This
short poem by Benjamin Zephaniah is an account of the racism that he has experienced,
documenting society's tendency to pigeonhole him into a specific role. The poem is careful to
showcase Zephaniah's individual voice and, therefore, his personality.
The
verse is written with the phonetic pronunciation of words that display Zephaniah's Jamaican
heritage. This is a gesture of complete fairness on the part of Zephaniah. He is not attempting
to appeal to a white audience by adopting the speech patterns that they would consider
acceptable. Instead, he showcases himself exactly as he is, issuing a bold challenge to any
preconceived notions that the world may have about him.
With the last line
of the poem, Zephaniah is flipping a common rebuttal on its head. He is acknowledging that
oftentimes when white people are forced to confront their own racism, they respond with the
assertion that they "have black friends." Zephaniah is disarming the assumption that
he is antagonistic toward white people before they even have a chance to direct that argument at
him. He is making a claim against patronizing racism that does not call out any particular
person for being deliberately antagonistic, but instead addresses ignorance in general and the
frustration that he feels with it.
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