Respect

We are the grandchildren of people who were asked to help after the war,

Our parents fought the ‘sus’ laws and the teddy boys,

They pay taxes and contribute to society,

Even when our country treats us unfairly we are patriots,

Every generation has been asked a hundred times ‘where are you from?’  ‘Do you like it here?’

What we’d like to say is ‘My granddad was a soldier, my grandma a nurse I am as English as you’,

Most of the time it is ‘Jamaica’,

When feeling defiant we say ‘England’,

They say ‘Your parents?’

We reciprocate with ‘England’ on and on until we eventually come to ‘Jamaica’,

The thing is we don’t ask you,

1st of all its rude,

2nd it doesn’t matter,

When will ‘Black British’ start meaning what it is?

                                                                        Dareece James, June, 2010.