Rest in Power: Benjamin Zephaniah

[Heid the Ba]

The British

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.

[Heid the Ba]

I'm assuming he's not well known furth of these airts, but he's one of the most powerful of current British poets.
https://youtu.be/wAGzUQxnvrk?si=NAS8tqznYQqug49T

[Lianachan]

Must confess, I’d never heard of him and if that OP is anything to go by he was well-intentioned but not an historian. Upon googling, he seems to have been a throughly good sort.

[Heid the Ba]

His history is a bit shite, but he was on the side of the angels. The last bit is the important bit. Be most excellent to one another.

[Richard A]

He was indeed. He definitely viewed Britain from a Caribbean perspective, so probably didn’t appreciate the Scottish perspective. But wonky though the history expressed in that poem may be, its point is clear. We are a nation of immigrants so it ill behoves us to claim immigrants are a problem.

[Heid the Ba]

Exactly.