I am proud of how so many people in my town in rural West Wales have rallied around the Black Lives Matter protests. Fighting for civil rights brings out the very best in some people. Activism has taken the form of marches, protests in towns, petitions, and a plethora of informative Twitter threads, online videos, and shared educational posts. Many people across Wales have been active in their support, as everyone should be.

However, as with any civil rights movement, there are some humans who display very little humanity as they condemn BLM and everything the movement stands for, even when this is done unwittingly. Entrenched, narrow-minded views permeate the mindsets of so many people in smaller, rural, Welsh communities around where I live and beyond. The fact that people feel compelled to criticise a movement with its foundations in equality makes it very clear that perspectives need to be changed. And it is the Welsh school system that lies at the heart of the problem. A complete overhaul of the curriculum we are taught in schools has never been so necessary; if we dont know where were going wrong in what were saying and doing, we cant bring about the radical change that is needed.

Over the centuries, the British government has consistently neglected and suppressed Welsh identities. In the mid-19th century, Welsh was demoted to the language of the crass and the uneducated by the British government in Wales schools. To improve pupils knowledge of English (considered the language of the educated middle class), some schools in Wales employed the Welsh Not system. The Welsh Not was a piece of wood on a string (often etched with W.N. or Welsh Not) given to a child who spoke Welsh in school to wear around the neck to dissuade children from speaking their native tongue. At the end of the school day or week, the child wearing the Welsh Not would be punished, often with a beating. Though not in place in all schools, and not official government policy, its use was prevalent enough to be considered convention in the late Victorian era. To this day, remnants of the idea of the superiority of the English language persist.

The oppression experienced in Wales by the English is not solely confined to the Welsh language, nor is it confined to 19th century schools. Capel Celyn, a small rural community in the Tryweryn valley in North Wales, was flooded in 1965 to provide the city of Liverpool with water for industry. In displacing the residents of Capel Celyn, the flooding displaced an important, traditional, solely Welsh-speaking community. Forcing the residents to relocate undermined the value of the Welsh language and its heritage and subordinated the small community as well to the needs and whims of the larger nearby English city. This happened despite 35 of the 36 Welsh then-MPs voting against it (the 36th did not vote). The fact that Parliament directly opposed and overturned an effectively unanimous Welsh-MP decision not to flood the valley has become a national disgrace, and when it happened back in the tumultuous 1960s, it paved the way for the advancement of the fight for Welsh devolution. Today, there is a mural on a ruined old stone wall in Ceredigion, West Wales, stating Cofiwch Dryweryn (Remember Tryweryn). The murals overtly political overtones mean that it has been subject to multiple instances of vandalism. In 2008, the words were altered to Angofiwch Dryweryn (spelt incorrectly, but meaning Forget Tryweryn).[2] It was daubed over in black paint and covered by the word Elvis in February 2019.[3] In April 2019 it was partly demolished. These are only a few examples of such instances. Each time, it has been repainted and rebuilt to retain its original form and message, to remind those who see and hear of it of the injustice suffered.

However, on the 30th June 2020, the mural was vandalised with a swastika and a white power symbol painted over the motto.

Undeniably aresponse to the international BLM protests, a vandal saw fit to denounce theCofiwch Dryweryn motto, itself a reminder of historical injustice, withsymbols pertaining to racial supremacy and domination. It is an inherentlyparadoxical act which Elin Jones, Ceredigions Member of the Welsh Senedd (theWelsh Parliament), described very well as disgusting, sinister anddangerous.[4]

This is not an isolatedevent concerning race. Prior to the defacing of the mural, a black familyliving in North Wales suffered racial abuse in the form of a swastika paintedon their garage door.[5]Since moving to the area 13 years ago, Margaret Ogunbanwo and her family havebeen subject to racial hatred in the form of damage to their property awindow in their house has been smashed and their car keyed.

In a similar vein,a caf in my town of Cardigan (in Ceredigion, West Wales south of the mural)came under fire on social media for displaying Black Lives Matter and MaeBywydau Du o Bwys (the Welsh translation) posters in their window. The ownershave defended their stance against numerous locals who state that they will notvisit the caf again as a result of its public display of support for BLM. Themajority of the social media condemnation of the business is based on themisunderstanding that the Black Lives Matter movement undermines the value ofall other lives. This is the fundamentally flawed argument behind the trendinghashtag All Lives Matter.

But where humanityhas shown its very worst, there have also been positives. Protests and marcheshave been held in the very same towns and villages that have witnessed racialhatred. Margaret Ogunbanwos business was flooded with orders as people showedsupport following her familys ordeal. Similarly, in Cardigan, the caf hasbeen inundated with positive messages of support. However, instead of positivereactions to incidents of hate, we should be quelling these instances in thefirst place. Racism is so entrenched in our societies that we dont realisethat acts of racial hatred shouldnt have to happen in order for the subsequentpositives to manifest.

Wales is lessethnically diverse than any area or region in England as per the 2011 census.[6]The smaller population and lower percentage of ethnic minorities as a fractionof the whole population drove the ONS to draft the original 2021 census with nooption to tick Welsh & Black or Welsh & Minority Ethnic backgrounds;those identifying as both Welsh and BAME would have had to choose British astheir nationality because Welsh was only paired with white ethnicity. This hasnow been changed, but small acts like this, undermining the identities of BAMEindividuals, contribute to perpetuating systemic and covert racism in Wales.

The education system merely facilitates this erasure as it lacks any depth in matters of racial diversity, past or present. Parts of the Welsh curriculum within individual subjects address racial issues in America, for example, but these are always historic references. Coupled with the low racial diversity, this means that it is very easy for Welsh communities to announce that there is no racism in Wales simply because they are not directly faced with it every day. This is not, of course, confined to Wales, but applies to any country or community where there is little racial diversity. In such circumstances, it is easy to proclaim that I am not racist when, in reality, that proclamation is rarely tested. Its a misconception that racism doesnt exist in these instances, and if we look hard enough through the white veil under which we are taught in school, we must accept that we are complicit in covert and systemic ways.

Cardiffs bay area, now named Mermaid Quay was rebranded from the previous Tiger Bay as part of the areas redevelopment and gentrification at the turn of the millennium. According to a Wales Online article, Tiger Bay was a symbol of racial, ethnic, religious and ecumenical harmony[7]. Cardiff is home to nearly half of Wales BAME population, but its recent rebranding has stripped the area of its multicultural heritage and history. Its population had been so diverse because Cardiffs docklands welcomed an influx of immigrants in the 1950s to support the coal-works and the active port. When the docklands became derelict as coal trade diminished, systemic and entrenched racism did not allow for the retraining of Tiger Bays ethnic residents into other lucrative job sectors; instead, ethnic minorities were pushed out as part of its rebranding.[8] The gentrification of the entire area attracted mostly white residents and visitors at the expense of its historically diverse communities as house prices rose beyond what the previous communities were able to afford. To this day, this gentrification continues, resulting in a mass scattering of BAME groups in Cardiff from the areas in which they historically settled and made a living. After the coal trade slumped, its undeniable that the area was crying out for redevelopment; its old, empty warehouses were ugly, derelict reminders of its former booming industry. But in the redevelopment plans, there was no parallel desire to better the lives of the multicultural population already living there. Instead, a rich and white population was enticed to move in, displacing the previous residents that had kept Tiger Bay booming in its heyday.

We arent remindedof this every day because we dont learn about it in school. White people arentreminded of it because they arent living its ruthless reality. And so long aspredominantly white Welsh communities remain unaware and uninformed of therealities of the past and present, these racial injustices will continue to flyunder the radar. This is especially the case if, like in cases of Tiger Baysgentrification, the racially charged changes are creeping and covert ratherthan overt abuse and violence.

The swastika andthe white power symbol were swiftly removed from the Cofiwch Dryweryn mural,with the repainted motto restored to its original glory, serving as a reminderof the injustice served to the rural community of Capel Celyn. However, it isnot so easy to wipe away the racism prevalent in many Welsh communities.Pressure washing painted slurs off a mural is one thing; dismantling years ofprejudice and lack of awareness of systemic racism is quite another. Whenever Isee the Cofiwch Dryweryn mural, it instils in me a nationalistic anger ananger derived from years of historic injustice served to the Welsh. After itsbeing vandalised with a swastika and a symbol of white power, I will now bedoubly enraged whenever I see it. Cofiwch Dryweryn will always remind me ofinjustice done to the Welsh community of Capel Celyn by Liverpool CountyCouncil. However, the mural and its message will now also remind me of theinnumerable injustices served to black communities. The prejudices and hatredtowards black communities and individuals are ones which the systems by whichwe live can all-too-easily perpetuate and repeat.

Our educationsystem needs to change to reflect the fact that Wales has played its part inbeing complicit and active in perpetuating racism. When we discuss Patagonia, theWelsh colony in Argentina, it is with wonder and delight at there being anotherWelsh-speaking area in the world other than Wales itself. Because Welsh is aminority language, this is something to be celebrated. But we often dontconsider why Welsh is spoken by Patagonians. We dont learn about the Welsh ascolonisers, and we actively avoid the word colonialism; we learn of thesettlement in Patagonia as peaceful, virtuous and legitimate. We forget that peacefulcolonialism is still colonialism. What Lucy Taylor calls the myth offriendship[9]between the Welsh and the Patagonians glosses over the realities of howcolonialism limits the livelihoods of those being colonised. Just because theWelsh have been oppressed by the English does not mean that the Welsh cannotactively and indirectly promote oppression over others. In light of currentevents, in light of current atrocities, and in light of past truths that haveresurfaced, we would be wise to remember this.

Plaid Cymru has highlighted in the Senedd that education on Welsh and BAME history should be a compulsory part of the new curriculum being introduced in Wales, rather than subjects that can be taught at the discretion of individual teachers and schools. Teaching future generations about BAME history, and the systemic racism of Wales and Britain, is even more fundamental given the report commissioned by the Welsh Government examining the disproportionate effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the BAME communities. The report suggested including BAME and Commonwealth history in the new National Curriculum for Wales in 2022 for primary and secondary students to promote anti-racist behaviour and attitudes and encourage cultural understanding.[10] A comprehensive study of the history of BAME communities and the Commonwealth in schools among the younger generations will go a long way in dismantling the structural racism in which white Welsh communities are complicit. Plaid Cymrus argument is that Welsh and BAME history must be made compulsory because leaving the specifics of the teaching to the discretion of teachers and schools means that not every pupil will be able to learn about matters essential to shaping understanding citizens, essential to the makeup of a fair and equal society.

Welsh history goes beyond Wales being a part of Britain. We should think of Wales as a nation that has been oppressed, and as a nation that has oppressed. In the future, it should be neither of these things. Remembering Tryweryn and remembering Tiger Bay are not mutually exclusive. We shouldnt make a choice to remember one; rather, we should remember both. Changing the course of history is impossible if we dont acknowledge what we did wrongly in the past. A push to implement educational inclusivity and diversity in Welsh classrooms is the first step needed to dismantle narrow-minded views within our communities.

(Image rights: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61744436 by Dafydd Tomos)

[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/sites/themes/society/language_education.shtml

[2] (Anger over memorial wall attack. BBC. 13 May 2008.),

[3] (Drowned Tryweryn village slogan replaced by Elvis.BBC. BBC News. 3 February 2019.)

[4] (https://nation.cymru/news/cofiwch-dryweryn-mural-vandalised-with-swastika-and-white-power-symbol/)

[5] (https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/swastika-painted-outside-black-familys-18416970)

[6] ONS,Ethnicity and National Identity in England and Wales 2011, 2012,p.8

[7] https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/why-tiger-bays-diverse-history-16088764

[8] https://exchangehotelcardiff.co.uk/blog/tiger-bay-history-cardiff-bay/

[9] Lucy Taylor(2019)The Welsh Wayof Colonisation in Patagonia: The International Politics of MoralSuperiority,The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History,47:6,1073-1099

[10] https://www.bbc.co.uk/cymrufyw/53241866

Read the original here:

"Cofiwch Dryweryn": A Welsh History of Oppression - Cherwell Online