Black gang violence

The current scale of youth violence in UK black communities is rarely understood by white mainstream society. There is a strong view among black communities that if such levels of serious youth violence and murder were occurring in white middle class communities this issue would be a matter of national concern.

The implication is clear that as long as black youth are killing each other then nobody really cares. I was interested to try get some scale on the scope and impact of these murders on our communities. How best could this be illustrated was my challenge and so I did a little research and what I found was quite shocking.

The black community experience over the last decade of serious violence and murder is comparable to that of a country at war. The numbers are compelling.

Since 2001 up to the 4th July 2011, a total of 375 British forces personnel or MOD civilians have died while serving in Afghanistan since the start of operations in October 2001. Of these, 331 were killed as a result of hostile action.

Over the same period 298 black men and 67 black women were stabbed to death. 228 black men and 14 black women were shot dead. A total of 607 black people in all.

The reality is that there is what can be reasonable described as a ‘ small war ‘ going on within our communities. There is no real support for black communities seeking to deal with the wider consequences of such high levels of death. There is no real strategy or understanding from central Government or the media about the crisis we face or how best to deal with it.

As a result our suffering is largely in silence, there is little empathy for our plight and no acceptance that the drivers of violent crime, unemployment, poor schools, bad housing, the fear of crime and dysfunctional families that result need urgent attention.

What is not understood is the profound scale of the psychological damage, the damage to community morale and feelings of safety, the rampant fear of violent crime, the tragedy of young people who survived but are disabled or walking with colostomy bags and razor scars across their face.

This is the desperate reality of many black acutely deprived communities. Add to this the fact that the recorded figures whilst accurate on deaths significantly under records the extent of violent youth crime. Many, many young people are treated for gang related violence in hospital accident and emergency units and refuse to report these crimes to the police. These are the walking wounded and when combined with the official figures illustrate the sheer scale of violence that deprived black communities are forced to live with.

Young people are becoming increasingly desensitised to this intense level of violence, primary school children understand the vocabulary of violence and the need for protection that is a major dynamic in driving vulnerable young people into gangs.

Whilst pathways to employment and education opportunities have largely been closed down inner city areas are awash with hard drugs and guns.

In Inuit folklore there is a tale of a wolf hunter who plants a sword in the ice. The hilt is buried in the snow with the blade pointing toward the sky. The hunter covers the blade in blood and waits as wolves smelling the blood begin to lick the blade and as they do so the cut their tongues and bleed to death. Who does one blame for the deaths of the wolves, the wolves or the hunter?

Black youth who live in the most deprived areas in families made dysfunctional by long-term generational unemployment and high rates of income poverty being taught in failing schools and living with high levels of knife and gun crime can be compared to the Inuit wolves. The drug and gun importers represent the hunter here. The flooding of our areas with arms and narcotics result in some of these vulnerable bored, unemployed young people being seduced into crime.

They are alienated, angry and unemployed and are easy pickings for criminals’ intent on controlling their local markets and in need of soldiers to provide protection form rival gangs.

One cannot escape the fact that the black community must also accept responsibility for the level of single parent families and the dramatic effect of fatherless homes on the attitude and behavior of black boys. Black men who are estranged or disengaged from their families must take responsibility for their offspring.

The current disjuncture between the status of black men and black boys must be repaired and reinforced. Parental responsibility is key to beginning the process of turning the tide of violence engulfing our communities.

Government has also to address the woeful lack of constructive opportunities for employment and education black youth. The economic state of our communities is acting as a recruitment sergeant for violent criminality. Parents and black men in particular must address the issue of responsible fatherhood if we are to see the cessation of unacceptable levels of violence. It can’t be one or the other it needs to be both. We need to tackle statutory indifference and community complacency if we are to save of our communities from a violent descent into mayhem and chaos.

Lee Jasper