My installment for Manorlogz BHM Special, 'This Month' is one of my oldest poems but still seems relevant. Shout out to Gee; the folks at Vox Africa, Battersea Studios and all the poets who represented for this. Certainly wasn't the usual 'Windrush-waving' celebrations of struggle and oppression that has often constituted BHM's past.
By engaging with this project I have had numerous conversations about the appropriateness and relevance of BHM. Where it easy to write the whole thing off as segregation and tokenism, it seems that there are new conversations arising amongst a broad range of artists, social commentators and anyone else who gives a stuff about the changing nature of BHM and especially around how it is changing and adapting, as the context in which black politics is enacted changes and crosses over with other non-black (but still marginalised) groups experiences of inequality and resistance.
Perhaps BHM will come to be known as MHM (Minority History Month) or OHM (Oppressed History Month) and just very maybe, one day, the history of all people will be taught with parity and we can do away with the whole thing.
Next Gig: Friday 2nd November, Intimates at the Poetry Cafe, London. Hosted by Kat Francois.
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