Race Riot Poem by Jan Oskar Hansen

Race riot



In an English town a young black man
was arrested in his home and taken to the police cell,
something about the young man who had been involved
in a brawl.
In the morning he was released without charge.
He was not his jolly self, coming home, his mother said.
He went to bed early fell asleep the slumber
continued forever.
The police got the blame, and perhaps he was beaten,
a neighbour woman said, he had bruises all over his body
as usual, when people tell lies, she talked too much.
The black community came out stood outside the police station
shouting about police brutality.
Violence arose.
There was talk of compensation for the mother´s loss.
I have a dislike of uniforms, but in this case, I believed the police
They had nothing to do with the young man´s death
The newspaper published a picture of him
He looked rather bland and ill.
I know what the verdict will be he had a weak heart and died in his sleep.
But this is not what the people will accept; the riot will go on
until the authorities, for the sake of order, pay his mother some money
and soon, the young, black man is forgotten.