Three quarters have experienced form of racial abuse in Wales, exclusive poll shows

Nearly three quarters of people in Wales who identify as black or from an ethnic minority background have said they have personally experienced racial abuse, an exclusive poll has found.

The opinion poll has revealed the extent of racism experienced by Welsh black and minority ethnic people in their daily lives.

It comes as ITV Cymru Wales is dedicating a week of coverage, both on television and online, to issues and experiences of black and asian people in their communities.

The poll found 63% of black and minority ethnic people thought the police had a culture of racism - while 54% thought that was true of our schools.

Fifty four percent also thought the UK Government was culturally racist, 35% thought that was the case with the Welsh Government as well.

50% saw a racist culture in television and radio and 59% in newspapers.

A common form of racism experienced by black and minority ethnic people was being asked where they were "really" from. Sixty six per cent said it had happened to them, either regularly or occasionally. Thirty per cent said they thought racism had affected their mental health.

The first day of dedicated coverage is to that of mental health in BAME communities. ITV Wales has been told issues such as access to services is a problem due to language barriers, tradition and religious aspects not being understood, and the stigma from the community.

More than half of people identifying as BAME believed that there is a "great deal" or a "fair amount" of racism in Wales, but 52% of white people thought that there's not much or no racism in Wales.

The series has been produced by ITV Wales journalists Tahmeena Alam and Amit Nathwani.

Tahmeena said she hopes the series will be an "opportunity" for people to "learn and educate" themselves about experiences unfamiliar to them.

"The BLM protests encouraged discussions around race and discrimination across society, workplaces and homes.

"It was important for me to highlight the issues that matter to people from minority ethnic backgrounds, who may not have had the confidence or opportunity to speak so openly before.

"If anything, I’d like to think this opens the door to rightfully showcase and give prominence to stories from all corners of society.

Throughout the week, ITV Wales will also be exploring stories of racism in rural communities, in the LGBT community, as well as in sport and the beauty industry.

"We have been given the opportunity to put a spotlight on how race affects people's lives", Amit said.

"Racism is not just something that's happening elsewhere. It's happening right here in Wales. We have the chance to share people's stories and hopefully make a difference to society.

"For this week, I've interviewed three sports people and it's clear to me that racism still exists in all aspects of life. One of them is ex-Wales captain Colin Charvis, who told me that he felt the media gave him more scrutiny because of his colour."

See more on this series Racism: Everyone's Problem? on ITV's Wales at Six from Monday and across our online platforms.

• The poll was carried out for ITV Cymru Wales by Number Cruncher Politics. 1,101 Welsh adults were questioned between 27 July and 8 August, including an enhanced sample of black and minority ethnic people.