Students at East End Primary will not be reciting a controversial poem as part of their Black History Month celebrations.

However, it will still be discussed in some classes.

The move came after parents complained the poem 'Why am I Black?' by Runett Nia Ebo contained disturbing imagery about people of African descent and was not age appropriate. The first lines of the poem are: "Lord, Lord, Why did You make me Black? Why did You make someone the world wants to hold back?

"Black is the color of dirty clothes; the colour of grimy hands and feet.

"Black is the color of darkness; the colour of tire-beaten streets."

And ends with a reply from God: "Your stature is strong; your bone structure, thick to withstand the burdens of time.

"The reflection you see in the mirror... The image looking back at you is MINE."

One mother, Amba Smith, spoke with The Royal Gazette and said she thought the imagery in the poem was too strong for her eight-year-old daughter and said she believed it conveyed the message that black people are superior to white people.

Yesterday the Minister of Education Randolph Horton said:"I do feel that it may not have been age appropriate."The parents, teachers and principal spoke and the school has taken the steps to take it off the (assembly) programme."The content of the poem is correct for part of the social studies classes, it is important for young people to appreciate and understand prejudice." He added that public schools do not have a specific black history month curriculum but that many aspects of the local history curriculum involve black history."Because this is black history month in the US many teachers choose to raise the topic here too," he said. "The school has covered a plethora of subjects pertaining to Black History Month and not just this poem."

The Royal Gazette asked readers for their opinion on the poem and many wrote in for and against 'Why am I black?' being taught at East End Primary. We have decided to print all of the responses we received from people who were willing to be named in separate panels, and include a portion of the agrument for and against below.

Social commentator Larry Burchall wrote:" Should this be poem be taught to eight year-olds? Absolutely not... Why was a self-image out of black minority America cherry-picked for use by children living in Bermuda's black majority society?

"Why was an eternal black American problem dumped onto the narrow shoulders of a Bermudian child? Why not present a poem written by any of the scores of excellent poets from the Caribbean most of whom are black and ALL of whom live in black majority societies just like Bermuda?

"Is there something wrong with poetry that comes out of Africa and that speaks of past or current or future things? Are there no Bermudian poets none at all?

"In this event and its reportage, I see a melt-down of professional standards as the teacher and her supervisor and the school administration made and were about to sustain a large error.

"I also see clear evidence of a clear lack of a clear national standard as Education Ministry officials and CURE people and 'Big Conversation' people all suddenly run and hide and seem unable to answer forthrightly."

Meanwhile reader Lisa Lambert wrote: "When I think back to how I felt about myself at that age, I believe that had I been exposed to the poem at that time, it could've made a difference in how I felt about myself. While times have certainly changed since I was a child (in the 70s), there is still a lot of information/ perceptions out there which can lead to a black child having negative feelings of self worth. In fact, I believe that by the time most children have reached the age of eight, they already have a well established sense of self-worth, whether good or bad.

"Probably more than any other race, black people have been subjected to negative attitudes based on our colour, features, hair, etc. Even among black people themselves, there're still negative attitudes toward each other based on these traits. As a result, many of our children need to be presented with positive images or metaphors that are representative of their "blackness".

"When I first read the poem years ago, the only message I received was that all those negative connotations about "blackness" can easily be turned into something positive and inspiring. Certainly not that I was better than anyone else who isn't black!"

For the rest of Mr. Burchall's and Ms Lambert's views as well as the full views of other readers read the panels.

Look at the opinion page online at www.royalgazette.bm for the full reponses from our readers.