Red Heels

Activist, Bevali Mckenzie was born in Tottenham; one of the most deprived boroughs in the UK. After the London 1985 riots she worked with a group of people to free Winston Silcott from an unlawful imprisonment. This prompted her to set up local childcare facilities and an holistic business to make positive changes within the Black community. She teaches free performing arts, maths and english to low-income families and facilitated workshops around police stop and search and school inclusion.

When the Covid Pandemic began Bevali quickly helped set up one of the first grassroots food banks and hot meal provisions. The phones were 'off the hook' and it was a scary time for everyone, but somehow she dug her heels in and kept going out to help the isolated and vulnerable during the lockdowns. She won a volunteer of the year award for her services from the Council.

This short poem, of 2020 words exactly, was created during the lonely nights as a tool to keep her sane. It gives an account of her Red Heels and what they meant to her prior to the pandemic and also during the pandemic. They represent a level of freedom and womanhood that she has, which she shares with her ancestors who never had any freedom at all. She walks for them. She dances for them. But, always smiling, she silently deals with her inner fears and unspoken childhood anxiety.

This poem show us that sometimes it is the little things that can pull you through.