... the other Black experience
I became aware of the London Riots quite late in the day. I only really learnt about them happening late on Saturday. Since then then London is now on the 3rd day of the riots.
I understand the riots started after a peaceful protest in Tottenham by a family whose family member was killed. I don't understand why it has escalated to Hackney, Westfields Shopping Centre and Peckham - and apparently something is brewing in Harlesden.
Can anyone explain to me why this is happening? I mean is there anyone who knows why these guys are rioting because it can't really have anything to do with the friendly protest can it?
Permalink Reply by Chantel Venessa on 
Permalink Reply by kifaru on This young man has hit the nail on the head... speaking to the Major of London Boris Johnson.
He speaks of closures and cuts to a number of services and funding with is vital for the youth. Like Connections which is a youth advisory service - helping kids to secure employment for companies they would not have gotten an interview with if they didnt have the support of Connections. Connections also support kids that are under the threat of or are homeless as well as supporting the youth with a number of other problems - so the government have closed many Connections services or cut funding to them.
He speaks of the EMA which is a grant given to kids that come from poorer backgrounds to support them through college/further education.
He also speaks about university fees going up and so many young people dropping out of university because it is too expensive. I believe university fees now start at around £3000 - £9000 per annum. Depending on the university and course.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBgRd12vzv4&feature=player_embedded
Permalink Reply by Chantel Venessa on Of course, that’s what a lot of people are saying. As well as, if they’re so angry with the police burn the police stations. It seems ridiculous to attack your own community but living in London and at one time working with these types of people and once upon a time living in one of those poorer areas, I can understand their frustrations.
And of course we have to remember that not all the people on the street were actually rioting with a political agenda. A lot were opportunists looking for free stuff. I actually saw pictures of kids running out of the pound shop with bags of crisps!! WTF? Hardly seems worth it
It seems as though all their energies have been wasted as the prime minister is now only interested in locking people up. So I guess that is that!
kifaru said:
Those are reasons but they are not good reasons. That's like saying "I'm going to burn down your stuff if you stop giving me gifts." I can't really understand why these people if they are mad at the government are not attacking the government. Burn down Parliament not some hardworking guys corner shop.
Chantel Bruno said:
This young man has hit the nail on the head... speaking to the Major of London Boris Johnson.
He speaks of closures and cuts to a number of services and funding with is vital for the youth. Like Connections which is a youth advisory service - helping kids to secure employment for companies they would not have gotten an interview with if they didnt have the support of Connections. Connections also support kids that are under the threat of or are homeless as well as supporting the youth with a number of other problems - so the government have closed many Connections services or cut funding to them.
He speaks of the EMA which is a grant given to kids that come from poorer backgrounds to support them through college/further education.
He also speaks about university fees going up and so many young people dropping out of university because it is too expensive. I believe university fees now start at around £3000 - £9000 per annum. Depending on the university and course.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBgRd12vzv4&feature=player_embedded
Permalink Reply by kifaru on From what I gather,there are some young people who believe that there is less expected of them by society.There are no social programs,or jobs for these citizens.There are so many youth that are NEET-Not in Education,Employment,or Training.The young people feel as if they have nothing to lose since there are less opportunities for them than there would have been.
Chantel Bruno said:
I don't believe there are. I mean there are white kids on the street but I doubt they are middle class. Speaking to someone today he believes the riots have more to do with class than anything else. Lower class youth lashing out because they don't know any other way.
kifaru said:So does this mean the white/middle class youth are also rioting.
Permalink Reply by Chantel Venessa on Well its been a few days since the riots started in London and all seems quiet now and I think it is the same for other cities in the country. Since all of this started I have been asking what all of this was really about; asking opinions and reading and watching news reports. There have been valid reasons for why people are so angry with the government and the police (but mostly the government as I can see) but at the same time I really do not feel like the guys (and girls) rioting were in anyway protesting!!!
This is just my opinion but listening to a few people talking on the train about their involvement in the riots, and watching a few people involved in the riots being interviewed on the news, all I could really hear any of them say when asked why they are rioting were things like ''because I can get things for free init'' or ''the police can't do nothing to stop us so why not'' or ''manz come out to make money'' in my opinion these are stupid reasons and have nothing to do with any frustration for anything the government is doing. I honestly believe there are genuine people out there that want to use these riots as a platform to voice their concerns about the state of the country but i'm afraid their words will only fall on death ears because David Cameron is pissed!!
Like I said that was just my opinion - I may be completely wrong but I don't believe that anyone rioting were genuinely interested in making a political statement instead all they were interested in doing was getting some free stuff, fuck up some buildings and make some cash - show off their gansta side
Its a shame because I too share those concerns about public funding, closures of libraries and children’s centres and university fees but now I feel like no one will be heard now because the focus is on all the damage that has been caused by the rioters.
Permalink Reply by LesYpersound on ^^^ right.
what a spiritual/intellectual/ethical wasteland that may manifest longterm in an actual cultural wasteland since a distributing warehouse for independent music and film labels was hit... which means stock that indies had paid (most likely went into debt) to produce (and before they were able to sell to recover anything near those costs) were destroyed for no reason other than what? folk getting their kicks or a few ppl being able to steal a few records/cds/dvds?
disgusting to be quite honest. this ain't like burning down and looting niketown.
Permalink Reply by Eris on Permalink Reply by kifaru on Because they are cowards and they are dumb. The intelligence of a mob is low because it's emotions are so high. The other thing is no one wants to blame themselves for their situation. It's bad when your get gets his face stomped in by some cops for walking around during the riots but being mad at the cops doesn't solve the initial problem of your kid being out at 1 am? It sucks to be 25 working a minimum wage job but why didn't you study harder or why didn't your parents help you study harder when you were in school? People see rich people on T.V. and they want those same comforts and when they can't get it they convince themselves that the rich must have cheated to get it. If they were willing to shoot crooked politician or an abusive cop instead of burn down the places they themselves need to shop and work they would have an easier time getting what they want. You can't get people together to even put up the money to build a community center to serve their own community.
Eris said:
Why are these people not rushing towards the real source of their anger instead of hurting people who have nothing to do with the chaos that is happening?
Permalink Reply by kifaru on rioting solves nothing.
marches & rallies solve nothing.
the only thing that corporations and the government will pay attention to is if EVERYBODY stopped shopping,...stopped taking public transit,...even not going to work.
Just for 1 day.
Their money is the only thing that matters.
No rioting, or marching to the nation's capital.
No destroying stores.
Just don't shop. Don't go to work. If all those people did that for 1 day, it'll be more effective than that violent bullshit.
Permalink Reply by Hardwired on
When I was a teenager my moms didn't know where I was either. Despite that neither I nor my friends became crims, so whilst kifar's question is a valid one its got to be more than whereabouts. I sometimes wonder how I didn't manage to become entangled in negativity and my best answer is that parents would not have let me.
Despite not necessarily knowing where I was, nor in taking the time to play with me much, nor in ever actually helping with homework etc. they managed to instill and imbibe within me a sense of right and wrong - gradually through support and boundary setting. I distinctly remember by step father saying one day that whatever I did he would support me except stealing.
In his view I had no reason to do it and being brought up in a rural Jamaican setting he knew that thieving had a big impact on your standing and your family's too so it was a complete no-no. It helped that they owned one of the few black businesses in my hood and were well respected too - so I could never be invisible even if I had wanted to.
Which brings me onto my final point agency as human beings we are intelligent free agents with the ability to act autonomously. Whilst the environment shapes us our agency makes us.
My thoughts on these disorders is that for every participant there will be a different story. Simple answers and simple solutions there are none.
Permalink Reply by meditation @ 4:20 on Really! It's 2011, and muthafuckas still wanna play dumb.
And btw, I'm talking about any muthafucka wondering, 'why niggas are rioting?'
Believe it or not, if you look at how this so-called society (Kanada, Amerikkka, UKKK, etc. etc.) takes your tax money, blatantly lies to you, and then does whatever the fuck they want (knowingly putting Mother Earth and People, needlessly in compromising "shituations" repeatedly). Every last speck of this so-called society needs to be burnt down!
Every race needs to be rioting, based on the fact that we have some very callous, greedy, ignorant and arrogant as fuck so-called elitist and a whole lotta of sheeple that need to be broken off.
More fucking fire!
Permalink Reply by LesYpersound on riot, but direct it at something... riots and destroying shit is fine as a way to manifest that society will pay a price for them fucking with and throwing away its outcasts, misfits, and youth. but ppl got to have it in the back of their minds that there should be a rebirth or a building of something afterwards--otherwise, by all means just kill yourselves and don't take anyone else w/ you. what's the use of destroying ppl who are trying to build something--not just maintain the status quo folks are raging against?
also, the various beatdowns are always unnecessary unless those ppl were cops who laid hands on other human beings.
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