The immigrants poem by Sam Greenlee is written to challenge the world’s views or at least Great Briton’s, on racial injustice and discrimination. This story argues from the perspective of African descent British people. They wonder why they are still seen as immigrants in their own country, solely because of the shade of their skin. The racism that people face in their own country is shameful. According to some people it doesn’t matter if you were born and raised there, you are still an immigrant in that place. The narrator in this poem asked “how bout that German Lady layin up in Buckingham Palace?” This is asking, how about the everybody else that is actually an immigrant, you are still immigrants even if your skin is “fish-belly white.”
This text connects with the world historically too. It talks of the Norman invasion as how they settled on lands that were not of their own. Through history other races and cultures have come to other countries and in little ways shaped what we know as today, England, New Zealand, Australia and pretty much every other country in the world.
For me this is just how New Zealand today is. Although compared to this poem, New Zealand is the other way around. We are working very hard to look after the native people of the land, “te tangata whenua”, Māori. Even though there are many different cultures of people living and calling this country home, we still acknowledge the original people that lived here first. Also in New Zealand there are instances when kiwi’s (New Zealanders) of Asian descent are seen as immigrants and are told to go home. This is really sad that people still have the nerve to treat others in a certain way solely based on their physical features. Since we continue to receive many Asian tourists, people continue to think that all Asians are tourists in our country, and due to the many road accidents caused by Asian, especially Chinese tourists, it really frustrates locals.
If I was in the position of not being wanted or recognized in my own country, I would feel very disconnected and lost. Sad too that people continue to discriminate, putting down people where they don’t deserve it.
I really recommend this poem as it challenges views that you might not have realised were there. Often we can still blame groups of people for faults of others.