Festival President's speech: Toda Ogunbanwo
- Cyhoeddwyd
Toda Ogunbanwo - one of Gŵyl AmGen's Festival Presidents
Gŵyl AmGen's Festival President on Friday is Toda Ogunbanwo. The 20-year-old from Penygroes, Gwynedd, is studying at Brunel University in London and hopes to become a sports coach.
Gŵyl AmGen will celebrate the best of Welsh culture on Radio Cymru and Cymru Fyw between 30 July and 2 August. The digital festival is in partnership with the National Eisteddfod, which has been postponed this year due to the coronavirus crisis.
'...acceptance, understanding and education will be responsible for change.'
Before we start I want to thank you all for this opportunity to speak. I'm pleased to be able to speak to you as part of Gŵyl AmGen.
My name is Toda Ogunbanwo and I live in Penygroes, a small village in north Wales. I've lived here for almost 13 years and have grown up experiencing the culture, people and education system in this area.
I have honestly grown to love this country and its people are dear to my heart, but as of late events have taken place which need addressing. Racism exists and it affects black people across Wales. It would be irresponsible of me not to talk about these times on such a major platform as this festival.
I was born in Harlow, Essex and lived there till I was seven. In 2007 we as a family moved to north Wales. It was a big change and has shaped my life in so many ways.
The sad truth is I have had too many experiences of racism in education and groups of "friends".
The reason for this abuse being the colour of my skin. Things as little as being excluded from playing football with a group and things as large as being called a N***** by students up to six years older than me. I have had children spit in my water without me knowing and I have had children throw yogurt at me without any real response from teachers.
Fighting or standing up for yourself becomes difficult when you are one in 500. Its easy to say that racism doesn't exist in Wales. But the reason for this is that victims of racism don't speak out enough. I'm sure many of those who have done or said anything racist either don't remember or didn't realised they were behaving in a racist way.
'We're the only black family in Penygroes' history and the only family with a swastika on our garage'
I'm sure some of you have heard of the incident that occurred at my home a month or so ago.
Someone from this village that I have lived in, been schooled in and called home for almost 13 years decided to paint a swastika on my garage door in the early hours of the morning. As the day unfolded I started to realise the severity of what had been done.
Swastikas are widely known as a universal symbol of hate across the world and are an illegal symbol in countries such as France, Germany and Poland. When we see one we all know what it represents. It's sad that I have become desensitized to these things. It's even sadder that anyone felt comfortable enough to do this in 2020.
I rarely label behaviour as racist but in this case it simply is not a coincidence that we're the only black family in Penygroes' history and the only family with a swastika on our garage.
Black people have and continue to contribute, shape and add value to this country. In the past, Wales has played a large part in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
The Pennant family funded the building of Penrhyn Castle with the work of slave plantations in Jamaica. The goods produced at the copper factory in Holywell were used to buy slaves in western Africa. The Pennant estate owned nearly 1000 slaves across four plantations by 1805.
This is the history we aren't taught at school. If children knew the previous relations between their country and African countries, I'm sure they would be more thoughtful when it came to using racial slurs.
Colin Jackson is considered to be the best track and field athlete to ever come from Wales. Abdulrahim Abby Farah was a Welsh born Somali man who helped free Nelson Mandela. He was also deputy secretary general of the United Nations between 1979 and 1990. There are many examples of black people from Wales I could use but I believe that acceptance, understanding and education will be responsible for change.
I believe that the past gives context to the future and going forward we can commit to showing love and compassion to each other the way our ancestors could not. We cannot allow rural areas such as Penygroes be excused, we need to do better as a community. Change starts at home.
'We must accept and celebrate each other'
Moving forward, I believe that the solution must start with education. People need to learn and understand the history of their country including the negative parts. A large percentage of the population of Wales and Britain feel they can excuse themselves for this history because Britain did not host many slaves physically.
Areas such as north Wales like to believe racism doesn't exist here, but it saddens me to tell you today that it does. The sign of hatred on our garage is a very public example of the work that needs to be done here.
I think if people learn about cultures and histories which are different to theirs, as I myself did about Wales, it would provide a better and healthier basis on which to unite.
Not for us all to be the same, but for us to know each other's differences and accept and celebrate each other because of those differences starting with something as simple as a smile.
My vision is to see a day were any minority can move to north Wales and be made to feel welcomed and supported here.
