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Domestic violence, Georgetown/Guyana, Guyanese Poet Renata Burnette, Guyanese Spoken Word Poet, Sexual harassment
Victim of domestic violence with her mother – Guyana
My Poetry Corner July 2018 features the spoken word poem, “Broken System,” by young Guyanese poet Renata Burnette. Residing in the capital, Georgetown, she is a second-year undergraduate at the University of Guyana, pursuing a degree in Communications.
Renata’s poetry calls attention to the daily struggles and issues of young Guyanese, especially those in their late teens and twenties. She gained national attention in August 2016 with her poem, “Dear Mr. President,” expressing her challenges in finding a job as an undergraduate.
In “Broken System,” published on Guyana’s Independence Day, May 26, 2018, the poet portrays a system that offers little to no protection to the country’s vulnerable youth.
We have 15-year-old girls being gang raped; boys being caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Just children running away from their homes because the ones that are supposed to be protecting them, they’re now physically and sexually abusing them… These children, they have no faith in us because we have failed them…
Renata observes that the justice system fails these abused children by either condemning them to the juvenile penitentiary or returning them to their abusers. Further on, she raises the issue of drug dealing and the difficulty of finding work, even for someone with higher education.
So how do we fix the system, the same system that’s putting away our young men for selling or smoking weed, but we’re yet to curb the increase of lung cancer disease that’s mainly caused by tobacco smoking, also known as cigarette smoking. So what do we do? We put a warning label on the pack and just hope that it stops… And even when I graduate from one of the highest institutions in the land, they cannot guarantee me a job…with or without this degree. And you want to know why our young people are out here selling weed. Food for thought. Stay woke. See, plugs make more money than teachers make on their government salaries.
Without a pause, Renata addresses sexual harassment. No subject is taboo for our young poet.
And if you’re a woman in today’s society then sexual harassment is something that you’re almost guaranteed. It’s like a rite of passage, so be careful. Don’t wear anything loose, don’t appear to be too revealing, because when the man across the street shouts for you, calling you every single thing except your name, you better look… But really and truly all our tongues burn to say is just stay away from me. But we’re too scared because our system is broken; it’s backwards…
The system also fails victims of domestic violence. The police, the poet notes, not only show up until after the attack, but there’s also no justice for the woman.
And even though she’s the victim, there would be no justice for he [the abuser] knows people in high positions. You know, that can make a police report disappear regardless of how he acts. Those kind-a people in authority that have a knack for sweeping every single thing under the mat…
Like a maestro conducting an orchestra, the young poet controls the rising and falling rhythm with expressive hands. Without a script. Giving voice to the voiceless.
On America’s Independence Day, I offer these closing words of insight from our young Guyanese spoken word poet (emphasis mine):
If history has proven anything, it’s that the truth would always survive and, if needs be, it would bleed through crooked lines.
You can watch Renata Burnette’s performance on YouTube. For my complete transcript of “Broken System” and to learn more about the poet, go to my Poetry Corner July 2018.
derrickjknight said:
Dreadful
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Rosaliene Bacchus said:
It is, indeed, Derrick. We’ve got to open our eyes and hearts to those among us – they also exist in the UK – who have been left behind in capitalism’s economic boom.
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thecontentedcrafter said:
This breaks my heart!
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Rosaliene Bacchus said:
It broke my heart, too, Pauline, compelling me to share Renata’s concerns.
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Bernadette said:
I couldn’t bring myself to hit the like button because this is so heartbreaking and not really well known.
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Rosaliene Bacchus said:
I know the feeling, Bernadette: We should have other response options.
The plight and suffering of the poor in our world, even here in America, is rarely publicized. Did you see the recent UN report on poverty in America? On June 22nd, our Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, criticized the report as “ridiculous.” The UN had no right to waste valuable funds by focusing “on the wealthiest and freest country in the world.”
If no one gives voice to the vulnerable children and youth living on the fringes of our societies, what will become of us as a species?
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Bernadette said:
We are a very harsh species that constantly needs to be reminded how to live a civilized existence. Thankfully, there always seems to be people who remember what it means to be human.
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ashiftinconsciousness said:
This is because we’ve stopped trying to fix problems. Instead we fix perceptions and allow the problems to fester. We, in the U.S., have become adept at ignoring reality. How else could we put a vile, parasitic sexual predator in the White House?
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Rosaliene Bacchus said:
Shift, our adeptness at ignoring reality is becoming more evident with each new day.
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Sha'Tara said:
Reality today… kind of like looking in a shattered mirror, which is what civilization has become. I wonder what will happen when the entire mirror falls down and there are no longer any reflections?
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Sarah said:
What a strong young woman Renata is to voice what others fail to do! Bravo!
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Rosaliene Bacchus said:
She is strong, indeed, Sarah. She says her role as an activist poet is to tell the truth, to be the change you want to see, as Gandhi said.
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jfwknifton said:
It really makes you wonder how much longer mankind will last.
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Rosaliene Bacchus said:
John, all the signs indicate that we’re heading towards self-destruction: climate change disaster, global nuclear war, proliferation of plastic waste in our oceans, species extinction, and our inability as a species to come together to resolve these threats.
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Sha'Tara said:
How often do we realize that there are millions of such stories untold and that they are worldwide? Renata writes “Broken System”: definitely. But was the system any good to begin with? Is the problem with the system, really? jfwknifton says, ‘It really makes you wonder how much longer mankind will last.’ Key word: mankind. Blame doesn’t do any good, but if blame be attached, let’s put it where it belongs: on mankind, not on any system. We’ve tried and tried to better our lives through various systems and sub-systems. Our very civilization, now global and a thrall of capitalism, is a broken system. Not only that but those who see deeper know innately that it cannot be fixed, even if billions of individuals poured their lifeblood into it to make it work again – it can’t be fixed because it was never what we think it was. It was never just, peaceful, caring, supportive, nurturing. What Renata and millions like herself are looking for is a new humanity. One that no longer relies on systems because any system is custom made to fall into the hands of greedy psychopaths to be used by them to exploit, oppress and enslave.
In the movie, Willow, three young hopeful apprentices present themselves to the head mage for testing. The mage opens his hand and spreads his fingers: “Which finger has the power to change the world?” he asks. Each picks one of the wizards outstretched fingers and he angrily yells at them: “No apprentice this year!” Then he asks Willow, ‘when you chose, why did you hesitate?’ and Willow says, well, I thought of choosing my own finger. A-hah! says the mage, that was the correct answer.
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Rosaliene Bacchus said:
Well said, Sha’Tara. I agree that the system is broken worldwide. Here in the USA, I see the unraveling of this broken capitalist system in progress.
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Sha'Tara said:
Indeed you must, it’s inevitable. I just sent some “serious” money to an old friend in Oklahoma (the loss in the exchange rate was horrific) so she could repair and remain in her ramshackle trailer. The entire family of five live in there now… long, sad story, the story of the marginalized and the poor. I didn’t mean to sound callous to Renata’s traumatic experiences and her courageous response either. It’s just that I’ve encountered so much of it, in Vancouver’s “slums”; on Native reservations (as mentioned here on another comment) and among the poor scattered in outlying Canadian communities. My judgement of Earthianity is, we are a horrible and inhumane lot – with amazing exceptions but they’ve always been exceptions, and remain exceptions, until we choose to change our nature, billions and billions of us, not as followers, but as empowered individuals. Sorry, preaching to the choir…
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mcaimbeul said:
Consummate clarity Sha’Tara.
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drgeraldstein said:
You’ve raised an extraordinary question, Sha’Tara. I might have put it differently: as a question of whether mankind is sufficiently evolved to match the environmental and relational challenges he has created, or simply another transitory inhabitant on the ladder of living things, like the dinosaurs and other vanished species. I hope, for our children’s sake, we each contribute to a way forward.
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Rosaliene Bacchus said:
I share your hope, Dr. Stein, that “we [can] each contribute to a way forward” out of the mess we’ve created.
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Sha'Tara said:
Your response raises another critical question: Have we not had enough “way showers” and “good men” and “Teachers” and isn’t there enough written to tell anyone who wishes to know, what that “contribution to a way forward” could be?
Pr. 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. What more do we need to prove that every way we’ve attempted that seemed right, have failed? How can anyone contribute to a way forward if all they are doing is repeating, patching, gerrymandering the system when the whole system is faulty? When it can be readily seen, by comparing our historical track record and current global situation with the clear teachings on how we could have avoided this, and maybe still could? We’re not talking rocket science here but simple, basic common sense. We’ve seldom used that particular aspect of our mind in religious, political and financial interactions, but it’s there and it’s quite willing to be used. What’s so sacred about any “official” system that we can’t just say, “I’m done with this piece of crap, it ain’t never gonna run properly.” and walk away from it until something new pops up, something that, contrary to everything we follow after now, actually operates with common sense?
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smilecalm said:
such a sad, desperate state
without accountability & justice, Rosaliene.
indian reservations i lived on had similar
conditions with a lack of justice.
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Rosaliene Bacchus said:
Our political leaders should and must be held accountable for the “sad, desperate state” of our marginalized youth. As Renata Burnette tells her young audience:
“I bet if I withheld my vote and convinced 50,000 people to withhold their own, I’d have the attention of these politicians. For they know, they know that the power lies within the people.”
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mcaimbeul said:
Indeed, and it scares the hell out of them.
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JoAnn Chateau said:
I think I read a dystopian science fiction novel years ago that was on par with Renata’s spoken word poem, which is almost too horrible to believe,
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Rosaliene Bacchus said:
The situation is even worse in Central American countries where people are fleeing for their lives to the US border.
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JoAnn Chateau said:
Maybe Mexico’s President-Elect Amlo will help that situation. See today’s Democracy Now! report. (I added the video to my update post on the Mexican election. (https://joannchateau.com/2018/07/02/update-amlo-is-the-next-president-of-mexico/) Excellent DN! report.
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Rosaliene Bacchus said:
Thanks for sharing the link and video, JoAnn.
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JoAnn Chateau said:
My pleasure.
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guyaneseonline said:
Reblogged this on Guyanese Online.
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Rosaliene Bacchus said:
Thanks for sharing, Cyril. Enjoy the rest of your week 🙂
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Pingback: “Broken System” – Spoken Word Poem by Guyanese Poet Renata Burnette
Rosaliene Bacchus said:
Thanks for the re-blog, GuyFrog 🙂
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JoAnna said:
A powerful poem spoken by a brave young woman. I was touched by her goodness at the end. The tobacco part brought back the experience and knowledge that tobacco/cigarettes are more addictive and responsible for more consumer deaths than any other drug. Just one of the many backward issues of our times.
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Rosaliene Bacchus said:
Thanks for reading, JoAnna. Addictions, whatever their nature, are indeed hard to break even when they put our lives at risk.
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JoAnna said:
More work than most people realize.
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