George Floyd: Poet's work projected on museum to mark death

Poetry written in the wake of George Floyd's murder by a police officer in the US has been projected on to a museum to mark a year since his death.

Protests erupted worldwide after footage showed officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on African American Mr Floyd's neck for minutes while arresting him.

Welsh-Zimbabwean poet Kel Matsena wrote Are You Numb Yet? about the reaction to the murder and its aftermath.

A second poem, Thank You, deals with a government report into race in the UK.

Kel Matsena has Zimbabwean heritage but was raised in Swansea

The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities report, which drew criticism, found no proof of institutional racism in the UK but that overt racism continued, particularly online.

The words of both poems are being projected on to the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea between dusk and midnight on Tuesday and Wednesday, and streamed live online.

A separate Stand Up to Racism event in Swansea was also being held to mark the anniversary.

George Floyd's death led to protests around the world

Mr Matsena, who was raised in Swansea, runs a performance company with his brother Anthony.

Speaking on BBC Radio Wales, he said the poem Are You Numb Yet? was about "seeing the amount of energy, seeing the amount of dedication people had".

"You really had this massive global village - Germany, Cardiff, London - just all over the world, everyone marching and protesting against racial injustice and police brutality," he said.

However, he said soon after that, things "just petered out" and people were back to "scrolling past these issues" on social media.

'Lose passion'

"People weren't reading or educating themselves any more on these issues of race in the UK or the US," he said.

"It was just asking that question of 'are you numb yet?' - have you already become numb to the issues of racism, of racial injustice? Because this has been a four century-long issue.

"And, after two months, seeing people close to you - people you love - already lose momentum, lose passion for it, was surprising.

"It made me question, is this just a thing of getting on the bandwagon or do people really want to fight hard to combat inequality?"

Lines from the poem Are You Numb Yet? form part of the images in the event

Mr Matsena said since George Floyd's death in Minnesota last year it felt like "everything has changed yet nothing has changed".

He said: "On the surface you can look at different companies and organisations and they've gone, ok we're going to increase our diversity by 20%, we're gonna recruit more diverse staff members, we're going to educate people more. But those are all just facts and figures.

"There's very little action that has been taken. There's just been people sitting in rooms making decisions for people and they haven't had the really difficult conversations about what really needs to be done."

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As the protests and their aftermath occurred during the pandemic, Mr Matsena suggested a lack of normal daily social interaction altered the experience some black people would usually have.

"Everyone was very focused on reaching equality, on stopping this racism. But recently because of lockdown easing and people moving about, it's been really surprising to see how people have seen the last year as almost offensive to them," he said.

"Throughout living here in Wales there have been some moments of real beauty. I really think of it as my home and there are some beautiful people here with beautiful souls. There is so much love here.

"But I can't ignore all the racial experiences that I've had growing up here, not only myself but my family, in work, in school.

"Just in the last two to three weeks, both my brothers who I work with, they both have had racist encounters in the same restaurant, just going there to get some food.

"One man got very annoyed by my two brothers just having a chat and started screaming at them, saying racial slurs and wanting to fight."