Have a voice

Give an opinion 

Express yourself

Lay yourself bare

 

I'll tell you a story of a boy

His family are farmers - conservatives 

At the bottom of the lane, the pub used to burn a cross on bonfire night. It held the letters KWW - Keep Waterside White

His Grandma is agoraphobic, xenophobic and racist who told him in no uncertain terms not to marry a black girl

Before he passed away, his grandad would shoot at people searching for magic mushrooms on their land

His father liked Thatcher, criticised the miners and the unions and was a casual homophobe

His mother judges women by appearance and thinks Nigel Farage is a decent bloke. Her place is in the home.

His brother works for the police

His sister rides horses

One uncle is a millionaire and CEO

The other believes that mental illness does not exist and its treatment is dangerous 

The boy is christened, confirmed, went to an all white, Christian primary school and predominantly white, Christian secondary school.

He left secondary school and college with no qualifications through the arts. Only the important subjects.

 

There is another story about this boy but for now we will look only at these facts.

 

It may create an image in your mind

 

It would be easy to condemn this story

Sure enough it was condemned

By those who held the moral right

Opinions stronger than people

The boy grew fearful of people

Tried to hide his story

Became silent

Shut off from the world

Thought of the ways he could end the pain 

Sought to become a different person

To deny his past

Outwardly this worked

Inwardly...

 

People believed the moral of the story was that he had overcome 

They missed the point 

 

Inwardly... Sometimes, the majority ... Can feel like the minority

 

If I said all of that, could I still express myself?

Would you listen?

Or would I be condemned?