By

THOMAS 

ROUGHAN

The 7 year old Portsmouth poet

FULL INTERVIEW: Radio Solent

Released On: 21 Oct 2020

Listen here to poem and interview in full

Thomas Roughan, age just 7 wrote this poem with the Black Lives Matter Movement in mind.

Many adults have taken to written words to reveal feelings of emotion, pains of injustices and personal experiences of racism and none more so since the murder of George Floyd in 2020.

Creative education and art is often a therapy for young and old and may go some way help to come to terms and process what we have witnessed and to tell stories of shared experiences, our personal feelings and should be a lesson for us all that children feel too and not let this opportunity in history to pass without making the changes we all need to create for a just a fairer world.

The experience of racism does not bypass children

We often forget how adults effect and influence the young, we forget that racism affects all children and is demoralising and leaves lasting and deep trauma, adults have a responsibility to not pass on their own learn biases, prejudice’s and racism to the upcoming generation This is one major thing we do not need recycled, ending racism stops with us now!

Here is a heart breaking scenario that a very young child experience at Thomas’s old school a few years ago. Clearly the traumas have never left him and, as he sat down to write Ruby Red you will see this is a shared experience of to human beings, not to dissimilar that bleed the same, ruby red.

We would all agree racism needs to be eradicated in society and we must hear and listen to voices from children as young as 7, and even younger, they too experience racism in their small world, in school, the playground and where they will spend many informative hours over many years. Let’s inform them the correct way or is it that children are the ones who need to teach adults this time round?

The voices of children must be heard and adults must to do better.

Thomas wrote this poem for a 500 Words: Black Lives Matter competition

St John’s College a progressive educational establishment encourages important conversations at home, at school and across the nation, the themes and issues was relating to what was emerging from the Black Lives Matter movements all around globe. The initiative encouraged children think of what’s going on in the world, and Thomas told us!

St John’s College wrote “Year 4 student Thomas wrote an incredibly powerful poem in response to the movement and got through to the first round.

Read his compelling piece below:”

The same poem is on Thomas's new school website St John’s College, Hampshire, here is the link below:

Thomas Roughan - RUBY RED