Akasha Daley was born and raised in England. Already in her early childhood she found her passion in theatre and dance. In 2019 she started studying Physical Theatre at
Folkwang Universität der Künste. Prior to that Akasha was a long-standing member of the "National Youth Theatre of Great Britain". Akasha's special abilities and interests are especially devoted to "story telling" in theatrical spaces and movement contexts. Her main focus is on untold and unseen stories far from mainstream media.
Akasha has also found a passion for performance poetry and in the wake of the BLM Movement in spring 2020, Akasha looked for a way she could express her feelings of anger, hopelessness but most importantly empowerment that finally black people (and POC in general) were able to have voice and say enough is enough.
I DON'T SEE COLOUR by Akasha Daley
I don’t see colour.
Says every white person after being called out for the racist actions
not realising that the colour they don’t see
is what defines me.
I don’t see colour.
Says every white person
As they try to justify their reason for staying silent.
I DON’T SEE COLOUR.
Says another white person
after another and another and another
black human falls to the floor
reduced to nothing more than an isolated incident.
You don’t see colour?
Whilst watching the screen another name appears
Tamir Rice
Trayvon Martin
Sandra Bland
George Floyd
And yet
you still don’t see us.
White people be so afraid of being called racist
(their form of the ‘N’ word)
That they’ve built up these walls of
“I don’t see colour.”
Well.
Good for you.
Because behind those walls
I am
A Nigger
A Coon
A Pickaninny
Half-caste
And quite simply
A Monkey
Just another wild animal for you to shoot
oh wait
I forgot
you’re not a racist.
So perhaps you can dress me up in your finest clothes
and tame my hair
and please oh please
educate me
because you don’t see colour.
You don’t want to see my colour.
says every white person
for the last four hundred years.
Weblinks
Very powerful in its clarity and honesty. A kasha’s voice needs to be widely heard.
A well observed powerful punch of a poem! Thought provoking , strong .a voice to be reckoned with .. a voice to be heard .. Akasha’s poem is food for thought in a time when change is needed
This is raw and beautiful