A man whose community was rocked by disgusting racist graffiti has offered to sit down for a chat with the culprit to find out what motivated the hateful behaviour. Martin Andrews posted on Instagram when he first saw that a mural to Port Talbot's Caribbean elders had been defaced, and offered to meet in private with the people behind the graffiti.
The mural paid tribute to Donna Campbell, a much-loved nurse and daughter of the Windrush generation who passed away during the pandemic, and her mother Lydia - known as Mrs Campbell in her community. Along with a merged image of a Welsh dragon and the Jamaican flag, the mural was only up for a matter of hours before it was defiled with a swastika, a racial slur and neo-Nazi language.
But Martin now wants to sit down for some food and drink with whoever did it. He said: "As a Caribbean black community it was a really important mural for us.
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"When my grandparents came here in the 1950s it wasn't the most pleasant environment. My mum was born here with two Jamaican parents but my dad is from the Valleys and white and Welsh... For us to be able to see the journeys of my parents, aunties, uncles and grandparents, it meant a lot to us."
Stressing the fact that the mural was a memorial too, he said: "I try to put it into context… if that was a memorial bench and someone vandalised it, nothing racial, just vandalism, people would be really upset. You wouldn't go to someone’s grave and deface that."
He described the nature of the vandalism: "It was just hateful hate. I understand that people don’t have to like people, or a certain group of people, but there’s an issue with deliberately spreading hate. It’s difficult because I’m 33 so it’s not the first time I’ve seen, heard, or been involved in something like this. But I don’t think it’ll be the last either."
Martin said when he was younger, his reaction to something like this might have been "rage, or anger." But, he said: "I discovered it never served a purpose, it always fell back on me and I was living up to stereotypes.
"Stature-wise I’m 6 1, I’m tattooed and I’ve got dreadlocks. I’d fit into this mould, and those feelings of anger don’t serve me. As I’ve got older I’ve become more existential and tried to serve myself inwardly."
When he saw the mural, he realised feeling angry about it would only harm him - so he decided to be proactive and spread awareness. He put out a message on Instagram offering a "sit down conversation" with the person, or people, behind the graffiti, offering "food and beverages on me as I would love to talk this over."
He admitted that it was unlikely anyone would come forward, and acknowledged: "It would be a difficult conversation, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the most difficult I’ve had. I've had conversations about race and heritage before - I'm a model but I have also worked in engineering for 15 years and it's not very culturally diverse. I've not been anywhere where I've not been the only mixed-heritage person there. It's not too outside of my realm being uncomfortable.
"I’m very accepting of myself, I know who I am and I accept me wholeheartedly. There’s nothing somebody could say that would affect that, so it wouldn’t necessarily be the hardest thing to do, but it would be hard to hear someone say why they hate a group of people for no reason at all."
Martin said the aim would be to find out the origin of the culprit's hate - and he already has his first question planned out. He wants to ask: "Where did it come from? Where's the foundation, what's your first memory of hating someone, or of hating us as a group?
"I go to therapy and my therapy is quite existential. My thought processes and physical actions are based on childhood-taught things, whether I taught them to myself or was taught them from someone I looked up to.
"You have to understand what trauma [racists] had and what hate they feel. Nine times out of 10, hate isn’t a reflection on the people that they hate, but a reflection of themselves. It’s to make them feel better for their shortcomings."
Martin hopes to find "common interests" with whoever was behind the graffiti, but specifically asks that they own up publicly to what they've done. He said: "It just goes to show - if someone can own up to it… people might kind of want to forgive you.
"You have to be honest and come out and admit it. When you take responsibility and accountability for actions, you have to sit back and keep quiet and hear what people have got to say."
On whether black people should carry the burden of having these conversations with racists, and trying to show them the error of their ways, he said: "It’s a difficult question but not a difficult answer. We have no choice because it’s not being taught enough in schools.
"I went to secondary school and apart from my brother, my whole school was white. History lessons were never about black history and black history in Wales - they were all about the Romans and that type of stuff.
"All that history is based off invading and pillaging and colonisation of other communities. When I speak to my friends, the majority of them are white, and it’s difficult for them to comprehend the experiences they haven’t lived through."
And despite the huge shock of the mural being vandalised, Martin is optimistic about the conversation it's started. He said: "The person who did it - their goal was to upset people, and they did, but it’s also created this massive uproar and a conversation is now being had that otherwise wouldn’t be talked about.
"As much as it’s devastating, there’s a positive now that we’re talking about the issue. As far as I’m aware, almost everybody is completely positive about the situation which has brought the community together to see it’s completely wrong and shouldn’t be happening."
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