This is for all the mothers who brought it down…

the barrier that now stands between us…

The women who crossed the race line

The mothers; the creators of a raceless humanity 

The brave gang of women in a borderless hood

I’m sorry for I neglected to tell you…

You were never a white mother I once met outside reception class

You were Lauren’s mum, Marianne’s mum, Tabby’s mum

Gina’s mum, Annie’s mum, Lorna’s mum, Zoe’s Mum…

You were never a Taiwanese mother I met by the school gates

A mother whose daughter was my daughter’s friend – 

You were Hannah’s mum, Ola’s mum…

You were never a Japanese woman I met the morning after the sleepover

A mother whose daughter is my daughter’s best friend

You were Sophie’s mum, Nina’s mum…

You were never a white woman who was once my daughters’ teacher,

You were Ms Wintol, Madam Jones, Ms Bailey

Ms Barns, Ms West, Ms Mac, Ms Williamson,

Ms Williams, the headteacher; may your soul rest in peace!  

You were never a Nigerian mother I met on sports day

You were a woman like me; like Emily’s mum, like Imogen’s mum

But you were sad your daughter was as black as me and as you

You said how lucky I was my daughters weren’t black like me, like you…

For you, me, and your daughter, you said, we’ll always be black women…

I wish the Nigerian woman I met on sports day, was wrong,

I hope, I was never just a Black woman to you…

But a woman, the mother of your daughter’s friend

Not a black mother to a child you once taught  

but a mother, a woman undefined by her colour

A woman, a mother like you, unconfined by superficial borders

A mother, a woman whose daughter was your daughter’s friend –

A woman, a mother who gave birth to a girl you once taught

I hope you knew me simply as Pearl’s mum, Crystal’s mum…

A woman – a mother just like you!

I hope I never was your black friend… 

For you and me, are more than the signifiers seeking to divide us –

We are women; we’re more than the colours that clothe our flesh

We are mothers; we’re more than the labels tearing us apart…

For you and me, are a motherhood undefined by coloured borders.

We are women, the creators; mothers of a universe without borders.

You and me, are more than a simplified and racialised world….

We are an enlightened universe; a race beyond black and white…

B.K. Knight