Local Poet Commissioned For Wreath Of Remembrance Of Hope & Healing
13th July 2022
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A local poet, who performs with collective Poets Against Racism, has been commissioned to write a poem for the inaugural ceremony of the SuCoTeTo Wreath of Remembrance, Hope & Healing on Sunday 24th July.
Ian Henery. who has performed with Poets Against Racism 3 times at the Wolverhampton Literature Festival, including in the Arena Theatre, has been commissioned to write a poem about the wreath.
"SuCoTeTo stands for sugar, cotton, coffee, coco, tea and tobacco" explained Ruthlyn South of Communities Against Racism in Wolverhampton "and we are remembering those ancestors who were enslaved, dehumanised and exploited for profit. We are also remembering those along the way who have been impacted by racial trauma based on skin colour and the brave abolitionists who challenged a trade built on cruel inhumanity."
The ceremony is to symbolically and peacefully honour the many brave activists, past and present, who brought about restoration, healing and change. The ceremony will commence at 3pm at Wolverhampton Central Seventh Day Adventist Church in Horseley Fields, Wolverhampton WV1 3SD with special guest speakers Professor Sir Geoff Palmer, named amongst the "100 Great Black Britons" in 2007, the Bicentenary of the passage of the Slave Trade Act 1807 and Paul Lee, who sang with The London Adventist Chorale and won the Sainsbury`s Choir of the Year and BBC Radio 2 Gospel Choir of the Year. Paul sang for the Princess Royal and led Stand By Me at the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
"The challenge" explained Ian Henery "was to write a poem about the categories pertaining to the wreath which includes brown for the colour of coffee, coco, tea and tobacco, white for the cotton flower, a square for sugar cubes and a red dot for the blood that was shed picking the products including death by enslavement, death by activism and death through police violence and brutality. Ultimately, the red dot also symbolises religious faith and the evil of hatred. We are all one blood, one race and one people".
