THE DIAMOND INSIDE

A salute to the Jeromes, the first black family in a North Vancouver neighbourhood. This is also a salute to the present-day students who have transformed Ridgeway school from its racist past.
For several years I was privileged to hear Valerie Jerome tell her story to students. I put her narratives in this song as a thank you for her contributions.

The Diamond Inside

All train whistles blow to lullaby her family
that’s left alone to wonder when daddy will arrive
All eyes, behind closed curtains, can only see her as a problem
a nasty little coal lump on their perfect snowy lives
They’re blind to the diamond inside her
blind to the diamond inside
blind to the diamond inside her

All neighbours conspire to serve her a petition
There won’t be Welcome-Wagons or smiles with open hearts
All flocks around their clergy call out for brotherhood, fortissimo,
but whisper segregation to keep God’s clays apart
They’re blind to the diamond inside her
blind to the diamond inside

The first day of school is full of opportunity
and children dream of wonders, and hope their dreams come true
They don’t expect a nightmare in the day, a schoolyard battlefield
where your brown skin is the target for stones to smack you black and blue
They’re blind to the diamond inside her
blind to the diamond inside

But change comes like rain drizzles
on this west coast salad of a lawn
Your pain may never lose its sizzle
but this failure of imagination just can’t go on

All train whistles blow to lullaby her family
that’s left alone to wonder when daddy commin' home?

JP – vocals

Russ Batchelor – guitar, bass

Tom Neville – violin, harmony

Brian Samuels – cello