Gang culture killed 15-year old school girl Shereka Marsh

It would be wrong to speculate on some of the details that saw a promising young student -Sheraka Marsh- accidently gunned down at her boyfriend’s party in Hackney on Saturday afternoon, but one thing is for sure: gang-gun culture played a tragic role in this young women’s death.

Those rap stars such as 50 cent and Eminem who parade around in their videos with guns and girls and a ‘glamorous’ lifestyle, influence young men to ape their actions with the most appalling consequences.

Both the young man who had accidently shot the gun and Sheraka, his victim, were children. One life has ended, the other will be incarcerated, and the lives around both forever tortured.

Whilst we rightly demand from the State -our Government- greater equality, fairness in opportunity and respect from authorities, we must also cleanse our communities from certain aspects of a poison culture-gang-gun culture, which not only kills individuals but also the spirit of who we really are.

Right now all our thoughts to the family and friends of Shereka Marsh, but in the days and months ahead we must have another gun and knife amnesty so we at least avoid mindless accidents, but also purge those macho, misogynistic elements that serve no one in our community.

RIP Sheraka

Simon Woolley