OUR TEACHER BLAIR
Our teacher Blair
Had tousled old hair
Big brown eyes
An enormous size
And they smiled when he walked
And they smiled when he talked
And whenever he stammered
His love only hammered
Our teacher Blair
He was always fair
Black white or brown
He’d never let us down
He taught us words
That made us fly like birds
And the meaning of together
And to stay that way forever
He taught us right
And how we’d have to fight
To make the world again
And find peace again
One hell of a teach
Was our Mr Peach
He didn’t make nno fuss
Just struggled and died for us
ANON, London
This poem was read out at a packed fringe meeting at the NUT Annual Conference last Sunday to remember East London NUT member Blair Peach, who was murdered by a police officer in Southall on 23 April 1979 whilst on a demonstration against the National Front. It is part of an anthology of poems for young people called One for Blair which anti racist teacher and now lecturer Chris Searle put together in 1989 to commemorate Blair on the 10th anniversary of his murder.
The message from this meeting was of the urgency needed now to organise against the BNP, with the European elections set for June. It is possible that this Nazi organisation could gain 7 MEP places if the turnout is low. We will need to organise in our areas to ensure that people exercise their right to vote and use it against the Nazi BNP.
1 comment:
A very moving poem. I can't believe it has been thirty years.
We must never forget our fallen comrades.And it is the thought of Blair that has kept me going in the fight for a better world.
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