Jamaica, Port Talbot and Me
Jalisa Andrews and Yasmin Adderson share their love for Port Talbot's 'close-knit' Jamaican community.
15 July 2020
The Jamaican community in Port Talbot
Yasmin: My grandparents were the first black couple married in St Mary's Church in Port Talbot.
Any celebration is a cause for celebration in Jamaican families.
Jalisa: My grandmother came over in 1959/1960 and she ended up staying and raising my mum, but then after my mum, she had an additional seven children. I guess there was loads of attraction in regards to work and making your life better!
Yasmin: My grandad, my cousins, my uncles worked in the steelworks. So, for people from the Caribbean to come all the way to Wales and to move to Port Talbot, it shows there was something that attracted them there!
Throwing a party
Yasmin: I got married in Swansea.
Jalisa: Was your husband surprised at how big your family was?
Yasmin: Yes! Oh my goodness! At our wedding he felt like he had a handful of his family there and my family overpowered!
Jalisa: It was the same for me as well. In the end I had to sacrifice my own friends coming to my ceremony. Was your husband surprised by how everyone celebrates? Everyone's always dancing, everyone's always on the dance floor.
Yasmin: He's just like wow, because he's someone that's not one for dancing, unless I really make him. So, it's such a difference.
Jalisa: Any celebration is a cause for celebration in Jamaican families. It's a cause to all gather at my grandmother's house. Christmas, birthdays, anything... everything would always be there.
Yasmin: My aunty would have barbecues in her garden and she'd literally have not only everyone from the black community, but everyone from the wider community would come over as well. It's just so nice, there's always reggae music and lots of hot Jamaican food.
Jalisa: Loads of food!
Yasmin: Yeah, so much food and Jamaican flags everywhere... lots of big cakes. Lots of dancing.
Port Talbot, Jamaica and Me
Port Talbot, Jamaica and me....
Experiences of racism
Jalisa: From going to a Welsh school, I would go to Eisteddfods a lot and I would experience the feeling of 'other' more then. So, when you'd go to places like an Eisteddfod, a lot of the workers behind the stalls would automatically speak to me in English first.
I hope the percentage of people who aren't welcoming to everyone move with the time to make [Port Talbot] an even better place than it already is.
I would go off with Dad and the boys to rugby, just to watch and I remember turning to my dad this one time saying 'the ladies behind the bar are speaking about me in Welsh'. They were actually saying, 'I wonder if that's her father' because my dad's white, he looks like Santa Claus! My dad turned to me... 'Here's 50p... go and ask for a bar of chocolate in Welsh'. So, I went up and I asked for a bar of chocolate in Welsh and their faces were like... [shocked]. That's without them even saying anything to my face that I experienced something racial.
The racism that I've experienced in Port Talbot has shaped me and made me stronger!
My uncle's wife posted a picture of something my uncle found. It was a statement from his bail. I think it was in the 80s. He was riding his own bike on a pavement and he was arrested for bike theft! They accused him of stealing the bike he was riding! But actually it was his own bike! And he was literally riding on the pavement. A 15 year-old boy! That was in Port Talbot. So, it has happened, it does still happen! But things are changing now and I don't think we should deal with it anymore.
Yasmin: Since my grandparents moved over here, there would always be people who would stare at them in a certain way and they would have to deal with it... and get on with it. They taught their children to be strong and stick up for themselves.
There's a lot of times when you feel you can't stand up to it because you feel like that may be putting you at danger! It shouldn't be something that has to be tolerated anymore. It should be something where we can just live, get on with our lives and be happy!
It's a shame because if everyone was able to make the most of other races and cultures and nationalities, then their life would be richer for it.
Jalisa: Port Talbot will never change its sense of community and its sense of family. I think that's one of the most amazing things about it. I just hope that percentage of people who aren't like that, who aren't welcoming to everyone and anyone. I hope they change and I hope they move with the time to make it an even better place than it already is.
