Pastor fury at racist’s Xmas card
A BLACK pastor who received a sick Christmas card showing a monkey and defaced with the taunt “this looks like you” is asking police to take it seriously.
Rev Philip Oyewalo, 42, said it was the third such card he has been sent yet, initially, cops “didn’t want to know”.
One of the other cards said: “You can use this picture in your passport.”
He said hate-filled letters complaining about noise from his church and fumes from the congregation’s cars have called them “African savages”.
There has even been a note reading “Africans go home” stuck to the door of Liverpool’s Pentecost Baptist Church, which is a regular target of arson, vandalism and theft.
Mr Oyewalo said: “When this latest one arrived I was very angry. This is England. We’ve been in this church for 13 years. It should not be happening.”
The dad- of- five, who moved from Nigeria 16 years ago, said police sent an officer only after he put a message on Facebook. He said: “I don’t believe they took this card and these racial slurs seriously enough.
“A church down the road doesn’t get this hate because they are a white church while our congregation is mainly black.”
He wants police to take steps to find the culprit so the letters and cards stop.
Mr Oyewalo added the 400-strong congregation, from 15 African nations, need reassurance that police will act.
He said: “My children were born in Liverpool. This is our home. But you do see racism in everyday life. A lot has changed but it is still there.
“I’ll not let people look down on me because of the colo colour of my skin. But there is a lot of anger out there at the mo moment and it’s not helped by a toxic political envir environment.”
A police sp spokesman said “specially trained detectives had investigated thoro thoroughly” and no a action would
be taken.