Search results for ""Author Valerie Mason-John""

“I could have been born and raised in Africa. But my Spirit was in too much of a rush to be reincarnated…At six weeks I was chucked out into the new year of 1965 which wasn’t prepared to welcome on African baby, abandoned on a harsh English winter’s day.” So begins Pauline’s spirited and moving story of her childhood and teenage years in and out of foster homes and back and forth to Dr. Barnardo’s Village in Essex. Her Barnardo’s family was ruled by an unlikely trio—Aunty Claire, a fervent Christian; her laconic husband, the German Jewish Uncle Boris; and Aunty Morag, the cook. And, of course, other kids orphaned or abandoned like Pauline. Woven into this account are Pauline’s angel and spirit companions—Sparky, Annabel and Snake— who by turns help and hinder her to survive in the “real world.” The Barnardo’s good times are shattered by the sudden visits of her mother, whom she calls Wunmi and with whom she goes to live in a London high-rise. Wunmi’s method of refashioning Pauline into a dutiful African child is literally to knock the English out of her. Pauline tries other ways to survive—sniffing glue and shoplifting—until the harsh realities of detention centres and juvenile courts make Pauline think again…

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Social Justice Poetry Spoken-word poet Valerie Mason-John unsettles readers with potent images of ongoing trauma from slavery and colonization. Her narratives range from the beginnings of the African Diaspora to the story of a stowaway on the Windrush, from racism and sexism in Trump’s America to the wide impact of the Me Too movement. Stories of entrapment, sexual assault, addictive behaviours, and rave culture are told and contrasted to the strengthening and forthright voice of Yaata, Supreme Being. I Am Still Your Negro is truth that needs to be told, re-told, and remembered. Foreword by George Elliott Clarke. I was your Negro Captured and sold I am still your negro Arrested and killed —from “I Am Still Your Negro”

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