A Black Lives Matter protester has been forced to remove her anti-racism posters after a council threatened her with legal action because they looked like planning applications.
Tsara Smith wanted to spread the message about racism around her local rural community, but felt that many people would ignore a traditional poster.
Instead, she designed her posters to look like planning applications to increase the chance of them being read.
But Mid Devon District Council’s legal team responded by serving her a cease and desist notice to remove around 30 poster over a 100 mile radius.
Tsara Smith has been told to remove around 30 anti-racism posters over a 100-mile radius as they look too much like planning documents
Tsara Smith said the ‘planning application,’ title at the top of the poster was a ‘play on words’
Ms Smith, a communications worker from a small village near Tiverton, Devon, said: ‘They didn’t have the words ‘black lives matter’ on them, but they were about building anti racist communities essentially.
‘They were a call to action for people to take a more proactive stance. They do say planning application on the top, it was a play on words.
‘I live in a small rural village and I know what people tend to read when it goes up in those spaces, and planning applications are things that people would pay attention to.
‘I thought it would be more likely to be read by people who wouldn’t typically read a BLM poster, it was to reach a wider audience.
Ms Smith said the application was about ‘building anti racist communities,’ in her local area
‘Clearly some residents were a bit confused by it and contacted the council, which resulted in the council issuing me a cease and desist letter.
‘They requested I stop putting the posters up – I also had to take down the ones I had put up.
‘They had clearly done their research as they knew where I’d put them up, I had to go back to each and every one and take them down.
‘I had to remove around 30 of them, it was about 100 miles radius through rural mid Devon to take them down.’
Tsara put up her posters during a 145 mile ‘ramble against racism’ walk where she visited every town, village, and parish in her area, over a series of weekends
The 38-year-old put up her posters during a 145 mile ‘ramble against racism’ walk where she visited every town, village, and parish in her area.
During the walk she carried a huge yellow ‘stand up to racism’ flag, and would talk to passers by about the murder of George Floyd.
She said that she was inspired after wanting to attend a BLM protest, but was saddened to hear there were none in her area.
Tsara continued: ‘I held a small protest in my village, approximately ten people attended. That’s a significant percentage of my tiny village.
‘I love to walk, I’m a keen walker, and there are lots of villages like mine and I put those two ideas together and decided to walk across my entire council area.
‘It was 145 miles in the end, I did it in the weekends, and I covered all the towns, villages and parishes that were on the map.’
Tsara was forced to collect 30 posters she had put up within a 100-mile radius while rambling
But after Tsara got the legal letter from the council, she had to redesign the poster and replace every one she had put up.
She added: ‘I was really disappointed to be honest, firstly that any members of the public felt that they needed to complain about something that was about being anti racist, secondly that the council didn’t take my posters in the spirit they were intended.
‘They weren’t imitating a council document, it was clear they were not an official document, no one could have looked at it and thought it was a proper planning application.
‘It doesn’t talk about building anything but a community against racism.
‘I’m disappointed they threatened me with legal action, that doesn’t seem like the action of a council that wants to promote equality.
In a statement, the council said that it supported the sentiment of the leaflets, but added that they had led to ‘confusion’.
It added: ‘Despite being completely on board with exploring areas for improved working in this area, we can’t support the use of literature which imitates our own for individual use, as this only leads to confusion for our communities, as was highlighted in this instance.’