The poet Benjamin Zephaniah has reimagined Martin Luther King’s famous ‘I have a dream’ speech, in a poem broadcast on BBC Radio’s The World at One. As Americans assembled at Washington’s Lincoln Memorial to mark the anniversary of Dr King’s speech on 28 August 1963, and against the backdrop of the continuing Black Lives Matter protests, Zephaniah delivered his powerful version, with its British context.  

Its opening words included these lines: “I dream of a time when we will no longer feel forced to demand the right to roam the country of our birth without the fear of being dragged from our cars, searched on our streets, and humiliated in front of our children … I dream of a time when every white police officer in our land will be taught at school that black civilisations were as good – and as bad – as white civilisations.” You can hear the whole poem here

Meanwhile the poet Mark ‘Mr T Thompson’ has shared his poem, ‘Seed of the fruit’, on Write Out Loud about the history and legacy of the British slave trade. It was commissioned by the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, and will feature on BBC Radio 4’s Shortcuts on Tuesday 1 September.

PHOTOMONTAGE: BBC