Channel 4 issued a statement to the press recently announcing that "a campaigning programme" on gun and knife crime is in the making. The commission, as it calls the vehicle for the campaign, will be chaired by Cherie Blair who, along with others, will take evidence and make recommendations to the relevant government departments.
I am well disposed to this "commission" primarily because it relates to the past, present and future of black youths in this society. I have a direct interest through my sons and grandsons, and south London is one of the areas in the UK directly affected by the crimes. I have lived here for nearly 35 years.
The Sunday Times jumped the gun with a bizarre headline: "I've lost seven friends to the killing streets". The story was of a 15-year-old schoolgirl from south London who said that no fewer than seven of her friends and relatives had been murdered in the past two years. The article begins: "Takeya, who has yet to take her GCSEs, lives in Stockwell, a focal point for much of the violence. She has decided to speak out - using a pseudonym - to demonstrate how the culture of teenage gang violence is blighting the lives of so many of her generation."
The young woman babbles on with a graphic description of her first 15 years on earth. Detective Superintendent Guy Richardson of Operation Trident, the team which investigates these murders, questioned her evidence: "I have known some people who have known more than one victim of a murder, but not as many as this girl. It takes a bizarre set of circumstances."
His response should put an end to the idea that the streets of south, north, west and east London are flowing with blood. The fact is that deaths from gun and knife crime are few. Bullets are not flying everywhere and our streets are relatively safe. One death is too many and many of us in the Caribbean community bring relentless pressure to bear on our young people: a significant reason why the numbers remain low.
Equally important for this Channel 4 effort is that most of the deaths take place as a result of a silly one-off argument. There is no follow-up; no eye-for-an-eye retaliation; no seeking revenge. I have attended three funerals in the past few years. I knew the parents of two victims quite well and the parents of both victim and perpetrator of the third murder. There is no tension at these funerals, only solemnity, illustrated by eulogies of regret and statements for forgiveness.
Another point should be made. Very few murders are committed for financial gain. Hardly any are conflicts over the spoils of drug sales or robberies. They are usually committed in pursuit of some petty argument, or, in most cases, merely because X is from Brixton and Y is from Battersea.
I make these points because I wish the commission not to pursue an alarmist course or to think that a major rescue is necessary. The commission should complement what parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters are doing.
There is no problem about police detection. Within minutes of any shooting in south London, Operation Trident officers know whodunnit. These are not considered, planned murders. They are invariably hot-tempered situations.
The tendency to instant explosion is not inevitable. It was absent when anti-racist campaigns against authority required an internal unity and solidarity. We abjured internecine strife and turned our anger outwards against the enemy. The absence of visible signs of social resistance has increased antagonism within our communities.
Should the Channel 4 commission explore some of these issues, I have no doubt that it will be of some use.
