A BARNSLEY woman who has been campaigning for the Black Lives Matter movement believes more needs to be done to to combat racism across the borough after a bridge in Athersley was daubed with graffiti.
Jade Marie Fogg, 21, of Athersley, attended the Black Lives Matter protest outside the town hall last month where a firework was thrown at protesters, and is calling for all those who say racism doesn’t exist in Barnsley to ‘open their eyes’.
A racist term was sprayed on the bridge, on Smithies Lane, which has now been removed by council officers.
She told the Chronicle: “I counted how many people attended that protest and there were around 200 of us, and when you look at that in comparison to the entire population it’s ridiculous.
“If people don’t think that racism exists in Barnsley all they have to do is open their eyes, from the firework to this graffiti, it’s absolutely disgusting and it’s something to be outraged about.
“When I saw the graffiti I’ve never been as mad, I’m currently in Lincoln and it’s things like that which are making me not want to come home.”
Jade believes that more needs to be done by people across Barnsley to educate everyone on the matters of racism.
“It’s not good enough to say you’re not racist and that you don’t see colour, if you say that you’re ignoring the issue completely,” she added.
“The council needs to do more to educate, as do our teachers and parents - I was blinded when I was growing up thinking Barnsley was the most amazing place but it’s clearly got a racism issue.
“People are calling us snowflakes and extreme lefties but it’s got absolutely nothing to do with politics - it’s about human rights.”
A spokesperson from South Yorkshire Police said: “We received a report at 3.10pm on Friday, June 27 of racist graffiti on the wooden bridge on Smithies Lane.
“Enquiries are continuing, anyone with information should contact the police on 101 quoting incident number 649 of June 27.
“The graffiti has been removed by Barnsley Council.”
A council spokesperson added: “Our officers were made aware of this dreadful piece of graffiti on Monday morning and it was fully covered up by lunchtime.
“We treat incidents like this extremely seriously and thank our residents for reporting this to us.
“It has been reported to South Yorkshire Police and is being treated as a hate crime.”
