B.L.M.

Lynval Golding, born 1951

Mendes, St Catherine, Jamaica

The year was 1954 you know

Sir Winston Churchill, shout across the West Indian Islands

Him seh "Come, help us re-build this country, devastated by war"

And so anyway, my father set sail upon the Windrush

Bound for a new life

My father was a tailor by trade

And so this could be the possibility of all possibilites

But no, there was no cloth to stitch

Instead yuh know wah? Him find work in a steel foundry

Pouring hot metal, day and night, day and night

And even worse, you know what I mean

Him try to find a room to rent, this was becoming a nightmare for him

Him knock on door, after door, after door

But the sign in the window keep sayin' the same thing

"No Darks, no Irish, no Blacks"

Welcome to England

I'm not here to teach you

I'm not here to preach to you

I just want to reach out

And say

Time move on

In 1964 my father shout across to Jamaica

"Son" Him seh, "Come join me"

So I set sail on a ship called the 'Askina'

When I reach Southampton, on a cold winter's night

Boy I was freezing

I want to tell the captain to just tek me back to Jamaica

But no, I was here to stay

So me father send me to a school

Linden Road school in Gloucester

I remember the first play time

A bwoy shout across to me "Oi you black bastard, come here"

I said "What?!"

He said "Come here you black bastard"

I still couldn't believe, I says "What?

Are you talking to me?

Are you talking to me?"

Boy, welcome to England

I'm not here to teach you

I'm not here to preach to you

I just want to reach out

And say

In 1994 I move again

The land of the free, the home of the brave

The United States of America

And there I was just walk along in the sun

Minding my own business

Such a beautiful day man

When I remember

I had to buy a watch for my sister's birthday

When boy eventually I found this store

As I walked through the door

This woman in the store shouted at me

"What you doing here, you god damn ****?!"

Said "I'm just, I'm just tryna buy a watch for my sister"

When she heard my accent she said

"Oh you're not from here, you're not one of them"

"One of them" I said

"You mean me bein' black

Well ma'am let me tell you somethin' here right

I am black, is that all you see

The colour of my skin?"

In England them call we a black bastard

In America they call you a god damn ****

Boy, welcome to my world

But I'm not here to teach you

I'm not here to preach to you

I just want to reach out

I'm sayin'

Black Lives Matter