Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:04 pm on 22 June 2021.
Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer, and thank you, Minister, for this statement. I'm very pleased to see the steps that are being taken in this regard.
I just wanted to take this opportunity to note specifically the fact that it is Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month, and I was very pleased to hear you referring to that in your statement. Unfortunately, it appears that racism against these communities continues to be accepted in our society, and that is based on a lack of knowledge. But, because of that lack of knowledge, that's the basis of the fact that there is nothing done to celebrate the contribution of these communities to our history and our growth as a nation. If you consider that without the Roma and the Gypsy, we wouldn't have, for example, our folk songs and our folk dances here in Wales today, as Dr Meredydd Evans noted. When you think specifically about people such as Abram Wood and the huge contribution made by his family; when you think about the language of the Roma in Wales—the Kale here. In Dolgellau, people continue to refer to each other as 'chavi', which is 'child' in the Roma language in Wales. And as somebody who was brought up for a time in Swansea, I'm very familiar with the term 'mush'—people referring to each other as 'mush'—which is the word for 'man' in the language of the Roma here in Wales. But there's no recognition of the role of these communities in our growth as a nation, nor even official status given to the language or their culture. So, what do you want to do to ensure that these communities, which have played such an important role in the growth and development of our nation and our culture, that they receive the acknowledgement that they deserve, as well as every other community here, and to get rid of these racist attacks against them? Thank you.