Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man from Baltimore, Maryland, died from a severe spinal injury he suffered in police custody. Yesterday, after his funeral, serious rioting broke out and Maryland’s governor activated the National Guard and imposed a curfew. Gray’s death reminded me of the 1979 poem by the late Christopher Van Wyk, In Detention, written in memory of the many people who were killed in custody (67 in total) when being held by the Security Police in apartheid South Africa. It is a brilliant poem and a political satire. Van Wyk himself was once arrested and brought to the top floor of the building in John Vorster Square where the police inspector pointed to the barred window and challenged him on how any prisoner could fall from the ninth floor. The inspector clearly didn’t ‘do’ irony.
IN DETENTION
He fell from the ninth floor
He hanged himself
He slipped on a piece of soap while washing
He hanged himself
He slipped on a piece of soap while washing
He fell from the ninth floor
He hanged himself while washing
He slipped from the ninth floor
He hung from the ninth floor
He slipped on the ninth floor while washing
He fell from a piece of soap while slipping
He hung from the ninth floor
He washed from the ninth floor while slipping
He hung from a piece of soap while slipping.