George The Poet
Race For Opportunity Awards 2012
My perception of colour can be altered by a
Simple adjustment to my eyes. Therefore
Navy blue could be baby blue, so
Why do we treat colour the way we do?
We don't know what an objective perception is because we
Can't overcome how subjective the spectrum is.
Life is a collage of views you perceive, and
That preconditions what you choose to believe, so if
Navy blue could be baby blue then the
Problem and the solution may be you.

Allow me to explain.

All we really have is the perceptible, the tangible
And of course the ability to understand it all.
So why do humans act so strange in a
World full of facts when the facts don't change?

You'd
Think we could at least agree on what's not fair and dis-
Tinguish between validity and hot air because you be-
Lieve in the ability of humankind to figure out
Anything given enough room and time. And a-
Cross the board that affects how you perform; it's the
Reason why when in doubt you conform. Cos you
Feel like collectively we have enough intelligence to pur-
Sue what we want, and we want what's best.
Therefore a social democratic agenda constantly presents us with new prospects.
So what's next?

Sit around and wait for the change to come?
That might seem a little strange to some because ac-
Cording to the facts the change is overdue, it's just
Something that many of us don't pursue. Cos
We believe in the natural order of things, there's
No parallel universe or Lord of the Rings; there's only
One predictable, logical existence. And
Any alternative claim warrants your resistance. But the
Inconvenient truth...is that reality is
Arbitrary. We
Share the gift of life, the gift of boys the gift of girls,
Share the same planet, but live in different worlds.
Numbers don't lie, they show great precision but
At the end of the day they don't make decisions:
People call shots. Or not. We spend
So much time discerning the fine line between
Picking our battles and turning a blind eye, that
We forget we're in this together.
If we win this war we win this forever.
I'd
Love to paint a rainbow of cordiality but I'm
Going to have to interrupt your reality. We
Can't chase the secrets of truth and enjoyment when
Facing record numbers of youth unemployment in a
World where "unemployed" translates to "null and void".
Jobs require competence, this doesn't inspire confidence.

1 in
4 kids is BME in primary school. That's when
Life's about Playstation and trying to be cool. That
Figure slips to 1 in 5 in secondary school, if we as-
Sume meritocracy that's a necessary fall. An
Eighth of the work place is from a minority ethnic background
They're represented by one sixteenth of the boardroom.
So what do we make of the facts now?

Different people have different skill sets, if so-
Ciety doesn't value what they can trade the impli-
Cation is they just do not make they grade. But it's
Not like the talent and the spirit isn't there; we
Need to actively make this pyramid a square.

In the
Last three years the rate of unemployment among
Young black males has more than doubled. It's
Easy to look at a group and call them troubled but
Nothing is isolated - we're all in trouble. A
More representative workforce means better
Understanding and hence customer satisfaction, so
Let's strategise and adjust to the plan of action; with the
Right managers the game could become equal, en-
Listing the help of the Youth Advisory panel -
Inspirational, capable young people.
How long this will take is hard to say
But everybody's got a part to play.
All I ask is you allow yourself to be bothered every
Morning when you start the day. Your
Approach to recruitment, involvement of students, Challenge your
Thought process to support progress. This
Summer we turned to the games for proper unity, now
Let's go for gold in the race for opportunity, because
After the ceremonies, the fire and celebration
We still need to inspire a generation.