WE SING FOR ALL MEN. to Hakim Adi, Marika Sherwood and Chris Searle.

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Gerard Marsh
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1 Rasta Ites home Natty Mark Index Ites Zine WE SING FOR ALL MEN to Hakim Adi, Marika Sherwood and Chris Searle. Hakim: We three have been honoured, To remember Peter. Remove him from the section, Of the Unknown Soldier. Raise a monument in voice, To one who used his so well. We the celebration committee; Peter Blackman's saga to tell. Marika: Article became torpedo Editorial missile Hakim: It's time to recall Voices: His fearless fighter file Hakim: So from the beginning, Childhood in Barbados. Of the colonial gain, The communities' loss. Mother a laundress, Father a mason. Marika: With commerce came church Here came the Anglican. Hakim: Plantocracy said ''No.'' Marika: Only letters slaves possessed, Were those branded on their chests. Hakim: Then came Thomas Harrington, Marika: Followed by Christopher Coddington; Voices: Men on a different quest.

2 Hakim: They built colleges in Bridgetown. Bringing Sciences, As well as Theology. Training for blacks As local officials; The unavoidable clergy. Sustained by scholarship, Peter went to both - A Theology degree. Then off to Gambia, A country of Islam; Christian missionary. Marika (sung): Peter, Peter, The mission hit you hard. Where you did not, Expect it to exist - They dealt the same old card Chris (sung): Bishop, Bishop, Disparity in pay. Made his protest, To finger-blocked ears; He knew he couldn't stay. Hakim: The time to go. Farewell to congregation, Goodbye to the Cross. Something else came in, To fill the void, It came and conquered loss. Marika: From Gambia to Barbados - Then onward to Britain. His season of joining, Time of organisation. Marika: Left Jesus Christ in Gambia,

3 Joined Karl Marx in London. Hakim: He joined the great joiners, That wonderful coterie. Voices: We will talk of Pan-African. Hakim: Peter and Ras T. Makonnen. Marika: I will talk of W.A.S.U. I will talk of L.C.P Voices: We will talk of Association. Hakim: Peter and Krishna Menon. Marika: I will talk of L.A.I. I will talk of N.W.A. Voices: We will talk of trade unions. Hakim: Peter and I. Wallace-Johnson. He became chairman of the NWA, Organised picnics and outings; Children happy at play. Raised in the Caribbean, He supported the awakening; The unrest and labour action. In the land where it snowed, He fought discrimination; Battled their colour code. Negro Welfare Association, Attached to the League Against Imperialism. Marika: L.A.I. brought the Irish fighter, Alongside those from India. Sections worldwide, In South Africa and Cuba. Gandhi and Nehru signed up, Albert Einstein as well. L.A.I. under surveillance-

4 Watch out for Vernon Kell. L.A.I. Britain, Had Brockway and Bradley. Chairman and secretary, Respectively. MI5 watched Peter Blackman, They bugged his phone and opened correspondence. Introducing the doctor, The one Harold Moody; Man behind the L.C.P. Trained at King's College, Racism said ''No''; So a private surgery. Peter wrote articles, Sometimes edited; L.C.P. journal The Keys. Against the onslaught, Supported the creative; Published art and poetry. Jomo Kenyatta, Padmore and Robeson; Came in affinity. He worked alongside Una Marson, In the League of Coloured People's. Marika: Amy Ashwood Garvey comes in here, Alongside Ladipo Solanke, And Herbert Bright. When we talk of W.A.S.U. Of a Camden hostel; And Ofada stew. It was a source of solidarity,

5 Rendezvous for strength - A Necessary network. When we talk of W.A.S.U. Of camaraderie; Time to take the cue. Students Gold Coast and Gambia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria - Medicine and Law. When we talk of W.A.S.U. The template they set; We can follow too. Founded in nineteen twenty-six, The West African Students Union. Once there was a marriage, Fell in disrepair; Three children later in care. Marika: War came. Denied pilot training, He made the bombers instead. Had to play his part; Blackshirts hated the Red. Post-war here and there, In eastern Europe; Wrote for the press also. Whether in Paris, London, Budapest or Prague; Stream of consciousness flow. Writing in French, Published in their journals, Such as Presence Africaine. It recognised beauty, Celebrated culture;

6 Paid homage to tradition. Hakim: Senghor and Cesaire Marika: Camus and Sartre Hakim: Man at the top Marika: Known as Black Socrates Voices: Alioune Diop. Hakim: Forced on the offensive, Peter was in essence, A combatant for peace. But those bombs kept coming, So he wrote torpedos without cease. '49 and '50 Found him in Paris, Conferences for Peace. Peace for the monied ones? Someone was holding the lease. Hakim: Put Desmond Buckle And Reginald Bridgeman, On his friendship list - When names are etched in stone. Marika: Shared a conference with DuBois, Toured the Union with Robeson; Voices: Wrote a poem to Claudia Jones. Marika: After years of travel and action, He finished his time here; Working for British Rail, As a London mechanic. Part of the root, That produced the branch; Content to be another stick. After all the Town Halls, Time in Trafalgar Square,

7 Streets of cat and mouse; Work in a north London yard. They never knew his history. They never knew, That they stood beside a Bard. I loved his poetry, Long song of you and I; Ballad of humanity. Marika: My Song Is For All Men. We all had wished that that one, Had come from our pen. Hakim: Epic Stirring Marika: Majestic One of the great poems, Of the 20 th century. Marika: I agree Hakim: Make that three. Marika: Ahhh Peter, I hope we do your life justice. Voices: I hope we do Hakim: I hope we generate your spirit. Voices: I hope we do. I hope we sing for all men... Voices: I hope we do. Natty Mark Samuels, African School

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