Cardiff’s first black mayor says people constantly mistake him for a waiter at official events

‘It happens about 30 to 40 per cent of the time,’ says politician

Dan De'eath is the first black Lord Mayor of Cardiff (Screenshot/YouTube/Cardiff Council)

Dan De’ath, the first black Lord Mayor of Cardiff, has said people mistake him for a waiter or security guard at official events “30 to 40 per cent of the time”.

The councillor was appointed to the post in May.

All previous holders of the office were white, according to Wales Online.

“As a black politician I have been out at events and people presume I’m a security guard or the wine waiter,” Mr De’eath said, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

“I don’t look like what they imagine a councillor looks like. Even now as mayor it still happens.

“It happens about 30 to 40 per cent of the time.”

Mr De’eath described such occurrences as “microaggressions” and said he experienced casual racism on a regular basis during his childhood in Warwickshire.

He moved to Wales to work as a researcher at the Welsh Assembly and was elected as a county councillor in 2012.

He added that crowds often assumed his white driver was the mayor.

“People conjure up in their mind a councillor as being white, middle-aged, wearing a grey suit,” he said.

“People don’t do it consciously, it’s unconscious. I don’t think they are doing it because they are racist – it’s the ideas they have about society about different roles.

“I think most non-white people to some degree will experience very small nuanced slights.”

In one anecdote, Mr De’eath recalled a fellow councillor at another South Wales local authority who asked him: “You’re not a councillor, are you?”

The 40-year-old said he was.

The man replied: “Ah, but you’re not in the cabinet, are you?”

Mr De’eath added that he was “really pleased and proud” to be the first black Lord Mayor of Cardiff.

“I really want to use the role to encourage other black people and from working class backgrounds to enter the public sphere,” he said.

“I thoroughly enjoy it – I love being a councillor. It’s the best job I’ve ever had.”