Meet the Maya Angelou of Mitchells Plain. Chelsea Goliath, 21, from Tafelsig, was surprised when her poetry went viral on social media this week.
The UWC B.Com student and spoken word artist says she usually writes poetry to relax when she isn’t sitting with her nose in her books.
Chelsea’s poem, titled Mitchells Plain, was uploaded to her Facebook page on 30 October and has been shared more than 100 000 times.
She says she created the video to share her poetry and thoughts on issues bothering her.
But this time, she had no idea it would blow up the way it did.
She says in the poem: “I see how a room goes from jolly to silent, and I’m not quite sure if it’s because of the violence or if it is because I said I’m from Mitchells Plain.”
Chelsea says the poem speaks about the “hardships of growing up in Mitchells Plain and being labelled for the place”.
And it comes about after years of experiencing ridicule and judgement simply because she was born innie Plain.
She says it made her feel ashamed when people passed silly remarks when they found out where she came from.
The final blow for her was when her cousin went for an interview.
“My cousin has a qualification in management. When he was asked where he was from, the atmosphere changed. They even checked if he had a criminal record. He didn’t get the job.
“It’s sad to know that you are judged based on where you come from and I plan on changing the truth of Mitchells Plain,” she said.