Transcriber: Mohand Habchi Reviewer: Denise RQ
My name is Indigo Williams. I am a poet and a spoken word educator.
And I'm going to be sharing two poems with you all today.
The first is titled "Dark Black".
Your aunt Sharice used bleaching cream.
Your mother explained what that was by saying,
"It’s when you set fire to yourself
so others will compliment the light of your burning."
You didn't understand this, until the day a black girl cursed you dark skinned.
You learned that black wasn't one color. It had different degrees of shame.
Yours got you cornered in a playground
by bullies who kicked your face into the ground
just to prove how much your skin looked like dirt.
It was then you began to see the distance between each shade,
and why your aunt would want to crawl towards a lighter type of rejection.
One night in the bath, you tried to scrub your black off as though it was mud
that wouldn't peel when it was picked on.
You put your hand under the hot tap to let it scald you clean.
But no amount of throbbing lit the dark in you.
When your mother asked about the burn, you told her what the girl said
and how you [understood] aunt Sharice.
What else can you do when your darkness is so steep?
No one wants to suffer you.
Your mother told you
that of all the tragic things you may suffer in this life,
your dark skin isn't one of them.
There is nothing to mourn about black.
Thank you.
(Applause)
Thank you.
(Applause)
My second poem is titled "The Wrong Truth".
And it's inspired by a lot of the experiences I've had.
And it's kind of me making fun of a lot of things
that we kind of assume about each other,
and we kind of, maybe, internalize in ourselves.
And this is tilted "The Wrong Truth".
According to statistics I'm above the average height.
I am 5'8", size 8,
and only 5% of the population share the same figures.
I grew up in Brixton in a single parent home
so statistically,
that means I am likely to never earn beyond a certain wage bracket.
I went to a poor performance school, so I'll probably never own my own house.
But I'll have a child outside of wedlock with a deadbeat spouse.
I'll live in a council flat that the government gave me.
And my offspring will be another addition
to the problem of gun and knife crime in society.
Because, well, that's what the statistics say.
And they say statistics are right.
So I'm all these things when you first see me,
because statistics help you to classify me.
According to stereotypes, I'm a black woman so that means I'm rude.
I twist my neck when I speak because I have an attitude.
I'm loud and unapproachable.
If you disrespect me, I become uncontrollable
because my only method of communication is through volatile speech
that escalates the situation.
I'm skinny, so in the eyes of the media I'm just right.
If I'm well-spoken, then I act white.
My name is either Keisha, or something that rhymes with "isha".
But if I'm African, it's Ola or Amma.
(Laughter)
Because Nigerians and Ghanaians are the only ones in Africa.
My father left when I was young.
So apparently, that means I have issues with men,
and every insecurity of mine somehow goes back to then.
I'm from Brixton, so that means
I like the ability of putting together a grammatically correct sentence.
I'm a girl, so that means I have issues with other girls.
But especially the ones that are pretty because they threaten me. (Laughter)
My hair is Afro Kinky so that means it's messy,
but if I wear weave then I have issues with my identity.
And God forbid that anyone should find out
that my boyfriend's white.
(Laughter)
Because that just means I want my kids to be light.
I'm all these things when you first see me,
because stereotypes help you to classify me.
But I was given a life to live it.
So let me live it. Let me discover, breathe, and be it.
Because I'm not the stereotypical cliché of whatever you imagine me to be.
I'm not here to be boxed in within the framework of a system
that has the majority of the population believe in
that they are whoever you say they are, and the truth is whatever you say it is.
I see right through you mister media.
Don't believe everything they are tellin' ya,
the corporate companies,
they use marketing strategies to capitalize on our insecurities.
No one questions or thinks to mention
that half the things we see on TV are just fabricated lies,
a distorted version of the truth that we believe in.
Because we trust in these power figures.
We quote these power figures.
We live our lives through blinded eyes and through the obscure perception
that another's difference is a substantial reason
to hold contempt and despise.
Do me a favor.
Whatever you thought of me when you first saw me, forget it.
Because I'm aware that every statistic and stereotype hanging over me
tells you that I am your enemy.
I am the one ruining your country.
I am distaste to your palate
so your tongue throws lashes at me like whips on the skin of my back.
I bleed red to show you that I am more than just black.
Our minds are in nothing more than a prison built to fear,
a mentality that tells us that the enemy is out there,
that we should stay safe within our box,
but understand, that belief system is nothing more than mental locks.
We are not enemies, my friends.
Look again, I have two eyes, one nose,
and I bleed red blood just like you.
But if you still want to see that enemy,
take a look in the mirror because it's you.
Thank you very much.
(Applause)