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Role models: Young music-makers, Lyrics from the Endz, who produced an EP last year as part of a government-funded project which there should be more of. Billy Marcos, left, the group’s MC, said at the time he was inspired by the rapper Sway. “He told me to keep holding the peace, stay away from trouble and stick with my education. That’s what I’m doing,” he said. |
Why are we still ganging up on our black youths?
Criminalised and demonised, young black men in Britain are being pushed away, says
Dr Richard Smith
TONY Blair made his recent comments on the need for black communities to denounce violent gang culture among black youths in a speech on the regeneration of British cities.
It is worth stopping for a moment to think about this. On the Prime Minister’s own website (www.num
ber10.gov.uk), where you can read the transcript of the speech, the headlines are “Black community must unite to tackle gang culture” and “PM hails ‘renaissance’ in Britain’s cities”. What are we to make of these two statements? Is there perhaps a connection between the two?
The so-called “renaissance” of British cities has certainly advantaged some. The speech was given to the Cardiff Chamber of Commerce, many of whose members have done well out of the regeneration.
We are richer than we were 10 or 15 years ago, but only some.
There is a growing and apparently ever-increasing inequality that is becoming more entrenched in British Society.
It is quite clear that those who were disadvantaged 20 years ago are as, if not more, disadvantaged today. Disadvantages that seem to disproportionately fall upon black communities in general and young black males in particular.
City regeneration has done little for them; excluded from the new housing, too expensive, excluded from the new jobs, don’t have the right kind of education, the right social background.
Forced into the semi-casualised labour market of low pay, low prospects, serving the new urban rich.
The government’s response to this increasing inequality has been to intensify the process of the criminalisation of the poor.
The failure of social and education policy has been to increase the prison population. More than ever law and order has become the answer to society’s ills. We are facing a failure in public policy on the scale of the United States.
First there is the failure in education – too many black males do not thrive in the existing education system, too many under achieve. Yet too little is done about this. And this is from a government that once put social exclusion high on its agenda – another failing perhaps because to really tackle social exclusion it would be necessary to really deal with inequalities in wealth and income.
The next failure is in the criminal justice system. In the United States nearly one in three black men will go to jail.
In effect there has been a criminalisation of black males, especially young black males.
In Britain, it has long been known that black men were more likely to be arrested and sent to prison and to receive longer sentences than whites. But we are now on the verge on recreating the American system.
The black prison population is growing at an alarming rate, increasing by nearly 60 per cent between 1997 and 2003; there are now two African-Caribbean men in prison for every one at university.
Black males are over-represented in the prison system by eight times.
This problem was highlighted by Baroness Scotland at the Home Affairs Committee on March 13 this year. It is a view apparently not supported by our PM.
Finally a few points need to be made clear. Gang culture is not unique to young blacks and it is not unique to London.
Too many of our male youths throughout Britain of all ethnicities are becoming involved in gangs and too many are resorting to violence leading to injury and death.
The deaths are personal and family tragedies and every decent person wants those who committed these crimes to be caught and dealt with.
But the comments of Blair undervalues the Herculean efforts of ordinary parents, voluntary organisations, the thousands of volunteers and even the over-stretched social services to deal with the problems faced by the young.
Those problems have not been tackled adequately by Blair’s government.
Instead, it has led to the increasing criminalisation and demonisation of black youth.
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