Why couldn't those "on the ground" in Birmingham see what was under their noses? Asks Darcus Howe

What is to be done? I refer to the violent clashes between Caribbean and Pakistani youths that exploded on the streets of Lozells and Handsworth in Birmingham, taking two lives in swift succession. The Home Office points to some remote standing committee, manned by a minister and an army of advisers. The Commission for Racial Equality has its people on the ground, says its boss, Trevor Phillips, and soon, very soon, they will respond. (I am tempted to ask why those "on the ground" were unable to see what was simmering beneath their noses.)

The local MP, Khalid Mahmood, seems equally ill-informed. The participants in this explosion, he tells us, stormed in from outside: the police need only keep the outsiders out and all will be well. The police, on the other hand, point to the local pirate radio station which spread the rumour that a young West Indian woman was gang raped by Asians. The Daily Telegraph also issues its diktat: that the police be mobilised to stop and search every black and brown citizen in these communities.

And yet, if we get past the Muslim celebration of Ramadan without further hostilities, there would be time between now and spring to lay the groundwork for a programme that would extricate Asian and Caribbean youths from the mess in which they find themselves. (Riots rarely occur in winter, and we are promised a very cold one.) The young people of Handsworth and Lozells must be canvassed, and the leaders put forward by these groups welded into a steering committee.

This committee must prepare for a conference in the early spring. They must make a detailed forensic report on what actually took place during the riots: who did what to whom. They must provide the conference with a sketch of the larger issues that have thrown these groups at each other's throats, and what is necessary to lift them out of despair. This includes the acquisition and expenditure of regeneration funds. And this conference must have the last word. Let the people decide.

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