Confronting Racism and Bigotry in the Poetic Works of Benjamin Zephaniah Salome Salo 12th Grade

The migration of people from the former colonies of the British empires following World War II resulted in an influx of authors and performers to the United Kingdom. Even though this influx resulted in Britain's multiple identities, black people were marginalized, relegated, and sidelined. The black community's marginalization has played a vital and pivotal role in informing the works of some of the significant celebrated black authors. Dr. Benjamin Zephaniah, born and raised in Birmingham, England, is a black author whose works have greatly impacted the world view of contemporary poetry. In particular, his works have been argued as "Black British poetry." In his work, Osborne (2020) alludes to black British poetry as a provision of a noticeably esthetic and appealing medium for actuating multicultural communication; where the consciousness of the milieu plays a substantial role in the appreciation and commendation of both the referents and allusions as well as in the reconnaissance of the poetry, in itself, as a conductor for countenance.

Zephaniah, in his works, brings out and portrays his feelings growing up as a person of color in a society that has been at the center of the oppression of marginalized groups. In this line,...