A trade union officer who grew up on an island once governed by a Welsh plantation owner and soldier has welcomed Swansea Council's decision to review street names and symbols with links to slavery.
Kemba Hadaway-Morgan, speaking on behalf of the council's Unison branch, said the example set by Swansea councillors in endorsing a Black Lives Matter motion "should be emulated across the country".
But others have urged caution - and a by-election candidate in Swansea has even claimed the motion had stirred up racial hatred in the city.
The upshot of the motion is that a council committee will, in tandem with black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, look into whether any names or images should be removed, amended or displayed differently in Swansea.
But no decision on actually removing them has been made.
Unison equality officer and social worker Mrs Hadaway-Morgan said: "I think it’s an important statement of intent from my home town council to align itself with the Black Lives Matter movement in the fight for equality and an end to discrimination."
Mrs Hadaway-Morgan, who was raised in Trinidad, said she felt the movement had shown that all people "were not equal", and she called on every organisation in Wales to review whether it was doing enough to support a fair society and combat racism in all its forms.
Much of the debate in Swansea is focusing on Pembrokeshire-born Sir Thomas Picton, whose name prefixes a lane, terrace and arcade in the city.
He governed Trinidad more than 200 years ago, owned slaves and was convicted in court in London for authorising the use of torture to obtain a confession from a 14-year-old mixed-race girl accused of stealing.
The decision was reversed in a retrial two years later, although no final decision was given, and Picton later died in battle against Napoleon Bonaparte's armies at the Battle of Waterloo.
His demise is commemorated in memorials in Carmarthen, Cardiff and at St Paul's Cathedral, London.
Stan Robinson, who is standing as an independent in the postponed Castle ward by-election, said Lieutenant-General Picton had hid a serious musket wound to all but his servant before dying in a bayonet charge at Waterloo.
He said: "General Picton is now laid to rest in St Paul's Cathedral – an honour reserved for very few."
Mr Robinson said judging Picton by today's standards was wrong, and said the council had not received complaints about any building in Swansea connected to the slave trade between 2009 and 2019.
"The council and now Unison are stirring up racial hatred," he said.
Council leader Rob Stewart stressed that the authority did not wish to erase the past but learn from it and fill in the gaps.
He also warned people to think carefully about re-posting comments on Mr Robinson's Facebook page, and said he was considering referring some of them to the police.
He suggested that it was Mr Robinson causing racial disharmony with his comments, rather than the council.
The owners of Picton Arcade, meanwhile, have taken down signs to the shopping precinct.
Petitions to both rename and protect the name of Picton Arcade have amassed hundreds of signatures between them.
Part-owner, Michael Griffiths, said he did not have strong opinions either way, but had removed the signs for "refurbishment" ahead of a planned protest last Friday.
On Picton Terrace, Mount Pleasant, residents who spoke to the Local Democracy Reporter Service had mixed views about the debate.
Gerard Morgan said he'd only previously known about Picton's war-time heroics, and that his view had been altered by finding out about his slave-owning past.
Asked whether the name of Picton Terrace should be changed, Mr Morgan said: "If it offends somebody that has a right to be offended by it, then change it.
"But I think we should have a say in what it gets changed to."
Fellow resident, Arast Mohammai, said: "Changing it (the name) is better, because of the slaves."
Another resident, Wendy Shamsaee, said she didn't know anything about Picton until being briefed on his life story.
She said she felt he wasn't a very nice person but that the name of the street should remain, particularly as she and her parents before her had always referred to their house as "Picton".
"If people were offended by it, I would respect their decision," she said.
