The other side of the story - A poem about police brutality by Nikki Hughes

This poem was inspired by my own experience of police brutality and a recent police raid of a Traveller site in Greenwich, London....writes Romany Gypsy, Nikki Hughes. I’ve always hated the brutality of police raids and the impact they have on children. The extreme measures taken by police on Traveller sites compared to the rest of society is unnecessary and one of the many reasons why there is such distrust between the police and my community. 

I’ve committed no crime as I’m woken at 3am by sounds of bombs and flashing lights 

I’ve committed no crime as the door of my home is smashed violently open

I’ve committed no crime as a torch blinds me while I lay terrified in my bed

I’ve committed no crime as I’m violently dragged from my bed

I’ve committed no crime as me and my family are marched from our home

I’ve committed no crime as my home is ram-sacked and all our possessions are thrown and broken

I’ve committed no crime as I stand in my nightclothes with a helicopter spotlight beaming down on me amidst smoke, shouts and gunshots

I’ve committed no crime as I witness brutality, violence and everyone I know screaming in terror

I’ve committed no crime as I cower from the men screaming and shouting with pointed guns

I’ve committed no crime when it’s over just as quickly as it started

I’ve committed no crime as I look around at the devastation that once was my home

I’ve committed no crime as those around me comfort each other and tend to the wounded 

I’ve committed no crime as we pick up the pieces of our destroyed home 

I’ve committed no crime as they say “they got what we deserved” 

I committed no crime as they say “They should have been lined up and shot!”

I committed no crime as the statement is read

I committed no crime as they announce “no shots were fired and no one was injured”

I’ve committed no crime yet I’m treated like a criminal 

I’ve committed no crime and yet....