Kayla

I took my 3 beautiful stepdaughters to the so-called “far right” march in London on 16th May. This was my second time going. Last September I went with their dad to see for myself what it was really about, after hearing the media constantly label it as “far right” — something even my children had started believing. What I actually found was a very diverse group of passionate people who love this amazing country. Yes, there were the odd people with views that went too far, but what stood out to me was how quickly others around them would put them in check. Overall, the atmosphere was positive, respectful, and full of pride. After hearing what Starmer had to say recently, I spoke to the girls properly about coming this year. Like many young people, they’d heard all sorts about Tommy Robinson, so I told them my own views and said that if you want an opinion on someone, you should listen to them yourself rather than only believing what others say about them. The girls decided they wanted to come — but they also wanted to carry both sides of their heritage proudly. They wore their Jamaican flags 🇯🇲 alongside the English flag 🇬🇧 of their proud English dad, because they are proud of BOTH parts of who they are and they love England ❤️ From the moment we arrived wrapped in Jamaican flags, they were shown nothing but love and kindness by people there. Watching them laughing, smiling, singing along, and enjoying themselves honestly meant everything to me. And yes… sorry “Wanker of the Year” 😂… we did sing along to your number one hit. We listened to speakers, enjoyed the music and culture, and to be honest I was genuinely taken back by the warmth shown towards my girls. So thank you to everyone who made them feel welcome. I’ll also be honest about the things that didn’t sit right with me. There was a beautiful Iranian flag there, carried by people proudly standing with us. Later in the day, an older woman — who seemed drunk — told a young lad to pull the flag down because “it didn’t belong there.” He calmly replied that it wasn’t his flag to remove, and then other people stepped in, including a father with his children, saying the flag absolutely belonged there and that we respect people showing love and support for England. It actually felt amazing seeing people deal with it respectfully at first. Sadly, the woman became nastier with her words and eventually was told to leave after also saying my girls’ Jamaican flags shouldn’t be there either. But that was ONE drunk woman amongst tens of thousands of people. If there were others with views like that, I truly believe most people there would have challenged them too. Ironically, the most hateful comments we got all day were actually walking through London afterwards with our flags and hats on. That part honestly felt horrible, especially for the girls. It made them uncomfortable seeing so much anger and hate over people simply loving a country and being proud of their heritage.