Maria is an inspiration. In continuously striving for the things that she believes in, (equality and justice), she has broken down barriers in education, communities and the media throughout her working life, making her one of the most remarkable black women in Liverpool and quite fittingly voted amongst the Top 50 black Merseysiders. As one of the founders of the L8 Law Centre, O’Reilly has many stories to tell and much to be proud of. Tough talking, yet warm and softly spoken, she told Diverse her impressive story.

What did you do before the L8 Law Centre?

After becoming a mother I went into higher education to study social work. I was 26 years old. I was part of the first group of black Liverpudlians to train in social work, along with Brenda Freeman and Wally Duff. Very few Liverpool-born black people were accepted into higher education at that time – in fact, there were huge barriers to stop us getting educated at all.

How did the L8 Law Centre come about?

I became involved with the Merseyside Community Relations Council, which was funded by the CRE and set up after the Race Relations act in 1976. We did a lot of race equality and discrimination work with groups across Merseyside, and particularly in the L8 area. After the 1981 race riots, a group of us were elected by the community to form a Defence Committee. We monitored the courts and defended the L8 community against the bad press it was receiving, giving the media the real reasons behind the riots. The Defence Committee set up the L8 Law Centre in 1982 in partnership with Wally Brown, who had been a spokesperson in the riots and became the first black principle of the Community College.

What did your work involve?

We dealt with racial terrorism and fought for equal rights. We worked with regeneration and housing, making sure money that came into the city also went into the L8 area. Of course we fought to get resources for white people too – after all, L8 was 60% white and 40% black. The Law Centre became involved with a lot of policy work, and we set up courses to train black women and men to become councillors. Immigration work was also important to us, and we helped asylum seekers who were treated unjustly to form their own organisations in order to defend themselves. It wasn’t easy; we were never financially viable as we were always giving money away – allowing people to photocopy for free, writing letters for them when needed. And we were arrested many times for protesting. It was tough!

What is your opinion of the Capital of Culture year?

The ‘World in One City’ phrase was coined in L8 and is the intellectual property of the L8 Law Centre, and we’re happy that it’s now out there. L8 was always the only part of Liverpool that had a real mix of different people and cultures – it was the real Capital of Culture. I just hope that the black community groups within it actually got access to the funding this year. I don’t know whether that happened or not, to be honest.

What are your thoughts on L8’s Irish connections?

The connection between the black community and the Irish community is very strong, and is due to the timings of the black and Irish settlements in the area. There is definitely a bond between the two, although you were never as likely to get racist abuse in Liverpool if you were white, Irish, and you kept your mouth shut. Of course it wasn’t the same for black people.

Tell us what you think about November’s BNP march in Liverpool…

The BNP has always tried to disrupt things in Liverpool between white people and black people, but they’ve never got away with it. When I was younger we would prepare for them by handing out fliers and leaflets to inform people beforehand. So I really don’t understand how they’re allowed to be on our streets now. It actually makes me want to vomit to think that during the Capital of Culture year we had Nazis standing on our streets. And it’s not freedom of speech. It’s not free speech if you’re taking away other people’s rights and spreading lies and stereotypes.

Can you see a lot of potential for black Liverpudlians today?

I’ve got the greatest of faith in them. There’s an admirable group of youngsters who have got together to set up a black vote group, which I think is very important as there needs to be more black youngsters in positions of power in the city. So many just need a chance. I was sad to hear that the Black Witch had closed down – another grassroots organisation closed due to lack of funding. I just hope that the people remain full of hope. I want them to know that nothing is impossible, and that they should never take no for an answer.

What are your hopes for the future of L8?

There are lots of good leaders in L8. There are so many things that people take for granted nowadays in the area that we had to fight for because we never had them. I just hope that the youngsters get the chance to build on what we did – we tried to push open the closed doors. I hope that they continue to push them open.