‘You Don’t Get To Be Racist And Irish’: Imelda May reads her moving poem

Imelda May read out her moving poem 'You Don't Get To Be Racist And Irish' for Culture on RTÉ today. Imelda May will release Slip Of The Tongue, a debut EP of her poetry this month. The first track, Home, was released last month. Today, Imelda read out her poem 'You Don't Get To Be Racist And Irish', addressing what is currently going on in the US and around the world. https://twitter.com/RTE_Culture/status/1268855184291246080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1268855184291246080&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.image.ie%2Flife%2Fwatch-imelda-may-recites-her-poem-you-dont-get-to-be-racist-and-irish-201270 See the full poem below. You don’t get to be racist and Irish You don’t get to be proud of your heritage, plights and fights for freedom while kneeling on the neck of another! You’re not entitled to sing songs of heroes and martyrs mothers and fathers who cried as they starved in a famine Or of brave hearted soft spoken poets and artists lined up in a yard blindfolded and bound Waiting for Godot and point blank to sound We emigrated We immigrated We took refuge So cannot refuse When it’s our time To return the favour Land stolen Spirits broken Bodies crushed and swollen unholy tokens of Christ, Nailed to a tree (That) You hang around your neck Like a noose of the free Our colour pasty Our accents thick Hands like shovels from mortar and bricklaying foundation of cities you now stand upon Our suffering seeps from every stone your opportunities arise from Outstanding on the shoulders of our forefathers and foremother’s who bore your mother’s mother Our music is for the righteous Our joys have been earned Well deserved and serve to remind us to remember More Blacks More Dogs More Irish. Still labelled leprechauns, Micks, Paddy’s, louts we’re shouting to tell you our land, our laws are progressively out there We’re in a chrysalis state of emerging into a new and more beautiful Eire/era 40 Shades Better Unanimous in our rainbow vote we’ve found our stereotypical pot of gold and my God it’s good. So join us.. 'cause You Don’t Get To Be Racist And Irish. Imelda May is set to release her nine-track poetry EP on June 12. Speaking about the body of work, the singer explained, "Melodies swirl in my head. Footsteps become the rhythm to a song. But often words don't feel like they need anything more than to be spoken aloud or read alone. " READ NEXT: Iain Stirling dedicates BAFTA nomination to late friend Caroline Flack