Madison sends a message to racists (From Barry And District News)

Madison sends a message to racists

MADISON James-Spinola may be just seven-years-old, but she is already playing a big part in the fight against racism.

The Palmerston Primary School pupil designed one of the winning paintings in a competition organised by anti-racism charity Race Equality First.

And now her picture will appear in the October section of the 2006 Schools Against Racism calendar.

Madison's painting was chosen from hundreds of entries, in a competition open to school children across Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan.

The theme of the competition was Communities Together for Race Equality.

Madison was presented with a certificate and 50 in vouchers, and her school was presented with a 150 cheque.

The competition, sponsored by Julian Hodge Bank, has been running since 1998.

It was set up after it was discovered that there was a high incidence of racial discrimination and racial harassment among school children in South Wales.

Chair of Race Equality First Jaswant Singh said: "We are delighted that so many children and schools took part in our annual competition and were inspired by the theme of Communities Together for Race Equality.

"We all belong to different types of communities - our school community, our neighbourhood, our country.

"It would be good if we could follow the example of the children who entered and we could all work together for race equality and make a world where we understand, respect and value each other."