1. The Race Industry
By Benjamin Zephaniah
By Toti Burgio & Alejo Zubizarreta

2. Benjamin Zephaniah
•
His poetry is strongly
influenced by the music
and poetry of Jamaica
and what he calls
"street politics". His first
performance was in
church when he was
eleven, and by the age
of fifteen, his poetry
was already known
among AfroCarribean and Asian
communities.He
received a criminal
record with the police
as a young man and
served a prison
sentence for
burglary.Tired of the
limitations of being a
black poet
communicating with
black people only, he
decided to expand his
audience, and headed
to London at the age of
twenty-two.

3. Poem
•
•
The Race Industry
The coconuts have got the jobs.
The race industry is a growth industry.
We despairing, they careering.
We want more peace they want more police.
The Uncle Toms are getting paid.
The race industry is a growth industry.
We say sisters and brothers don't fear.
They will do anything for the Mayor.
The coconuts have got the jobs.
The race industry is a growth industry.
They're looking for victims and poets to rent.
They represent me without my consent.
The Uncle Toms are getting paid.
The race industry is a growth industry.
In suits they dither in fear of anarchy.
They take our sufferings and earn a salary.
Steal our souls and make their documentaries.
Inform daily on our community.
Without Black suffering they'd have no jobs.
Without our dead they'd have no office.
Without our tears they'd have no drink.
If they stopped sucking we could get justice.
The coconuts are getting paid.
Men, women and Brixton are being betrayed.

4. Analysis
This poem talks about how the unjust system and how the rich get richer and the poor •
get poorer. “the uncle toms are getting paid”
“We despairing, they careering” This shows how a group of people (whites) are
.prospering while another group is not
They represent me without my consent.” this means that they are generalizing the “ •
.black community and someone is representing who Benjamin (the black community) is
Without Black suffering they'd have no jobs.“ •
Without our dead they'd have no office.
Without our tears they'd have no drink.” This quote means that the rich couldn’t be where
.they are without the poor, and again shows how unfair the system is