Sick and Tired

‘Sick and Tired’ is a collaborative project between Josephine and DJ Riphco, with guest vocals from Mileva and Jerry.

It started life as a poem, written for healing purposes about 18 months ago, and features a sample of Fannie Lou Hamer in 1964 – “We are sick and tired of being sick and tired.”

I believe that to really begin to tackle racism, everyone needs to be prepared to feel a smidgen of the discomfort that black people in this country feel every day of their lives. I am tired of being told that me expressing my feelings and setting boundaries makes other (white) people feel “uncomfortable”. It turns out, many of my black female friends were feeling similarly, and some of them were keen to get involved in the video :)
Thank you Louise, Chloe, and Amy – it was a pleasure to have you as part of the project🖤

Please visit www.sickandtired.bandcamp.com to download the track and donate to Black Minds Matter UK.

🖤All money goes to Black Minds Matter UK🖤

Black Minds Matter are a new charity that connects Black individuals and families with free mental health services — by professional Black therapists, specifically for Black trauma.

I know, from personal experience, how desperately needed and invaluable these services are. After a mental health breakdown in 2013, it took 5 years of accessing services (public & private) before anybody thought “hey, maybe talking with only white people about your anxiety and depression isn’t that helpful”. And it was my sister who finally clicked, not a medical professional.🤦🏾‍♀️

In the UK, Black people are detained under the mental health act at four times higher the rate of white people. It breaks my heart to think how many of those people were not listened to, subjected to biases and discrimination from staff, or given inappropriate (or even further damaging) treatment or support… How many of those people did not need to be detained, how many could be living full lives right now?

Thank you for reading this blog, and please do download, donate and share the track/video :)

Sick and Tired (The Rug)

To you, it’s a bargain, a steal,
simply a good deal.
But your flippancy devalues my existence,
and you basically just told me to get over it…

To you, it’s cheap and cheerful.
To me, it could be free
and I still would never bring it
into my home.

To me, it’s a reminder
of the strangers that hate me,
of the white men who dated me
hoping I’d give their racism some kind of impunity.

To me, it’s a reminder
of struggle, confusion and pain,
of being asked the same questions
again and again and again

To me, it’s a reminder
of dodging jokes in workplaces and playgrounds
of staring contests in the mirror
of feeling alien in my homeland

“Don’t think about it”
I try not to, I really do.
I try, and I try, for all of you
and I’m sick of it.

“It’s a shame”, yes it is,
and it’s the life that I live
“…that they’re all racists” – so you know?!
So why’s it here, in my home?!

And yet it’s me
that’s making you feel
Uncomfortable.

To you, it’s just value for money.
I guess you’ve got other things to do
than to consider how racism
could possibly concern you.

Except now, suddenly, 2 years later
you wanna tell your fans how much you care
and you must’ve really meant it
cos you had a hashtag and a black square

It had been a really long day,
and I just had to say something
Hey, remember that time with the rug?
I’d been reminded again, thought maybe now you’d wanna talk, but…

You just deleted it!

Do you know what that’s called?
That’s called ERASURE
and it’s kind of just part of
our social furniture.

but now, I know what it is
and how to call it out.

You could’ve used your blue tick,
stretched your ego’s range
had a real conversation
enacted meaningful change.

But instead…

AGAIN! 

It’s me
that’s making you feel
Uncomfortable.

I’m sick and tired
of being sick and tired.

We tired.