Rethabile introduced me to Geoffrey Philp a couple of months ago - now I visit his blog all the time. This poem he wrote reminds me of the conversation a few weeks ago here on Black Looks on xenophobia, belonging and the words not to call people

Red by Geoffrey Philp

It burst from those lips that I’d adored, “You’re just too red!”
The curse of being apart, neither black nor white, but red
followed me through the streets, staining the shadow
of those fires that flared behind my mother’s garden: red
ginger towering over anthuriums with their naked phalloi
straining against the bark of the live oak, stunned red
petals bending in the sunlight to the weight of shame,
their pliant skin absorbing yellow and blue to become red
like the way by resisting we become the thing we fear the most–
as I now accept this blessing freed from race. Call me Red.

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Poetry + Caribbean

Via Poefrika

This poem has a special meaning for me as I grew up in Nigeria being called “half-caste” and always despised the word and refused to acknowledge the term. Even today I meet Nigerians who continue to use the term either as a way of describing themselves or others leaving me cringing. The poem makes a mockery of the term “half”,

“half head half ear, half foot…….”half-caste” “coloured” “mixed race” “quarter-caste” “yellow” “high yellow” “low yellow” “red” “mulatto”, “quadroon” - how about just plain simple “Black”!

Excuse me
standing on one leg
I’m half-caste

Explain yuself
wha yu mean
when yu say half-caste
yu mean when picasso
mix red an green
is a half-caste canvas/
explain yuself
wha yu mean
when yu say half-caste
yu mean when light an shadow
mix in de sky
is a half-caste weather/
well in dat case
england weather
nearly always half-caste
in fact some o dem cloud
half-caste till dem overcast
so spiteful dem dont want de sun pass
ah rass/
explain yuself
wha yu mean
when yu say half-caste
yu mean tchaikovsky
sit down at dah piano
an mix a black key
wid a white key
is a half-caste symphony/

Explain yuself
wha yu mean
Ah listening to yu wid de keen
half of mih ear
Ah lookin at yu wid de keen
half of mih eye
and when I’m introduced to yu
I’m sure you’ll
understand
why I offer yu half-a-hand
an when I sleep at night
I close half-a-eye
consequently when I dream
I dream half-a-dream
an when moon begin to glow
I half-caste human being
cast half-a-shadow
but yu must come back tomorrow
wid de whole of yu eye
an de whole of yu ear
an de whole of yu mind

an I will tell yu
de other half
of my story
© John Agard

Listen to John Agard read the poem

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John Agard
Caribbean + Poetry
half-caste

A group of us including Marian of Marian’s Blog have re-named the March 17th Irish holiday “Billie Holi-DAY” to celebrate the forgotten Black people with Irish ancestry wherever they may be.

Most people do not know but jazz vocalist Billie Holiday, writer Alex Haley, Muhammed Ali and many other Black people in the Diaspora have Irish ancestry. As well as immigrants to the USA, a large number of Irish settled in the Caribbean, some as indentured servants used by the British to settle islands such as Montserrat which had the largest Irish population. Others went as merchants, plantation owners and missionaries to Guadeloupe, Martinique and Haiti. The islands were also used by the British as penal colonies similar to Australia.

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Billie Holiday
St Patrick’s Day
Irish

“Robert ‘Bob’ Nesta Marley OM (February 6, 1945 – May 11, 1981) was a Jamaican singer, songwriter, guitarist, and activist. He is the most widely known performer of reggae music. Marley is regarded by many as a prophet of the Rastafari movement.

Marley is best known for his reggae songs, which include the hits ‘I Shot the Sheriff’, ‘No Woman, No Cry’, ‘Three Little Birds’, ‘Exodus’, ‘Could You Be Loved’, ‘Jammin”, ‘Redemption Song’, and ‘One Love’. His posthumous compilation album ‘Legend’ (1984) is the best-selling reggae album ever, with sales of more than 12 million copies.
[more…]”

You will have heard of Bob, who has had a good influence on many Basotho of my generation. We jammed to his music and struggled with his philosophy in mind. He is one of my favourite musicians of all time. Happy birthday to him. Geoffrey Philp says a lot more about Mr. Marley and his message.

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