Arinze Kene
WHO Chima, mixed race (Irish mother/Nigerian father), late twenties.
TO WHOM Onochie, his brother, mid-teens.
WHERE The kitchen of their family home, Deptford, South London.
WHEN 1982.
WHAT HAS JUST HAPPENED Chima has just been released from prison having served a ten-year sentence for the murder of his white girlfriend, Poppy. For a few days he has been sleeping rough, before arriving back at the family home in Deptford, South London. At the start of the play, Chima enters through the back door with shopping bags full of food. There is no one in the kitchen. He calls out to his mother and, while he is upstairs looking for her, his younger brother, Onochie, arrives home. Onochie is surprised to find the back door open and the bags on the floor. He assumes that there is a burglar in the house, and when Chima comes downstairs Onochie threatens him with a knife. Onochie has not seen Chima since he was a small boy, so it takes Chima a while to convince Onochie that they are brothers. Chima is shocked to see that Onochie is now a ‘skinhead’, and, as the brothers slowly settle into a conversation, it is clear that, politically, the two young men are poles apart. Onochie has no interest in the struggles of his black ‘brothers’, many of whom are unemployed, have been rioting in Brixton, some even dying in police custody. While Onochie considers himself white, Chima has learned that, in the eyes of the world, he will only ever be regarded as black. Onochie then asks Chima about his time in prison. The speech that follows is Chima’s response. Although he tells it in the third person, we can assume he is talking about himself.
• | This speech is the set-up for a longer story in which Chima recalls how the ‘white family’ in prison betrayed him and how the ‘black family’ protected him. So make strong the warning: ‘Dey’ll let you know how black you are, bwoy.’ It is portentous. |
• | The social and political background. Familiarise yourself with the events surrounding the Brixton riots, the New Cross Fire and ‘Operation Swamp’. |
• | When you read the play, you’ll discover that Poppy was in fact killed by her own father, and it was decided that, in order to protect Onochie, Chima should take the blame. |
• | Although at this point in the play Onochie is unaware of the fact, their mother has committed suicide. Chima has found a suicide note, which he tears up shortly after the speech. |
• | The struggles experienced by their Nigerian father, who eventually died of alcoholism, following dismissal from the Post Office for having a nose bleed.’They didn’t like that he bled everywhere’. |
• | ‘Half-caste’ is a derogatory term to describe people of mixed race and was in typical usage at the time. |
WHAT HE WANTS
• | To illustrate his political standpoint. |
• | To educate Onochie. |
• | To protect Onochie. |
KEYWORDS humbling hard fresh innocence family/families half-caste whites blacks choice/choose unprotected malice disappointed
This young guy. About your age. Comes through. He’s fresh. He’s still got the scent of innocence about him, only been there a week or whatever. Half-caste brother. Bit nervous. Now, when you come it’s all about family – what family you’re with – it’s important. You understand – you gotta run with a unit, a gang or whatever. […]
So it’s the main block and in this building, to put it simply, you got about a hundred and twenty, a hundred and thirty inmates. But the main two families are the whites and the blacks, right? The whites and the blacks – and they don’t seem to like each other very much – similar to here in Deptford. Now, as I said, this half-caste brother, he’s in the middle, half ’n’half. He’s smart though, he knows that he cannot be with both – he has to make a choice or that leaves him unprotected in there. You don’t wanna be unprotected in there. Both families are looking at him like ‘Where you gonna go, kid, where you gonna go?’
He gets familiar with these white guys – […]
In particular there’s four of them he’s knocking elbows with. They’re always together – in the canteen, on the grounds, in study, in the chapel, everything, that’s his little posse – they’re all right – he cracks a smile for the first time since he’s been inside. But see, every time this half-caste guy looks over his shoulder in the canteen, on the grounds, walking back to his cell, wherever, every time he looks over his shoulder, he seems to lock eyes with black guys from the other family, they’re watching him. Shaking their head at him, no malice – it’s just as though… they’re disappointed. He doesn’t know why, cos the way he sees it, he’s both black and white. He can choose. […] Who the fuck are they to… […]
You know?
So. Wet rainy afternoon. Out on the grounds playing footy is half-caste and his four chums. One of them loses control of the football and it rolls off the pitch. The ball goes straight to the blacks congregating in a group there by the bench. Half-caste is not intimidated by this. From where he stood, he says: ‘Oi. Pass it ’ere.’ Well, the big blackies – some of them with dreadlocks – they’re amused by this. They laugh at him, like he’s a child, and they absolutely do not pass him the ball. Halfcaste walks over, still cocky, like. He bends to pick up the ball and by when he stands back up, what’s he got? Towering over him, a black man. Black man says (Thick Jamaican accent):
‘Dey’ll let you know.’
Half-caste – ‘You what?’
‘Dey’ll let you know how black you are, bwoy.’ 