LETTER: So important to look beyond the colour of my skin

I wrote the following poem due to the situation that is happening about the police officer who knelt on George Floyd who kept saying he couldn't breathe. It is also a poem to represent positivity in black and of mixed race people.

Look at me please, tell me what do you see

I bet most of you can only describe the outer of me

Yes my skin colour might be different then yours

But cut you and I and I bet the same colour blood pours

Look at me please, tell me what do you see

A young mixed black girl fighting to be free

Free from the stereotype from the hatred and abuse

But it's not just me who faces this racism he missed a goal yes he missed but the colour of his skin isn't the excuse

Look at me please, tell me what do you see

A person who is trying to do her best and just wanting to be

A positive role model in this world, a woman with a lot of love to give

Not troubling you, not taking your jobs just doing what I can so that I too can live

Look at me please, tell me what do you see

What do you achieve when you kill him or she

They were resisting arrest they were struggling with the police

But what do you expect when they come at them with hatred and not peace

Look at me please, tell me what do you see

The attitudes of the older generation because no baby sees a difference in the colour of you and me

So look at me please, tell me what you can see

Remember there is an inner side to the outer of me.

Tanya Louden, Wolverhampton