So, You Want to Talk About Race?
In light of the BLM protests and race being at the nucleus of Coronavirus, I thought I would post this poem I wrote a while ago
Update: Recently (Summer 2021) I found out about a book of the same as this post by Ijeoma Oluo. This poem was not based on that book in anyway whatsover, and the title is purely coincidental.
Let’s talk about race
let’s talk about the things
I saw in front of my ten y-o face
when the white kids
called all kinds of slurs
in every cricket match
it was always “yes sirs, no sirs”
in every rugby game, I’d go the distance
simply to assert my existence
clichéd like White authority against Black resistance
like being stung by swarms of wasps
spiders crawling over my shoulders
in a landscape of spoilt rich kids and shareholders
we sit for match tea, them watching
me put food in my mouth, like I’m any
different to them, that confident clout
they’d picked up from their parents
good manners and table etiquette
inherited from their Victorian grandparents
I spit my words out (like a bullet)
staring into vacant expressions
goldfish of ignorance and doubt
my brain boggled
like in that history class
when Brittania ruled the waves
Mrs… omits how we were cruel to slaves
a mind medley of stuff
so they made a cage for me
my wrists bound like they were handcuffs
when is a good time to bring race up?
and when I say something I’m told to shut up,
stop reading into it like Zodiac signs
I’m Scorpio that needs to stop reading astrological lines
as mine has a sting in the tail
a knee jerk reaction that flails
like the white waves of validation
from people who have no clue
what it’s like to live in Britain as Black or Asian
so set on their progressive political teams
they still salute Victoria and Winston with imperial memes
Let’s talk about race
let’s talk about the things
I saw in front of my 16 y-o face
It’s 2011 and not much
has changed since I was seven
talks about slavery still systemically muted
as black people are still routinely recruited
for prison programmes
like the Black soldiers who went out to Vietnam
trained by Uncle Sam to be killers
but it’s like Ali said, “no Viet Cong ever called me nigger”
but this isn’t a tale of black and brown or black against white
it’s about equal opportunities and equal rights
Let’s talk about race
let’s talk about the things
I saw in front of my 18 y-o face
I’m growing up now, I’m at college
trying to acquire knowledge
but what they’re teaching is fleeting
don’t tell me it’s not about race
when the application forms force us
to allot a colour to our face
so interviewers can tick a box
interview ten of us
but still give the job to goldilocks
qualifications and degrees get lost on CVs
when the surnames are more interesting, see
from Ventour to D’Alessandro, Yamfam and Chowudhury
Let’s talk about race
let’s talk about the things
I saw in front of my 20 y-o face
when the police just keep shooting
when the rioters keep looting
in the prologue to another H&M boycott
you only care about us when we’re performing
be it the Olympics or winning Great British Bake-Off
and you mutter something under your breath
thinking I haven’t heard it
oh I did, and you give me a look
same look you give to a black man reading a book
and there’s no “I’m sorry”, no remorse, no apology
just a snigger at this Black comedy
and you say “I’m not racist, but — ”
and now I’m going to follow Rosa and boycott your bus
I feel the rage bubbling in my belly
the anger rising, my voice wobbling like jelly
the daily rituals of looking for these endeavours
whilst these Twitter freaks call us the birds of a feather
me, my friends and my brother
universal narrative for people of colour
so keep quiet in these scenarios thinking it will pass
hoping for a casual meet up without having to talk race or class
nobody wants to talk about race
nobody wants to talk about those things
to my 23 year-old face
I’m a poet, I’m storyteller, I’m a bard
people criticise artists for showing racism the red card
as poetry’s meant to be nice
not to bring important political issues into the light
not to critique our leaders and corporate oversight
not to have a good moan against their masks and façades
to unveil the beasts bringing down their guard
but the talks in the UK about race is just repetition
as if people are trying the victims for perjury and sedition
folks saying they’re woke
but when it comes to race it’s just mirrors and smoke
I’m hoping that we can start this conversation
lowering the drawbridge to have talks on slavery and colonisation
and through these talks you’ll begin to understand
what we mean by racism and discrimination in Angle Land
dissecting privilege, willfull ignorance across the British nation
talking about gentrification like Boyz n the Hood
only through honest dialogue can this be understood
this is not me attacking white people
it’s about things being equal for all, not just those in the right places
and if we can do something about this fascist far-right spread
we can destroy these systems indefinitely, and kill white supremacy dead.
