'I just had to do something': Helen helps counter Rashford mural graffiti

A member of the University of Huddersfield’s staff has spoken about how she helped start the overwhelming response to racist messages that defaced the mural of footballer Marcus Rashford in Manchester.

Helen Connor is a People and Organisational Development manager at the University and lives near the mural in Withington, south Manchester. Dismayed by the racist graffiti that appeared on the mural of the Manchester United forward in the wake of his missed penalty for England in the final of Euro 2020, she began to post supportive messages on the artwork. She was soon joined by dozens of other friends as well as total strangers.

A post on the Facebook page for the local Withington community had asked about what could be done, and initially it was suggested that stalls could be set up near the mural with proceeds to go to FareShare, the charity that the footballer is an ambassador for. Helen, however, took matters into her own hands.

Seeing the response in Withington had me on the verge of tears

Marcus Rashford

“It’s important to say that it was someone else who first asked ‘what can we do?’, then another lady said she had made some laminated hearts with words like ‘hero’ on them. They are the people that started this.

“But I was upset and angry about what had happened, then I decided I would paint over the graffiti because I felt so strongly about it.”

'My heart was singing'

Helen found that the mural’s original artist had already put plastic over the graffiti, but undeterred she began to plaster messages all over the wall.

“It was chucking it down, but I started to write words and phrases on Post It notes I had in my bag, and anyone who works with me knows that as a trainer I love a Post It note.

"Then I just started shouting at people, who obviously wondered what I was doing in the pouring rain, to get them to write some positive words.

“Most people knew that some awful, racist things had been written underneath, and then some started to put notes up. One woman told me she wanted to cry, our Hermes delivery driver turned up to add one, and even a man who had been in hospital and could not write wrote an ‘X’ on a note.

“My heart was singing afterwards, I was so proud of people. It is not an easy area to live in, but the majority of people in the area are really good, are not like the people who left the graffiti and are not racist. I was proud of people, although the first ones who came along probably thought I was a bit weird, but they deserve the credit. What a great community they are.”

Rashford was targeted with online racist abuse following England’s defeat to Italy on Sunday night, along with England team mates Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Sako. He was born and raised in Withington, and made the issue of child food poverty a national talking point in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“How could I look at my friends and colleagues of colour in the eye after this?” asks Helen. “I have always got involved and done things, I set up leadership courses in Kenya because I was brought up there and it is so close to my heart. Nothing could be as hard as that, and doing something at the mural was not difficult in comparison. It’s a tiny thing, and I do not have to face that racism every day.”

The reaction also left its mark on Rashford himself, who posted an emotional message on Instagram.

“Seeing the response in Withington had me on the verge of tears. The communities that always wrapped their arms around me continue to hold me up. I'm Marcus Rashford, 23-year-old black man from Withington and Wythenshawe, South Manchester. If I have nothing else I have that.”