Black Lives Matter

In June 2020, in response to the Black Lives Matter campaign, Inspire! young parents project created a group poem, working with Associate Artists Cecilia Knapp and Sarah Blanc.
As part of a collaboration for WORD2020 with House of Illustration and Pop-Up, a commission was offered to participants in Pathways - a two-year programme for the next generation of talented illustrators from diverse backgrounds - to illustrate the poem. Three illustrations were chosen, created by Chanté Timothy, Holly Bushnell and Glory Alozie. The poem and illustrations have been published on Instagram for WORD2020 #WellConnected festival.

---

BLACK LIVES MATTER

Raise your hand if you would want to be treated like a black person.

No?

This is the reason.

The pain, the struggle, the inequality.

It's time to make real change

for our young kings, queens, brothers and sisters.

They need to grow up proud, not scared.

Is this life?

Let’s stand together,

fingers intertwined,

hand in hand

strong as one.

Solidarity. 

Time to own up to yourself,

time to educate, to be woke.

Don’t just fight on Instagram,

fight in real life.

Fight in your way, it can be different to others.

We breathe the same air

but my air gets squeezed out

because of the colour of my skin,

though we bleed the same blood.

The system is made for you, not for me.

End police brutality.

Now is the time to make this a reality.

We are all one.

by Inspire! Young Parents working with Cecilia Knapp and Sarah Blanc

Illustration by Chanté Timothy
Pathways programme with House of Illustration and Pop-Up

Illustration by Holly Bushnell
Pathways programme with House of Illustration and Pop-Up

Illustration by Glory Alozie
Pathways programme with House of Illustration and Pop-Up