Liverpool Slave Port Poem by Dr. Ahmed Gumaa Siddiek

Although Liverpool was late in entering the slave trade, but she quickly surpassed London and Bristol to become the number one slave port in the whole of Europe in the eighteenth century.

Liverpool,
Liverpool you were the gate to hell
So, I hate you as I hate London,
Nantes and New York as well
Every piece of me does boil with hate
As through your gate
My black race were put to fate
Their awful luck on your soil
And spent all their lives to toil
To make your wealth
And bring your health
Your hate is in every pore in my flesh
In the run of my blood, and it is always fresh
You slave trader, cruel traitor! !
My black race were driven into your dirty ports
Under the view of your very judges and your courts
They were forced into slavery
Driven in your merciless, unfriendly, slippery roads
Enslaved and smuggled by day and night
Through your hideous tunnels and secret docks
Naked Children clinging to naked mothers' breasts
They had to walk all the way and would never rest
Women and men all were chained
Hand to hand or cuffed foot to foot
Like cattle, they were hooked
By a burly piece of wood
Salty sweat ran into their eyes
And hundreds of grimy flies
Bite their skinny faces and broken thighs
They were all naked
And the feet were bare
And none a piece of cloth to wear
Then, they were auctioned in your market place
Like animals not like a human race
And they were to be dispersed in every space
To build your British Great Empire
And they did...
In the plain or in the mire
They did the heavy job in the farms
Built bridge and built the dams
They cut the wood for the winter's fire
And cooked the delicious food
For the master and all his neighborhood
Only one girl in the master's house
She was the only black maid
Who was made to wake up the first
And the last to go to bed
All broken from foot to head
Oh, Liverpool
Your dirty history can never be bygone
And because of the harm you have done, to the black race,
You will be forgiven by none! !