My friend Stuart Archer lives in St. James, Barbados with his wife Sharon and their son Isaiah. He has recently made a recovery from bowel cancer and we have supported each other on our living with cancer journey.
\nStuart plays American Football – about which I know nothing – except it helps to be tall and handsome, with strong shoulders. All of which makes up Stuart.
\nHe is the kind of Community and Youth Worker young people need, especially right now – insight gained from experience of life and from working as a team always. Community and collaboration.
\nHere’s what he wrote to me the other day when the US was in flames and I could find no words…<\/p>\n
“…As for the States, I can’t even go there. The amount of times I was arrested as a boy in London growing up, then released with no charge as I looked like someone who had committed a crime or on the street, ‘at the wrong time’.
\nTaken down to the station, questioned, put in a cell, usually til the next day, then told ‘You are free to go’.
\nThen as a man in London and Manchester, being pulled over, searched myself and the car, questioned – and all in the public eye. The humiliation and feeling of powerlessness was unreal. I guess I should accept that I live to tell the tale, unlike some of my brothers and sisters.
\nWe continue to strive for acceptance and not tolerance of all forms of marginalisation underpinning discrimination.”<\/p>\n
Here’s the poem I wrote for Stuart when I got the letter about his cancer diagnosis, saying he was ‘unwell’.<\/p>\n
All Will Be Well<\/p>\n
Sitting in the Christie
\nthinking of you
\nStuart.
\nThank you for your letter
\nwith the news
\nStuart.
\nIt seems to me “unwell”
\nmeans pain
\nStuart.
\nAwaiting the decisions
\nfor treatment
\nStuart.
\nAnd you were never one to make a fuss.
\nMix your courage with humility
\nAnd you’ll be strong.
\nLet others love you now
\nStuart.
\nIt’s a very active challenge…
\nAll about changing
\nthe tactics
\nin the American Football game
\nagainst this new team.
\nAre you a player?
\nOr a linesman?
\nOr a coach?
\nOr a manager?
\nOr the boy in the crowd, inspired?<\/p>\n
Leigh Cook<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My friend Stuart Archer lives in St. James, Barbados with his wife Sharon and their son Isaiah. He has recently made a recovery from bowel cancer and we have supported each other on our living with cancer journey. Stuart plays American Football – about which I know nothing – except it helps to be tall … Continue reading Black Lives Matter<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/laladom.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/laladom.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/laladom.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laladom.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laladom.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=735"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/laladom.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":742,"href":"https:\/\/laladom.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735\/revisions\/742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/laladom.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laladom.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laladom.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}