Kimberly Reyes: Comparing the lived experiences of the Irish and black Americans

A poet and writer living in Cork, Kimberly Reyes compares the life of Irish people in Ireland and the experience of black people around the world — and says that racism, which she once viewed as an American problem, is to be found everywhere

The Black Lives Matters demonstrations on the Grand Parade in Cork City in June 2020 were inspired by the killing by police of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, in Minneapolis, USA. Picture: Andy Gibson

I’m a black American woman, a poet, here in Ireland on a Fulbright to study Irish writing and film at University College Cork. 

Coming to Ireland was a lifelong dream of mine as I’ve always believed it to be 'the land of poets'. The literary and cultural influence that this small island has on the world is remarkable, and not unlike the cultural offerings of black Americans.