The Age Of Innocence Poem by Jan Oskar Hansen

The time of innocence

We grew up thinking whiteness had to do
with skin colour, since we came from a Nordic country
this made sense; the lack of sun and so on.
Now it is political.
Whiteness is responsible for all ills in the world
a good thing to remember when getting up at six
walking to the fish factory, putting in long hours
for a meagre pay packet.
We know of the intrepid, who colonized the East
and Africa, we did not benefit from this other
then asked to give our hard-earned money to
a religious mission to help the starving.
We resent being called racist, we were as poor
as those we sent money to; at a time when we had
to steal coal at the railway depot and plunder
potatoes in a farmer's field.
Great composers, noted scientists, inventors and
prodigious writers were white contributed to
their skills to make life bearable; yes, we are
proud of them and feel no guilt in our whiteness.