A community group member in Port Talbot has spoken about the impact a racist graffiti slogan painted on a mural has had on the town. Jalisa Phoenix-Roberts, who lives in the town, was the one who spotted the graffiti.
On Friday, October 28, it emerged that swastikas, the words "Nazi zone" and a racial slur were painted on the mural, which was initially a part of the Street Art Trail and had been been created by the ARTWalk community group to celebrate the town's Caribbean community.
The graffiti has since been painted over and the mural has been restored. But following the incident, Jalisa feels that although the incident has shaken the community, it has also sparked a conversation on important issues.
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Jalisa said the original mural was to represent the Caribbean community within Port Talbot through portraits of Donna Campbell, born and raised in the town, and a portrait of her mother, Mrs Campbell, who came to Wales during the Windrush period.
“I believe the motivation behind the mural was to represent the Caribbean community within Port Talbot and the amount of support that the two both gave to Port Talbot,” Jalisa explained.
“Donna was a nurse and Mrs Campbell was my grandmother’s best friend. There’s a few murals around on that stretch of graffiti in regards to showing support to the Caribbean community in Port Talbot."
She added: “There were quite a lot of people on Facebook supporting the mural which was really nice. There wasn’t a crazy big reveal or anything.” The mural was presented on Thursday and was defaced only a couple of hours later.
According to Jalisa, the community “don’t and won’t stand for what happened”. She said: “I’m quite honest in saying that I think I was naive to the fact I didn’t really think this stuff went on in Port Talbot.
“I knew it did years ago when my mother was younger and she’s in her 60s now. I didn’t really grow up having really bad racism in the area, I didn’t experience it growing up. I haven’t experienced it in Port Talbot even now. I was quite naive in thinking it didn’t really go on here any more, and it was more of a shock to the system that it happened on my doorstep.
“[The response] was so reassuring, especially because that evening when I went to the shop I was looking over my shoulder, I didn’t feel very safe at all, I had really severe anxiety. From the response on Facebook, the majority - if not all, have been extremely positive."
“Everyone’s saying whoever these people are we disagree with them," she said. "The community in general has been affected by it, and most people's responses have been sad that it will give a negative reflection on Port Talbot. But people are also saying it isn’t how Port Talbot is and that the majority don’t and won’t stand for what happened. It’s incredibly reassuring and it’s the Port Talbot I’ve always known and loved.”
According to Jalisa, the incident has prompted wider conversation about challenging and addressing racism. She explained: “I kind of feel like it’s a good thing that it’s happened and the way people have responded has been even better.
“It’ll continue conversations in the community that wouldn’t have happened before. During the Black Lives Matter movement, people were posting saying: 'this doesn’t happen in Port Talbot', but since it’s happened now, it’s maybe got people re-evaluating and realising conversations need to be had because it’s still prevalent in Port Talbot. These thought processes need to be challenged.”
In response, South Wales Police's Chief Superintendent Trudi Meyrick said: "This is a despicable hate crime that will not be tolerated. We will do everything we can to identify the people responsible for this graffiti.
"We are continuing enquiries into this incident and I would urge anyone with information that might assist our investigation to please come forward.”
If anyone has information, South Wales Police have asked individuals to come forward and contact them online https://bit.ly/SWPProvideInfo or by calling 101 quoting reference 2200364396.
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