Princess Arinola Adegbite or “P. A. Bitez” is a songwriter, filmmaker, and performer based in Manchester. Her poem was inspired by Article 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which codifies the right to be considered innocent until proven guilty. Princess said:“I know many people that have been destroyed by people’s perception of them. Article 11 – innocent until proven guilty is important to me because assumptions ruin lives, they get people killed, imprisoned and exiled. Everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt until evidence that contradicts that innocence is presented. In the past people were lynched, burned at the stake and punished purely due to stereotypes. I want to encourage people to use their discernment and not initial judgments.”
The Ripples of Hope Festival at HOME in September was held by the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights UK charity.
The Naked Eye
Innocence cannot be recognised by the naked eye, Just ask the Birmingham Six or the Central Park Five. Dylan roof scoffed down a burger after murdering nine, Uncle Sam probably has his picture up on a shrine. Atomic bombs make the orders, miles of misfortune left by court appointed lawyers, citizens hung, drawn & quartered like swollen scapegoats sent to the slaughter. Live roadside oblivions for our sons and daughters. Innocence cannot be recognised by the naked eye, Just ask the Birmingham six or the Central Park five. Dylan roof scoffed down a burger after murdering nine, Uncle Sam probably has his picture up on a shrine. For eight minutes & forty-six seconds we watch abyss in high definition, Desensitised to Armageddon when shrapnel punctures the skin of foreign children. War is a pistol pointed at infants, the law itself has become a delinquent, Contingent on pockets, pigments. Oh, humans we love a good witch hunt. Innocence cannot be recognised by the naked eye, Just ask the Birmingham six or the Central Park five. Dylan roof scoffed down a burger after murdering nine, Uncle Sam probably has his picture up on a shrine. Intestines drop from the sky; children detonate in Palestine, A warlord drinks cyanide to evade his war crimes, Barabbas makes the headlines for dodging hard time. If Jesus was alive today, he’d probably be crucified. Innocence cannot be recognised by the naked eye, Just ask the Birmingham six or the Central Park five. Dylan roof scoffed down a burger after murdering nine, Uncle Sam probably has his picture up on a shrine. Ali Ayman Abu Alia Clementa C. Pinckney Cynthia Marie Graham Hurd Susie Jackson Ethel Lee Lance Depayne Middleton Tywanza Sanders Daniel L. Simmons Awendaw Sharonda Coleman-Singleton Myra Thompson Kevin Richardson Raymond Santana, Antron McCray Yusef Salaam Korey Wise Hugh Callaghan, Patrick Joseph Hill Gerard Hunter Richard McIlkenny William Power John Walker George Floyd
P.A. Bitez
P.A. Bitez
Princess Arinola Adegbite or “P. A. Bitez” is a Jamaican-born Nigerian poet, songwriter, filmmaker, and performer based in Manchester. In 2017 she won Slambassadors, a national poetry competition, and published her debut poetry collection Soft Tortures. In 2020, she became one of six winners of BBC Words First 2020, a talent scheme searching for the best-Spoken Word Poets in the UK. She is a member of Young Identity.
First published in A Poetic Declaration, September 2021
On Human Rights Day, 1O December, a Poetic Universal Declaration of Human Rights was created by school children from Greater Manchester, to view it – click here
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Featured image: Wikipedia Commons