(15 April 1958 / Birmingham)

poet Benjamin Zephaniah
#30 on top 500 poets
What do you think this poem is about?

The Race Industry

The coconuts have got the jobs.
The race industry is a growth industry.
We despairing, they careering.
We want more peace they want more police.
The Uncle Toms are getting paid.
The race industry is a growth industry.
We say sisters and brothers don't fear.
They will do anything for the Mayor.
The coconuts have got the jobs.
The race industry is a growth industry.
They're looking for victims and poets to rent.
They represent me without my consent.
The Uncle Toms are getting paid.
The race industry is a growth industry.
In suits they dither in fear of anarchy.
They take our sufferings and earn a salary.
Steal our souls and make their documentaries.
Inform daily on our community.
Without Black suffering they'd have no jobs.
Without our dead they'd have no office.
Without our tears they'd have no drink.
If they stopped sucking we could get justice.
The coconuts are getting paid.
Men, women and Brixton are being betrayed.

Submitted: Friday, January 03, 2003


Read poems about / on: justice, fear, women, peace, sister, brother, woman

Comments about this poem (The Race Industry by Benjamin Zephaniah )

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  • Christopher Moore (2/2/2013 7:49:00 PM)

    I totally agree with this poem...thumbs up

    2 person liked.
    		0 person did not like.
  • Olumide Omoyele (8/2/2012 5:01:00 PM)

    We despairing, they careering.

    Poignant poem...truth indeed

    3 person liked.
    		0 person did not like.
  • Ella Stephans (6/10/2012 7:29:00 PM)

    Hello, this is an awesome poem! I am doing an essay on this poem, and i was wondering is this considered a poem about rascism? ?

    3 person liked.
    		0 person did not like.
  • Kolawole Ajao (6/4/2010 9:40:00 PM)

    For Andrew James: Zephaniah writes so that everybody can read, including you and I who went inside the four walls/not of prison but of college and those folks who populate the alleys and ghettos of all the corners. He said his mission is to take poetry everywhere, as it has never been done. You charged him with countering old sins of the West; sorry the guy is mad at your progenitors for the rapes committed against his own. Leave the poor alone, Andrew.

    6 person liked.
    		1 person did not like.
  • Andrew James (9/29/2008 2:36:00 AM)

    drivel... evidence that english culture is falling into a cesspool of illiterate dunderheads... zephaniah's ouvre is empty headed drivel... he has little to say other than preachy diatribes imparted with trivial insights slapped together for mass consumption and appeal... most children write better poetry than this garbage..

    4 person liked.
    		6 person did not like.
  • Reg Rachel (5/20/2006 3:51:00 PM)

    Ur poems r gr8! !
    1 day others will realize the true meaning.

    4 person liked.
    		1 person did not like.
Read all 6 comments »

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