Students paint over Rudyard Kipling poem 'If' just a WEEK after the art was erected on a campus wall because of writer's 'racist and imperialistic' words - and replace it with Maya Angelou piece

Students’ union representatives have painted over a famous Rudyard Kipling poem at the University of Manchester in a protest against “racist” and “imperialistic” literature. 

Kipling’s poem “If” was replaced by the students’ union executive team with “Still I Rise“, by black poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou, to better reflect the union’s values.

The union representatives decided to immediately remove Kipling’s words – which had been painted on a wall by a hired resident artist – from the students’ union building at the University of Manchester.

Sara Khan, liberation and access officer at the union, said students were not consulted on the decision to display Kipling’s poem – which concerns paternal advice to the speaker’s son.

They decided to take action when they saw the artwork, not because they disagree with the sentiment of “If” – which has a quote inscribed above the entrance of Wimbledon’s Centre Court – but out of opposition to Kipling’s other colonialist texts.

In a Facebook post, Ms Khan wrote: “We, as an exec team, believe that Kipling stands for the opposite of liberation, empowerment, and human rights – the things that we, as an SU [students’ union], stand for. 

“Well-known as author of the racist poem “The White Man’s Burden”, and a plethora of other work that sought to [legitimise] the British Empire’s presence in India and dehumanise people of colour, it is deeply inappropriate to promote the work of Kipling in our SU.” 

She added: “As a statement on the reclamation of history by those who have been oppressed by the likes of Kipling for so many centuries, and continue to be to this day, we replaced his words with those of the legendary Maya Angelou, a black female poet and civil rights activist.”

The development comes as students have been calling for more black and ethnic minority authors to be studied at university, in a movement to “decolonise” the curriculum.

Fatima Abid, general secretary of the students’ union, wrote on Twitter: “We removed an imperialist’s work from the walls of our union and replaced them with the words of Maya Angelou.

“God knows, black and brown voices have been written out of history enough, and it’s time we try to reverse that, at the very least in our union.”

A University of Manchester Students’ Union spokesperson said: "Student leadership is absolutely paramount in the development of The University of Manchester Students’ Union. Without it, we can’t uphold our principles of inclusivity, fairness and empowerment.

"We understand that we made a mistake in our approach to a recent piece of artwork by failing to garner student opinion at the start of a new project.

"We accept that the result was inappropriate and for that we apologise. We understand why our Exec Team took the action they deemed appropriate at the time to right a wrong inside their union."

They added: "It highlighted the need to adjust our processes and control mechanisms to guarantee that student voices are heard and considered properly so that every outcome is representative of our membership.

"We’re working closely with the Union’s Elected Officers to learn all we can from this situation and are looking forward to introducing powerful, relevant and meaningful art installations across the Students’ Union building over the coming months.

"The painting of Maya Angelou’s "Still I Rise" is a brilliant start to that initiative."

'If' by Rudyard Kipling 

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,

And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

'Still I Rise' by Maya Angelou 

You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?

Why are you beset with gloom?

’Cause I walk like I've got oil wells

Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops,

Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?

Don't you take it awful hard

’Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines

Diggin’ in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?

Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like I've got diamonds

At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame

I rise

Up from a past that’s rooted in pain

I rise

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise.