However moved I am by Aditya Chakrabortty’s article about Giovanni Rose, a prize-winning young black poet (The teenager’s poem that reveals the cruel reality of life in modern Britain, 23 December), I can only feel a limited sense of optimism for his future. I fear that he will continue to feel the effects of institutional racism throughout his life. If this were not so, then why have the injustices suffered by members of the Windrush generation still not been properly addressed?
Over 50 years ago, another young black teenager wrote a poem. She was spirited and rebellious. Little wonder. As a pupil in a school for “educationally subnormal” pupils, she was feeling the full weight of a racist judgment that had already blighted her life. I was her teacher whom she accused of treating her harshly “just because I’m black”.
To make amends for her outburst, she wrote a poem for me in her jotter. I will regret for ever that I failed to keep this amazing, moving and well-written cry for help. I resigned shortly afterwards in search of a “better career”, leaving her behind in a totally unsuitable environment. How I wish that she could have had the inclusive support of a school like Giovanni’s. But supportive schools are not enough.
I would love to meet her now to talk about how our lives have gone. We are not that far apart in age. However, I fear that her life will not have passed as easily as mine. I could not have written a poem like that. But I was white and privileged. She was a member of the Windrush generation and already damned.
Joan Lewis
St-Etienne-de-Gourgas, France
• Thank you, Aditya Chakrabortty, for your heartfelt article on Giovanni Rose, who won a Foyle Young Poets of the Year award. I am a retired headteacher who spent my whole career in inner-city schools in the north-east. I have seen first-hand the reality of life for a huge proportion of the population. Everything is stacked against young people who grow up in poverty, and Covid has increased the divide between the haves and have-nots to a shocking degree. I am still in contact with many of the families I worked with and continue to marvel at their resilience, wisdom, humour and love in the direst of circumstances. “Great” Britain we are not.
Judy Cowgill
Blaydon, Tyne and Wear
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