Brown Brother

Poems. They never really appealed to me until I saw a student form Mt Albert Grammar reciting a poem which had a really deep meaning. His name is Joseph Iosefa. He is a Samoan and Nuiean and is a Prefect at this school. It all started out as an ordinary assembly. It was compulsory that prefects give a speech, but his speech was a stand out and we wouldn't have known about it if it wasn't for his close friend Rashard. It ended up on YouTube and this is where people started to know this poem "Brown Brother'. This poem speaks about what brown people have gone through and what people assume about us. He states: I am Brown. Brown like the bark on the palm tree which holds my heritage, Brown like the table that my family sits and eats upon, Brown like the paper bag which holds burgers and fries which my people consume, brown like the mud on the rugby field which my people play Brown like the coat of the guitar that my people strum. Brown like the sugar the crust the grain or the nut whatever ingredient that I mix up and around, brother I am Brown.

I can easily relate to this because, clearly I am brown, but because I understand what he means when he talks about all the difficulties our people have to go through when people assume that we are not worthy enough. His family members pop up a lot in the poem, when he compares them to people's issues. You should really listen to this poem because it has a deep and beautiful meaning to it.