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Jo Cox Memorial Award for Hockerill Anglo-European College student Iman Ogunlola




A student at Hockerill Anglo-European College in Bishop’s Stortford has won a Jo Cox Memorial Award for her poetry.

The honour for sixth-former Iman Ogunlola follows her success in last year’s Show Racism the Red Card competition.

Iman, now in Year 12, was second in the Year 10+ Art Work Creative Writing category for her poem entitled Brown.

Hockerill Anglo-European College student Iman Ogunlola
Hockerill Anglo-European College student Iman Ogunlola

Originally, she wrote the piece and performed it in the Dunmow Road secondary’s “Heritage Harmonies” showcase for Black History Month.

In September, Iman went to the Molineux Stadium, home of Premier League football club Wolverhampton Wanderers, to receive her award. Her work has now been recognised by the Jo Cox Foundation.

Jo, the Labour MP for Batley and Spen in West Yorkshire, was murdered in June 2016 in a pre-meditated and politically motivated attack by a far right sympathiser who shot and stabbed her multiple times in the street in the village of Birstall, where she had been due to hold a constituency surgery. She was 41.

Jo Cox
Jo Cox

She lived by the words she expressed in her first speech in Parliament: “We are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us.”

The foundation was set up after her death to nurture stronger communities, champion respect in politics and advocate for a fairer world.

It collaborated with Show Racism the Red Card to develop the Jo Cox Memorial Award for anti-racist artwork or poems. Iman’s winning poem appears in this year’s Show Racism the Red Card competition calendar.

She said: “I honestly didn’t expect to get to the place I did in this competition but I’m so glad I did. I’m grateful that my words can reach a wider audience and I hope it opens people’s eyes to the diverse offering we can all give.”

Hockerill’s principal Alasdair Mackenzie said: “As a college, we strive to give students opportunities for artistic and creative expression.

“We were very impressed with Iman when she first performed her poem at our first ever Black History Month showcase and are incredibly proud that she has been recognised by Show Racism the Red Card and the Jo Cox Foundation, two organisations doing such important work. Congratulations.”

Iman’s award-winning poem

Brown

The colour of the trunks of a tree

Brown

and the colour of tea

so soft, so gentle, so calm

but what do you think

when you see brown on me?

Do you not feel at ease

when you see the brown of the crisp autumn leaves

And feel a soft breeze.

No, you only see brown when you step on the ground

You see brown when you step on something foul

To you, brown is scarce

you say you love brown

yet you pick it last

But when I see brown

I see so much more than just a colour

I see success, I see definitively no less

and over a million ways to self-express:

I see fast runners

I hear great singers

and I smell exquisite dinners

I see my mum

and I see all my aunts

I see my grandmas

and I know this didn’t all happen by chance

They fought to survive

they never stop

they just thrive

and it makes me so proud

to know that I’m brown

I’ll make sure to stand up and out from the crowd

I’ll make sure the message of brown is spread around

I will keep my head up

and I will never frown

And no, my pride? It will never drown.



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