Plymouth couple behind Street Factory reveal battle with racism in moving video for Black Lives Matter
A couple who founded a dance school focused on seeing people for who they are have spoken about the racism they have experienced.
In a moving video Toby and Jo Gorniak share their story of being a married mixed-race couple in Plymouth.
Jo says the racism they have both experienced is "so subtle" it would not be visible to many, and it is only through being married to Toby she has seen it first hand.
She says: "We've been to so many anniversaries, meals and occasions where they'll smile at me, but when they see Toby, they'll just, oh it's this look. I can't even explain it."
The mum of six says it was not something that happens on select occasions, but instead says it happens "all the time".
Toby, known as Toby G, is a Romany Gypsy refugee who came from Poland to Plymouth as a young child. In 2018, he was awarded an MBE by the Duke of Cambridge for his Outstanding Community Contribution.
Sharing his raw feelings Toby tells the camera he wishes people would "appreciate my life as much as their own", adding it is his experiences of racism throughout his life that leads him to live by respect, peace, love unity and fun.
Toby says he always has his family in the back of his mind, and staying safe for them.
He tells the video: “One of the things my wife says to me is ‘I need you to come home. At the end of the day, come home’.
"No matter what happens, no matter who does what to me, I’ve got to put my head down because I have six children and I’ve got to come home.”
Speaking about the Black Lives Matter movement Jo says "the world has had enough" and she wants everybody to stand together.