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Cool Britannia: For Black History Month

Stuart Butler

Tuesday, October 15th, 2002

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 By all that’s calendrical,
Black History month seems somewhat tokenistic
Don’t you think?
By all that’s zodiacal,
It amounts to just one twelfth of the total,
Just 8 point 3 per cent of the annual,
Leaving 91 point seven per cent of the year
Allocated, presumably, and understandably,
To the ceremonies and rituals
That mark the passage of the seasons,
According to the traditions of, as it were,
White Anglo-Saxon Britain;
Traditions that can, myopically,
Forget the Remembrance Day Empire contributions
Made by Black and Asian troops in 2 World Wars,
And can ignore the reliance on loyal Asian seamen
Made by our Hearts of Oak merchant marine.
So let’s let every month be designated
For the remembrance of history,
And let’s let every one of these islands’ ethnic groups
Have its turn of remembrance,
And let’s learn from each other,
And let’s learn about each other,
So that a rainbow Union Jack
Will fly from every car aerial and flagpole,
In post-Imperial Wembley Britain,
And there will be Black in the Union Jack:
Cool Britannia.

© Stuart Butler

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/cool-britannia-for-black-history-month-2/