In this poem, Benjamin Zephaniah explores a scenario in which a black family moves in next door to a white family. He presents a number of stereotypes about black people, and the way white people normally perceive them, and deftly overturns these.
It took a while for many Britons to accept the change of the ethnic landscape that developed as black people from the former British colonies arrived in the country after the Second World War. Racism was common and even socially acceptable in some circles, and the situation for immigrants was often difficult. Britain is today a multicultural country with many different ethnic groups, and people have been forced to change their ways.
Benjamin Zephaniah, a British-Jamaican poet from Birmingham, has in many of his poems explored the topic of changing attitudes to race, and he writes particularly well about this in his poem 'Neighbours'.
Read through the poem once on your own, and try to identify the shift of tone in the poem.
I am the type you are supposed to fear Black and foreign Big and dreadlocks An uneducated grass eater.
I talk in tongues I chant at night I appear anywhere, I sleep with lions And when the moon gets me I am a Wailer.
I am moving in Next door to you So you can get to know me, You will see my shadow In the bathroom window, My aromas will occupy Your space, Our ball will be in your court. How will you feel?
You should feel good You have been chosen.
I am the type you are supposed to love Dark and mysterious Tall and natural Thinking, tea total. I talk in schools I sing on TV I am in the papers, I keep cool cats
