We Welsh know what it's like to suffer prejudice – we shouldn't tolerate Aberaeron’s blackface float

Erthygyl dda

Sadly we live in an era where everything has to be politicly correct. My wife of 18 years is mixed race but we do not take offence at such trivial events such as this. The Jamaican Bob Sleigh team were admired for their ambition to enter the winter Olympics and Cool Running was a great movie. Carnival floats are there to amuse not raise some political argument. Get a life guys.

I have just read Huw Williams biog and he strikes me as a typical academic who has never travelled the world. Hence his inward looking blinkered view on what he perceives to be racism. My advice ,as someone who has travelled across the globe for the last 30 years ,is to get out there and meet real people Huw. The Aberaeron Carnival was just a lot of locals having fun. Your criticism strikes me of the sort of objection that came from Welsh church ministers in the early part of the last century.

There are so many things wrong with this article I don't know where to begin in response. The whole article is written in a finger-wagging self-righteous pontificating style. Huw's tone of lecturing and shaming is really quite obnoxious. First off, the film Cool Runnings was, for whatever reason, popular in Wales. I know because a few years ago my girlfriend from Llanelli insisted I get get a copy so we could watch it. She said all her friends loved it. It was based on a true story of a bobsledding crew from Jamaica, who had never seen snow before let alone practised in real bobsledding conditions. It was a heart-warming story about people attempting the extraordinary, overcoming the odds and succeeding. The Aberaeron carnival tribute to this film was fitting and fun, not some horrible breakout of latent racism and/or ignorant stupidity as Huw characterises it. With regards to the 3 lads wearing dark makeup characterising the Jamaican bobsledders, they were portraying real people. You are really stretching the definition when you call it 'black face', a grotesque characterisation of the Negro race popular generations ago when racist perspectives were commonplace. Huw is part of a loud minority who sees racism everywhere, always seeking an opportunity to moralise and virtue signal. I suspect that lurking underneath this hypersensitivity is latent racism - a racism of low expectations. Does he really think Negroes need special protection because their feelings might get hurt if we mimic a few Jamaican heroes in a festival? Does he condemn with equal invective the Japanese theatrical tradition of 'white face'? Or does he feel that the European race is advanced enough to take it in stride? This modern hypersensitivity towards questions of race and race identity, and the insistence to protect other races from presumed offence IS a kind of racism, not the Aberaeron carnival Cool Runnings entry.

I spent a decade on the air every day at BBC Radio Wales in the 70's and 80' and I can tell you that I encountered more racism in the BBC Llandaff HQ than I have ever come across in 30 years of global travel. The Welsh language taffia are some of the biggest bigots in the world. An insular inward looking small minded group that feel they should impose some sort of North Korean type society where artificial language and culture reign supreme. I am open minded to all race and creed but believe we live in world where indoctrination is not part of a free life. In certain parts of higher Welsh society you are a second class citizen if you don't speak speak Cymraeg.

http://www.walesartsreview.org/some-notes-on-blackface/ Is it really necessary to attack the writer of this article? Mr Flynn and Glasiad half empty are very rude alongside some other commentators on here. Why are you getting so personal?

For sure I can attack him because he does not represent those people at the carnival who were having a nice day out. Just reading his twitters he is as I suggested an academic who spends his time in the arty part of Grangetown and probably the Chapter Arts Centre. You will find me on more down to earth Welsh societies.. Disused and Abandoned Railways of South Wales. https://www.facebook.com/groups/382636661885307/?fref=nf

Mike Flyn reacting in the way he purports to condemn. Funny how people's bigotted opinions emerge in some people's comments, Mike Flyn must have been sacked by the BBC or something, who knows, I don't recall him, was he a comedian or something? He's obviously got a grudge against Aunty

Imitating a film based on Jamaican heroes is not racism. Grow up. Also, an article was published on here with Yes Cymru on an image of Karl Marx, a radical left Winger. Yes Cymru is supposed to support independence across the political spectrum. May we please have a pro-independence article for radical Right-wingers with a Yes-Cymru badge on, say Edmond Burke? The more we include conservatives in the independence movement now, the less of a fight between us we will have after independence.

In reply to jonesy. I was not sacked by BBC Radio Wales and indeed worked for them until the last day before I emigrated to Australia in 1989, Check me out here. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Radio_Wales

The Organising Committee of the Aberaeron Carnival are the cowards of the county here because they declined to comment. Who were the Judges and why was the float awarded a prize? The problem with allowing all and sundry to comment is that you get a couple of old colonials who have travelled and sailed the seven seas and mixed with the natives and still use the term Negro. You cannot excuse this behaviour in 2017.

There tends to be what I call the old Welsh bible thumpers posting on here with an attitude that they can now influence Welsh society by exploiting political correctness. Forget God and you will go to hell as the old chapel religous zealots expounded, The chapels are all gone or converted in to homes or Bingo Halls. The present movement want to suggest global warming and racial intolerance are the new scriptures. Except the preachers have never been anywhere.Not even outside the Welsh Marches by all accounts unless you count a few weeks holiday somewhere warm. I supect the nearest Huw L Williams has been to Jamaica is Port Talbot.

You might need a dictionary for this Master Flynn but the comments after the article are well worth reading! If you are having trouble perhaps your old mucka will help you out! https://ytwll.com/2017/09/aberaeron-pared-anwybodaeth/

Crefibility lost I'm afraid. Nit because of the issue, but the incredibly patronising way that you presented it. I was lost from the start when you chise to educate about race anf racism, but thelast straw was implying that these country bumpkins should knie better because they can look things up on the Internet and have universities to help educate them No doubt you could diss my views as a racism denier, but I've deliberately avoided that one since you're superior attitude was the biggest issue here.

I had no problem reading that but the bottom line is the people of Aberaeron did not raise the issue. If you have ever been to Jamaica then perhaps you will appreciate the lyrics to Dreadlock Holiday are not racist but just telling the truth. LYRICS I was walkin' down the street Concentratin' on truckin' right I heard a dark voice beside of me And I looked round in a state of fright I saw four faces one mad A brother from the gutter They looked me up and down a bit And turned to each other I say I don't like cricket oh no I love it I don't like cricket no no I love it Don't you walk thru my words You got to show some respect Don't you walk thru my words 'Cause you ain't heard me out yet Well he looked down at my silver chain He said I'll give you one dollar I said You've got to be jokin' man It was a present from me Mother He said I like it I want it I'll take it off your hands And you'll be sorry you crossed me You'd better understand that you're alone A long way from home And I say I don't like reggae no no I love it I don't like reggae oh no I love it Don't you cramp me style Don't you queer me pitch Don't you walk thru my words 'Cause you ain't heard me out yet I hurried back to the swimming pool Sinkin' pina colada I heard a dark voice beside me say Would you like something harder She said I've got it you want it My harvest is the best And if you try it you'll like it And wallow in a dreadlock holiday And I say Don't like Jamaica oh no I love her Don't like Jamaica oh no I love her oh yea Don't you walk through her words You got to show some respect Don't you walk thru her words 'Cause you ain't heard her out yet I don't like cricket oh no I love it (Dreadlock holiday) I don't like reggae oh no I love it (Dreadlock holiday) I don't like Jamaica oh no I love her (Dreadlock holiday) Songwriters: Eric Stewart / Graham Gouldman Dreadlock Holiday lyrics © Schubert Music Publishing Inc.

Mr F Completely lost touch with his homeland and reality

Is the author of this item we are discussing Huw L Williams,Lecturer at Cardiff University see below? I teach and research in both English and Welsh and have published a number of books and journalistic pieces for websites such as OpenDemocracy, Planet Extra and Clickon Wales. My most recent book is a co-authored introduction to Global Justice in the Routledge basics series. My research specialism include the philosophy of John Rawls and Welsh intellectual history, in addition to my work on global justice. I am open about who I am and my background.

The author of the article we are discussing appears to want to paint some sort of politically correct statement in to an innocent afternoon of fun in a Welsh town. Frankly I find day to day life in countries such as Laos,Cambodia and Mynamar now less repressive than the sort nation Huw L Williams wants to create. Travel broadens the mind Huw. You need to leave Grangetown and see the world.

This article makes me sick to be honest. I would not like to spend any time with the writer of this piece as he clearly is missing a sense of humour and is a big fan of labelling things into various boxes like most of these well-meaning types who think they are enlightened but are actually just brainwashed idiots. Spend a bit of time in the real world before writing anything ever again. Cool Runnings is funny - get over it!!

I'm also concerned about the moralizing tone of this article. It reminds someone of the "reds under the beds" syndrome in America in the Fifties, where everybody was looking for communists everywhere. This is a classic example of someone looking purposefully for an example of racism and finding it- regardless of the context and intentionality of the event itself. No way was this racism. In fact deeming it racism only serves to demean real racism and the emotional and psychological injury which can result for people affected by it. This "presumed offence" syndrome is very worrying indeed. Such over egged cultural marxism really does threaten free thought and free speech in our modern society. Cool Runnings was a warm and humorous film about a real event. I guess the lads from Aberaeron were trying to convey that warmth and humour. Ill-judged maybe in this PC climate of ours- but not racist. .

Whether this was racist or not I have no idea, but some are very sharp in their judgements and quick at spreading the smear very wide. The stereotyping of groups of people and double guessing their opinions and motives, is quite worrying. Some of the responses to this story, both here and elsewhere have shown that this invites some strange comments and no doubt some will consider that as justification for bringing these things into the open, but a holier than though attitude, spouting textbook phrases like "blackface" and "racist deniers" is not going to endear you to anyone except for the good cause fighters and is ultimately counterproductive.

It appears I emerge as someone ,'sacked by BBC Wales' , for trying to state the truth and defend the simple right for ordinary people to have fun in a carnival. I find more freedom in so called Asian represive states than exists in Wales these days.

Total nonsense from start to finish. The only thing I can find here to agree about is that there are indeed many parallels between the Welsh and the blacks, in particular the US Afro-Americans - both were genuinely at the receiving end of historic injustices; in both cases, the legal basis of those injustices has long since been abolished and both are equal with the rest of the population in the sight of the law. Yet in both cases, there is a strong political movement which, rather than encouraging them to take the opportunities available to them to flourish and succeed alongside everybody else, they pick away at the memory of the injustice and so nurture a permanent sense of victimhood. It's a weird, destructive symbiotic relationship - it suits the political movement (whether the Democrats in the US, or the so-called 'progressive' parties in Wales) to pander to its 'base', and its supporters are exonerated from taking responsibility for their own lives because they are encouraged always to place the blame for their predicament upon somebody else. The problem is that that the people are kept down just as effectively as if they were still legally second-class citizens, and those who manage to escape from the continued cycle of oppression (whether Republican-voting Afro-Americans, or Welsh-speaking Welsh Nationalist UKIP voters) are castigated for somehow having betrayed their roots. It's a shame that the Aberaeron carnival-goers felt the need to apologise; the correct response under the circumstances would have been to tell their critics politely to go away, using words of less than five letters. The only people who come out of all of this looking any good at all are the original Jamaican bobsleigh team, who are the only ones who seem to have retained any sense of perspective.

Do we have any proof that this "Mike Flynn" is actually the person he claims he is? The barely-concieled hatered of the Welsh has me convinced that he's using an alias.

I fail to see what relevance this article has on a website devoted to discussing issues concerning Welsh culture and language and the political future of Wales. I couldn't give a gnat's tadger if three men in bobsleigh applied makeup to their faces to celebrate a sporting event. We have important issues to discuss about our country, but thanks to Huw Williams and this man Flynn, we have now been momentarily diverted from what has so far been a productive dialogue on what we can do for Wales. Can we shut up about Aberaeron and 'blackface' now? If Williams wants an example of racial prejudice, or 'racism' as he calls it, let him look no further than the BBC's and the Guardian's attitude towards the Welsh language.

I would like to know who the individual members of the Aberaeron Festival Organising Committee are. Are they prominent local business owners? Are they Politicians or local Councillors? Upon them falls the decision to allow this float into the Carnival. If the film was from 1993, then the people taking part in the float were probably not born then so why presume that all 'innocent fun loving' carnival goers will have seen the film and understand the cultural context. What if Dyfed/Powys police had decided to stop and search the float team because they were 'black'? What if one of the members had been stabbed and become yet another statistic of knife crime because he had been 'black'? The Cambrian News would probably not have reported either. Perhaps next year Nation.Cymru can enter a float into the carnival with Massa Flynn and his ilk leading the procession with a rousing rendition of 'Ol Man River'

Google, 'racist'. As a definition you get, "showing or feeling discrimination or prejudice against people of other races, or believing that a particular race is superior to another". We should condemn racism of all sorts, but dressing up as someone from a different continent does not meet this definition.

There was a sign on the float saying "Ffos y Ffin bobsleigh team". However appearing as just a bobsleigh team was presumably, in the minds of the entrants, not funny enough. Therefore the decision to black up was taken because they thought white men with black faces = funny. It was a carnival after all. Even if personally you might be comfortable with that you have to concede that for many the "message" will be, black people = funny.

Here's a different interpretation. A bunch of unsophisticated young locals show their admiration for the Jamaican bobsled team and the film 'Cool Runnings' by blacking up. (Would it have made visual sense if they'd gone as white men?) There was a similar incident a few years ago when rugby international Liam Williams blacked up as Wilfried Bony, the Swans footballer. Again, done out of admiration for Bony's sporting prowess. http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/wales-international-liam-williams-apologises-8325680 Now what happened in Aberaeron was that a local Labour councillor, and parliamentary candidate, Dinah Mulholland, ran to the media with tales of Welsh racists roaming the streets of the town. Predictably, the story got taken up by London dailies, which never miss an opportunity of having a go at us. The Welsh Left - especially those who regard themselves as the 'National Left' - did what they always do and fell over themselves to placate their English comrades. Because when push comes to shove the National Left will always line up with its English comrades. That's one reason Plaid Cymru is finished. This article falls into that category. Embarrassing, simpering, 'Ooo, we're not really racists, honest. Can we still be your friends?' My interpretation. A ruthless and ambitious Englishwoman who has imposed herself on Ceredigion is trying to make cheap political capital. For the the subtext, or the real message, of this squalid episode is, 'Look at these frightful Welsh racists - I bet they vote Plaid Cymru'. Yet the National Left dances to her tune. Which this makes this Aberaeron story another example of colonialism. But of course the National Left will never see it that way because their head is so far up the arse of the English Left that they see nothing. Me? I would have just told her to shut up and fuck off.

As a "token" blackman I found no offence at all in the men blacking up. I see absolutely nothing racist in their actions at all. Very disappointed though they felt they had to apologize but in modern Britain everyone seems to be saddled with guilt. My experience over sixty years is that there is very little racism throughout our land; though i do feel there are those use it to create division between all our peoples. Having lived in Cymru stayed in Aberaeron on holiday often, I must say I've never come across racism in the town, area. Never felt I was looked down upon. People like, Diane Abbot, Sadiq Khan, amongst others seem to have made a career out of finding racism in every corner of life - where most blacks, people of colour, would find none - are not reflecting a true minority experience. More likely using division for their own enrichment and media profile. Personally, I feel people like, Huw L Williams, fuel that same division though purporting to speak in indefence of black people and racism; which is actually very belittling to actual "real black" people who can speak for ourselves. Mind you they might not like the fact that our opinions don't agree with theirs or Diane Mullholland, who I guessed rightly would be a Labour leftie trying to score "brownie points" ...no pun intended.

If the float really was a innocent homage to the movie, why were the blacked up guys also blasting out a song that describes black people as lice-infested druggies who live in huts, climb trees, and have HIV? If it blacks up its face like a racist, sings a racist song like a racist, then it probably is a racist.

Sigh! Are we still on this? Everyone now knows that it's merely the Metro-Elite ferretting around to score a good-conduct badge from the race industry (see reply by Royston). It seems to me that the display on the float was done in all innocence, with no malice aforethought. If this English politician really, genuinely, felt it to be inspired by racial prejudice, she had only to bring it up with the event's organisers instead of having it disseminated by the Guardian, to whom, as an anti-Welsh organ, it was meat and drink. Wales has real problems; too much ink and too much invective have been wasted on this non-story.

'Blacking up' causes offense because in the 19th and 20th century and before the 1960's Black Power/ Black Consciousness movements forced a rethink, white people ‘Blacked up’ to portray people of African descent as infantile rogues for the purpose of entertaining a privileged race with a belief in its own superiority . And yes, people of African descent have by no means been the only targets of negative racial stereotyping! Like Mr Williams, I am a bit surprised that it apparently didn't occur to anyone at any stage that 'blacking-up' would result in unease and offence in 2017 on what by all accounts, was otherwise a fun family event enjoyed by many. If some white lads had 'Blacked-up' at London's Notting Hill Carnival I fear that the media headlines would have been brutally different. Actually, I think the police would have taken pre-emptive action. Political correctness for all its faults does have some practical virtues. If we accept what happened in Aberaeron was innocent and not intended to cause offence, that is still, at best, a weak excuse in 2017. The current vogue for apologizing for historical wrongs is also rather lame. Surely, individually and collectively we should be striving to do the right thing in the here and now which includes understanding the sensibilities of others -so we have less to apologise for in the future!

These are the names of Aberaeron Town Councillors and it is the Aberaeron Town Improvements Committee that organise the Carnival! These are the brave and fearless public servants who have declined to comment on allowing this bobsleigh team into the carnival. The Bobsleigh team have been villified but it should never have got to this stage. Surely there would have been some detail required on the entry form as to their intentions. Mayor: Cllr Rhys Davies Deputy Mayor: Cllr Elizabeth Evans Cllr Phillip Davies Cllr Darryl Evans Cllr Mair Harrison Cllr Katrina James Cllr Owenna M James Cllr David Jones Cllr Neris Lloyd Cllr Catrin Manjang Cllr Huw Thomas Cllr Thomas Williams

To the detractors of this article I ask, how many people of color live in Aberaeron? Would any of you who say it's not an issue to wear blackface be comfortable doing it in Harlem, in the South Side of Chicago, or in Ferguson, Missouri?

The comments on this article make me want to despair, until I remember that the vast majority of your are nothing more than keyboard warriors that live in the depths of the twentieth century.

Would any of you think this song was racist if it was chanted in a carnival in England? Or is it just a bit of fun? Enough people say they know they can't believe Wales we have a rugby team Everyone says that we buy stuff cheap Like dirty old cars and rusty old jeeps When a hurricane comes we climb into a tree Wales we have a rugby team We only wear clothes with Liz Duke jewellery Wales we have a rugby team We eat Bara Brith and puff a lot of weed Wales we have a rugby team We have top knots and we wear beanie caps We only say 'mun' and we never say chap We can't afford tarmac so we have dirt streets Wales we have a rugby team We live in huts with no air conditioning We believe in god and only drink mead Wales we have a rugby team Because of lots of rain our skin's really white Our water comes from wells or the sea for free We have no showers, we bathe in a crappy stream Wales we have a rugby team We can't afford condoms so we have babies Either that or HIV We don't know why but we get tattoos We go to the Olympics We always lose Wales we have a rugby team We practice on the pitch There's no grass that's nice Our nappy hair Gives us lice I only changed a few of the words to make it Wales-centric. This was the song playing at the carnival, but it wasn't about Wales, it was about Jamaica and black people. It is NOT the song that was played in the Cool Runnings film. Now if you were a true fan of the film, surely you would use the original song? I agree with what one commentator said about - these people just thought 'black people = funny'. One of the men on the float was the carnival organiser's son. The racist float won the float competition. Go figure. If you don't believe me about the lyrics to the song they used, you can listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rr6z3ZBBRjE You can also listen to it being played on the original video of the carnival.