I Wish I Could Go back…

I wish I could go back to before I was woke
Before I knew better and the words made me choke
When I could brush aside the micro-aggressions
And I didn’t worry about first impressions
When it was all locked up on news I never saw
But now my eyes are opened and the pain is raw

I see my brothers and sisters with no voice
I see uncles and aunties without a choice
I see white politicians, lying on screen
I see brown people crying, lied to and demeaned

I see black boys beaten, black boys gunned down
I see every legislation designed to drown

It’s touching my hair without consent
It’s being “colourblind”, I know what you meant
It’s dragging a child off a bus or patrons from a shop
It’s insidious, it’s disgusting, and it has to f**king [ed] stop

I’m proud of my heritage, though I was born in this nation
My father’s from Grenada, I’m second generation
Don’t pretend you don’t see colour, don’t deny my race
Don’t act like you don’t know I have a brown face

We’re 50 years on from “No Irish, No dogs, No blacks”
Or so we thought, is this payback?
When politicians are complicit what recourse remains
Angry black men and women stifle their pain

Lydia Bernsmeier-Rullow
Poet in Residence
mikeshaft.com