rhetoric against minorities and immigrants on both sides of the Atlantic.

While police brutality had sparked the recent BLM gatherings in the USA, he said the ongoing effects of the Windrush scandal were helping mobilise BAME people in the UK.

“We’re lifting the lid on a horrible, oppressive way of living; of being driven down into the margins,” he said. “We’re at the point where we can turn things around and respect people.”

South Wales Argus:

Des Mannay

He added: “We all have histories and aspirations. Why should they be crushed in the first minute of a job interview [because of the colour of your skin]?”

Mr Mannay said he was optimistic the current movement could achieve change.

“What’s different about it now is the number of white people who are turning up alongside black people and saying ‘We need a better world – enough is enough’.

“That’s where the hope is.”

The public response to the current BLM protests – here and in the USA – has not been wholly positive, however.

For some critics, the organisation’s very name has prompted allegations that BLM is anti-white, but this has been rejected by Mr Ogun and the movement’s supporters.

“We are not saying that black lives matter more than white lives, or than police officers,” he told the Argus. “We are saying that black lives are treated as if they don’t matter as much as others.”

Meanwhile, the actions of some individuals intent on inflaming tensions and damaging property have fuelled criticism of the wider movement.

Mr Ogun is acutely aware of the backlash, and acknowledges there are people with genuine concerns, as well as others intent on trolling and causing offence.

He said: “I’m very composed... and when I see criticism, if it’s constructive I will respond. But if people are trying to undermine the movement, saying it’s wrong, I won’t entertain that.”

He added: “I think there’s always been a fear of minorities coming together and getting things done.

“It seems to trigger fear in the powers-that-be. Unfortunately the violence [at protests in the USA and, sporadically, in London] have overshadowed the good work and strategising that’s been going on.

“But some people are choosing to have a one-dimensional view of things. [Any violent moments] are not a reflection on the movement.”

Critics have also claimed it is reckless to hold mass gatherings in the middle of a deadly virus pandemic.

But Mr Ogun said BLM’s momentum is “intertwined with Covid-19”.

“I want everybody to understand the gravity of this unique place and time in history that we’re living in,” he said. “Living through this pandemic, everything we know as normality has shifted, and we don’t know what life afterwards will be like.

“It’s about striking while the iron is hot – we don’t have distractions, and there’s no better time.

“Now is about establishing a new reality, and that reality has to include black voices.”

But the threat of Covid-19 is still very real, and there is ongoing evidence BAME people are being affected disproportionately by the disease. Mr Ogun said he was taking steps to make sure the Newport event passes safely, as well as peacefully. Anything to the contrary would be “a hindrance to the movement”, he added.

Attendees will be encouraged by stewards to keep two metres apart from each other, and the police will be present along the march route.

The organisers will also be bringing water and some sanitary equipment, but have encouraged attendees to bring their own if possible.

“We want people to channel their anger and emotions into positive change,” Mr Ogun said. “That’s the difference between a sporadic outbreak of emotion and rebuilding what the new normal is going to look like.”

  • The event starts at the Civic Centre car park at 1pm and the march will make its way to the University of South Wales building