Page 54 - Everyone a Writer Anthology 2021

Just Like You and Me

I would be lying if I said I felt fully united,
More than two wars breaking out,
The first, invisible, silent,
The other, killing people in plain sight but with people ignoring it, and going on for years,
Looking above and over the lifeless bodies, black the bodies are,
Plies and plies of lifeless black bodies,
But no one says a word,
But when they do, tear gas “MY EYES MY EYES”, “I CAN’T SEE,”
Passing milk to wash out the pain that’s blinding you,

An echo of pain but still stood there with their fists strong,
Chanting “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe”

Not only giving awareness of people’s death because of the colour of their skin,
But because they can’t breathe from the oppression,
From the depression,
Eating away their insides,
The same insides me and you have,
The same insides that make them human,
Just like me and you,
Black the colour some people are so afraid of,
Feeding off black being, evil, dark, monstrous,
But ignore that black is elegant, kind, and beautiful.

Isabelle Smith, Y9
Meadowhead

I felt as lonely as a deserted ship. How the world has stopped by a blink of an eye. How the world has
changed and has become so different. Humanity is no longer as bright as a diamond glistening in the
ultramarine, dazzling sea. It has become as dark as the shades of the night. How people’s colour has been
treated so differently to black people’s colour. How their freedom was demolished in one bite. They are no
longer treated as the same - they are treated as someone who doesn’t matter in the world and someone who
doesn’t get a say in anything. The country is no longer free. I feel like it is locked up and black people are the
prisoners which is not okay. Black people being judged for who they are etched my vision. I feel so isolated - I
want to speak out and tell everyone that there is not anything wrong with their colour, it’s who they are and
you should never change for anyone. I wanted to start a revolution and protest to the government that every
colour matters in the world, not just white people’s lives because all lives matter and all colour matters in the
world. I want an explanation on why black people have to suffer with people being racist and saying their lives
doesn’t matter when it does. My angriness is insanity and smouldering. I was so inspired by clapping for the
NHS because they inspired me to keep going and save everybody’s lives. The NHS has given up so much time
to save people but they have had to witness death in front of them which makes them as brave as a soldier
going to war and fighting for their family and their lives. Black people shouldn’t be manipulated by white
people and do what they say because everyone has a voice and everyone has a right to use it.

Elisha Whittaker, Y7
Meadowhead

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