The Race Industry
May 16, 2007.
By Benjamin Zephaniah
The coconuts have got the jobs.The race industry is a growth industry.We despairing, they careering.We want more peace they want more police.The Uncle Toms are getting paid.The race industry is a growth industry.We say sisters and brothers don’t fear.They will do anything for the Mayor.The coconuts have got the jobs.The race industry is a growth industry.They’re looking for victims and poets to rent.They represent me without my consent.The Uncle Toms are getting paid.The race industry is a growth industry.In suits they dither in fear of anarchy.They take our sufferings and earn a salary.Steal our souls and make their documentaries.Inform daily on our community.Without Black suffering they’d have no jobs.Without our dead they’d have no office.Without our tears they’d have no drink.If they stopped sucking we could get justice. The coconuts are getting paid.Men, women and Brixton are being betrayed.
Benjamin Zephaniah is a critically-acclaimed British poet, playwright and author. He also has his own rap/reggae band.
There are rumours that Zephaniah is Nelson Mandela’s favourite poet, and is the only Rastafarian poet to be short-listed for the Chairs of Poetry for both Oxford and Cambridge University. A civil rights activist, his latest novel, Gangsta Rap, is available at all reputable bookshops.
Copyright of Benjamin Zephaniah. Culled from ‘Too Black, Too Strong’.
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