To posts in two days to celebrate the work and the human that was Benjamin Zephaniah.
When I was eleven years old I started high school in High Wycombe, at a school full of bright and enthusiastic young boys from a wildly varied melting pot of that town and area, my experience of being among and around people from such different backgrounds.
Thirteen years after that, I moved to Cayman and immediately felt at home on a small island (then of 32,000 people, now of over 70,000, yet still tiny by most standards) and found over one hundred nationalities blended. Three sons were born and brought up there and they and their friends are distinctly products of that vibrant mix.
When I then moved to London a few years ago, I simply had to find a place that also had that melting pot feel, as I realised I feel quite “not at home” when I am amongst homogenous groups, so am so happy that I did move to live where I do, in the borough of Croydon. From that, quite recently I started helping coach the junior basketball teams of a local club and, of the thirty-five or so youngsters, I honestly couldn’t come close to telling you quite how many backgrounds they all come from, yet at the same time they are all distinctly bound by being from South London, an area with a distinct cultural mix and “glue”. I love it!
So, the poem below speaks to Britain, as well as to Cayman. It is the most perfect and beautiful expression of what I choose to believe is possible when we take the ingredients we have and cook and enjoy.
The British (Serves Sixty Million)
Take some Picts, Celts and Silures
And let them settle,
Then overrun them with Roman conquerors.Remove the Romans after approximately 400 years
Add lots of Norman French to some
Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Vikings, then stir vigorously.Mix some hot Chileans, cool Jamaicans, Dominicans,
Trinidadians and Bajans with some Ethiopians, Chinese,
Vietnamese and Sudanese.Then take a blend of Somalians, Sri Lankans, Nigerians
And Pakistanis,
Combine with some Guyanese
And turn up the heat.Sprinkle some fresh Indians, Malaysians, Bosnians,
Iraqis and Bangladeshis together with some
Afghans, Spanish, Turkish, Kurdish, Japanese
And Palestinians
Then add to the melting pot.Leave the ingredients to simmer.
As they mix and blend allow their languages to flourish
Binding them together with English.Allow time to be cool.
Add some unity, understanding, and respect for the future,
Serve with justice
And enjoy.Note: All the ingredients are equally important. Treating one ingredient better than
another will leave a bitter unpleasant taste.Warning: An unequal spread of justice will damage the people and cause pain. Give
justice and equality to all.