Students paint over Rudyard Kipling's poem 'If' in protest at writer's 'racism'

Manchester University students have painted over Rudyard Kipling's poem 'If', because they feel he was racist, the Daily Mail reported.

His work was inscribed over the entrance to Wimbledon's Centre Court. It was supposed to serve as inspiration for the students.

However, many of those that go there felt the university's decision was 'deeply inappropriate'. Some of the students decided to replace it with Maya Angelou's 'Still I Rise'.

Welfare officer Deej Malik-Johnson told The Tab website: "On Friday, we noticed an artist had painted a Rudyard Kipling poem in the students’ union. This was done without our consultation or approval.

"This was especially problematic given the poet’s imperialistic and racist work such as The White Man’s Burden, where Kipling explains how it is the responsibility of white men to “civilise” black and Asian people through colonialism.

"We decided to paint over that poem and replace it with Still I Rise by Maya Angelou, a poem about resilience and overcoming our history by a brilliant black woman.

Kipling is one of a number of famous British historical figures linked to the country's imperialist past.