A kick in the teeth from Tony Blair

The black community carries no blame for the violent crime that afflicts it - no matter what the prime minister says.


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April 12, 2007 5:30 PM | Printable version

Tony Blair's comment that the black community "need to be mobilised in denunciation of this gang culture that is killing innocent young black kids" is a kick in the teeth to five generations of the UK's black community and the countless foremothers and forefathers who fought for our freedom.

In the absence of statutory provision, black voluntary, community and faith organisations had historically stepped up to the challenge to provide vital grassroots self-help organisations so as to meet the needs of our vulnerable children and young people and challenge inequality and racism.

During the Thatcher years, these community-based resources, including supplementary and Saturday schools, were attacked and we slowly saw their depletion over time. The black community has long campaigned for sustainable resources and support and an involvement in the decision-making processes of grant-giving bodies. The response has been slow and patchy. Despite years of government inner-city regeneration, those that have benefited have invariably been white, including large multinational contractors, private equity groups and building companies.

Black communities, historically, have not been part of mainstream provision, and the prime minister's comments are in danger of continuing this marginalisation.

It has been the black community that has continuously campaigned for change and led the focus on tackling crime. The UK's own British Crime Survey over successive years for a number of decades has highlighted what we have long suspected: that it is black communities that are more likely to be victims of crime - from race hate crime, burglary and theft through to homicides and murder. The black community has certainly not been silent in its condemnation and fight against the UK's history of violence.

Indeed, in London in 1996 it was the black community, so fed up with the police use of government sanctioned criminal informants who terrorised our communities, that established the Operation Trident Independent Advisory Group. We operated with very little support and resources in our attempt to tackle the gun crime that was disproportionately affecting our communities.

Even then it wasn't until 2000 that the police and the Home Office agreed to the establishment of a dedicated police resource unit - too late for some of our young people. We radically transformed the way in which the police conduct their work, towards real community collaboration, engagement and partnership. Operation Trident is a clear example of community mobilisation and our preparedness to stand up to the "men of violence".

The prime minister is wrong to assert or imply that this is a "black problem": the bullet does not discriminate in its effect, and neither is the black community responsible for the manufacture, supply and importation of dangerous weapons.

The prime mnister's message, while delivering the Callaghan Memorial Lecture in Cardiff, contradicts the government's own findings in a recent Ofsted inspection report published this week entitled Narrowing the Gap. This identified continued failings in particular localities where vulnerable children and young people were falling through the net. The report, in criticising statutory services, highlighted that a significant minority of vulnerable children and young people, disproportionate numbers of whom are black, were suffering from negative outcomes and outputs and endure high levels of exclusions, and that service provision was not good enough. It called on local authorities and local councils to do more to address this "inequity". It revealed that in respect of children services "the most vulnerable and underachieving children and young people continue to be let down".

The report concludes by stressing that local authorities need to do more to engage in targeted, integrated, well coordinated, multi-agency services based on real partnerships.

The problem, it would seem, is that the government and local authorities have focused on providing, albeit to a high standard, broad universal services that have not been able to address particular needs. Vulnerable children and young people from, mainly, black communities have simply continued to miss out.

The prime minister's "not in my backyard speech" to a willing audience of, mainly, white faces will only fuel separatism. And yet, as the government's own report states "the biggest challenge continues to be narrowing the gap in opportunities and outcomes".

Merged

i too dont fully agree with the way blair put it. especially when he makes reference to "like the rest of us". then again... its not like he needs the black vote again does hebanana.gif



i heard today and yesterday on bbc london how teachers and parents were ringing in talking about how the schools are failing black kids. it was quite shocking. i went through the same experience in the 80's..in terms of the stereotypes, but one woudla thoguht by now people have since moved on.

and just this afternoon, its been reported of another 14 yr old shot in the neck in a drive by in east london.

yes..the usual suspects (trident) are 'AT" the scene!clp)

Have been thinking of something…anyway, to keep this as short and brief as I can manage, I was considering policy makers have not taken sufficient account of class as they are beginning to take account of cultural differences between the groups that make up multicultural Britain. When, for instance, Max wrote about class-consciousness, he meant it in context of the working classes one day recognizing themselves as separate from the ruling classes in terms of values and in relation to scarcity of recourses and the factors of production. When this happens the working classes will recognize inherent conflict of interest in this system and being in the majority will rise up to overthrow the ruling classes and the superstructure put in place by the ruling classes to exploit the working classes. That was the theory; in reality, here in Britain, the working classes have become in the literal sense of the word, ‘a class onto itself’. What I mean is, the white working classes in Britain recognize themselves as a class separated by values as well as all the economic indicator mentioned above, from the middle and upper classes but do not really want to overthrow the system. This is because they have become chauvinistic about their own class. That is, they are proud to be Working Class, view themselves in competition with the middle and upper classes, but that is as far as it goes. On the other hand, many Africans and Caribbean’s who came to Britain in the 50’s 60’ and 70’s, came here with work ethics informed by absence of class conciseness based on conflict or the recent phenomena of literal false class conciseness exhibited by contemporary working class Brits. In order words, they did not see values, which some might ascribe to the middle or upper classes as fixed, but values which all humans in their natural search for progress, share. Actually, the failure to recognize this fact is one of the tragic consequences of imperialism, in which Europeans attempt to foster their own beliefs and systems, as universal to all humans.



The result of this clash of values when high aspiring black working classes met self-satisfied white working classes was so significant we are now reaping its consequences in the form of the violence we see today. The tragedy, to my mind, is that few recognize this. It is only my belief, but I think that because the whites were in the majority and no account was taken of the fact of these differences in aspirations, nothing was done to remedy the situation. To be fair nothing could have been done since the desire was not there to effect changes and besides the fact is so subtle as to go unrecognized that is why we live with the disruptive consequence today. Anyway, the working class poor blacks who did not return to the Caribbean or Africa, or become rich enough to move out, stayed behind and gradually became absorbed, in terms of perception, into white working class values. The result was a whole section of black British kids with white working class values born to black parents who had began to forget old traditions and values. These black kids like their white counterparts saw aspirations as alien values belonging to the middle and upper classes and resented, still-coming- to-Britain- Caribbean’s and Africans who saw aspirations as the natural goal of human beings and make life hell for those blacks who value education by labeling them sell out uncle toms. Again ,this is derived from the consequences of absorbing white working class values and applying misunderstood black political arguments. White working class would label studios kids "Neeky" -the point is that the origin of labializing aspirations in this context is white working class.

The thing is, the black British could never find a way out of poverty the way a white working class person could, in relative terms, and so his new found white working class values was twice counter productive. Moreover black political awareness because of racism somehow conspired to make maters worst among a certain proportion of black people that having abandoned higher aspiring black values for white working class values became illiterate to unacceptable degrees. This illiterate black class result of absorbing white working class values resulted in a perversion of Black politicism. This is why today many black youngsters ‘keeping it real’; reject education as belonging to white middle and upper class values. When they leave school and are unable to make way in society, they justify this as deliberated by the fact that they chose radical black militantism alternative. In addition, when they find no respect in society because they have no finical or political power they try to achieve respect through aggression, which has now morphed, over time, to black on black violence. Sure, if you were to ask black youngster in gangs why they resort to killing one another you would not get the answer underlined above, you would get the usualfollowingreplies:‘its just what kid do nowadays’, or ‘it was no different in the past, there has always been gangs’, or ‘it’s all being blown out of proportion’ or ‘its just about drugs and territory’ etc. There are undoubted truths in all those but not the underlying reasons.



Black Caribbean and Africans in the past saw education as a means to gain a higher standered of living and as a means to gain power & influence in society. They did not view education as the preserve of any group in society but as belonging to all. Moreover, while they recognized that certain aspiration made some blacks turn their backs on the community, they did not blame education or aspiration for this fact but blamed the individuals own psyche.



Today many poor but aspiring Africans and black Caribbean’s coming to Britain find conflict with established black communities informed by white working class values and perverted Black Nationalism. Throw into this mix, amoral black people arriving from Shantytowns in the Caribbean and Africa, traumatized refuges and the fact that relatively well heeled Caribbean and Africans no longer see Britain as attractive and remain behind in their countries, you have a recipe for a hellhole. Hellhole is what Britain is becoming for black people generally and it will take a lot of work and soul searching to turn around.



There is a forum on Black Village that asks people to state inspiring adages or advices or sayings that have been life enhancing. Perhaps we need one asking people to put forward ideas that they believe can make a difference to black experience in Britain.



Here I my feelings for whatever they are worth…or not.



1) Radically I would advocate recognition of our differences. The “BLACK� and now “AFRICAN� political term is becoming counter productive and too often abused by statistician intent on sending subversive messages. It is also subverted by ethnic groups’ whishing to hide beneath its canopy in order to perpetrate prejudiced agenda against other ethnic groups, and it too often disguises the fact of our differences enabling councils to house ethnic groups that should not mix in the same areas. I know that there are those who think that the overall political prerequisite outweighs the small flaws mentioned. However I would add that there I have stronger reservations but this is not the place to air them



2) I would advice black political radicals to stop demonizing black people that have made it in this society and yes that would include sellouts such as Trevor Philips, misguide ones such as Lee Jasper or ineffective ones such as Diane Abbot. What we ideally want in Britain is for as many of us to make it as possible in this society. We want numbers up there, you do not have to like them and preferably, they should not work against us, but we must leave them alone. One good reason to do so is because many young black people, as young people do, simplify things and what you get coming through when radical blacks label those high profile blacks as Sellouts, is s subliminal message that success amounts to betrayal of the community.

3) Education, education, education.



4) Black people must start becoming more aware of where they choose to live and recognize that black is not a class onto itself but has within it, stratification based on all the values that create class differentiations.In the meantime if you cant afford to send your kids to good schools in Britain send them back home.



6) All those black people who have the strength and courage to mentor young black boys and girls must wean them away from false notion of courage and back to the old black values of aspirations. Besides what courage is there in huge groups of people attacking mostly individuals and black ones at that. I am not advocating they go and kill white or Asian youths but that if they have the restraint not to attack those people they can restrain themselves form attacking one another. There is no courage in killing black people when you know this society will not bother you for doing so, which is probably why they cowardly shoot and knife other blacks and run scared of other communities.

MGL - I felt sorry for the family of the 13 y.o until I read that. These murderers have no idea what they have done and for the mother to be so blase....

Paul was a Junior and the first son. Do they even know what they have destroyed?

I wish I could turn the clock back and I wish I could have enouragedmy cousinto leave London when she wanted to. Who would have thought that 2 years later her son would have been murdered like this.

the mother is probably laughing because she knows that nothing is going to happen to her son. Not now not later.

Meanwhile Ize is gone