British Writer Lola Adesioye Says London Riots Have Racial Element Yet British Afraid To Discuss Race Relations!!!
Lola Adesioye
British, NY-based writer, thought leader and commentator.
Tottenham Riots: It’s Time for England to Confront its Race-Related Issues
In 2011, it’s shameful that any of England’s citizens feel that violence is the best way in which to express frustration. Watching live online footage of yesterday’s rioting in Tottenham from America, I was thrown back to yesteryear.
This is what happened in Tottenham in 1985. Then, it was the Broadwater Farm riots which came about as a result of the death of a black woman, Cynthia Jarrett, who suffered a stroke while police conducted a search of her home. It was also what happened in Brixton that same year, shortly before the Broadwater Farm riot, when Jamaican Dorothy Groce was also shot (and subsequently paralysed) by police. I was five years old, but I remember watching the riots on TV at the time.
One would have expected that, over 25 years on, there would be more effective ways of dealing with such tensions and frustrations. The trouble is, there aren’t. And while it is shameful that some of Tottenham’s residents responded to the shooting of Mark Duggan by rioting, it’s also disappointingly unsurprising.
Although I am a black Britain who is based in the US, I continue to be concerned about the future of the black population in my home country. In 2011, as in 1985, the underlying issues – in particular a sense that black Britons are routinely ill treated by the establishment, the police especially – still have not been resolved. Tensions between black youth and the police in the inner cities have not dissipated. On the contrary, suspicions are endemic. Black leadership is desperately lacking, and the country refuses to tackle these major challenges in any substantive way.
Black people – youth especially – around the country are being left high and dry. The result? Growing violent crime (with black men being overrepresented as both perpetrators and victims) and increasing social and political disaffection. If you re-read reports from the riots of the late 70s and 80s, the very same factors are still at work. The bottom line is that the UK still does not take its issues related to its black British citizens seriously and it is paying the price.
An example of the unwillingness to confront what’s really going on here is evident in the commentary that has been provided about last night’s Tottenham riots. Many have talked about social disadvantage, disenfranchisement and dissatisfied youth. While that’s important, they have however, missed a vital element. These riots were about more than that. These riots were about the social disadvantage, disenfranchisement and disaffection of black people in particular.
Mark Duggan was not just another man – he was yet another black man who was shot and killed by the police. The commentators keep on talking about “the community” without specifying which community they are talking about. And while I understand that “community” is a broad term, let’s be straight – this riot relates mostly to Tottenham’s black community, a disproportionate minority of which is, as we saw last night, enough to cause significant trouble for the rest.
Tottenham – one of England’s most deprived areas – is a troubled area with high rates of violent crime and poverty. But it’s not just Tottenham that fits that profile. There are several parts of London that fit this type, and several parts of other English cities that do the same. This unwillingness to deal with deep rooted challenges will continue to undermine England’s very progress as a supposedly melting pot nation.
Considering that black Britons have now moved from being recent immigrants to British-born and -raised nationals, these are not issues that will go away anytime soon. For as long as England continues to be ignore or really deal with the serious issues regarding its black inhabitants, its disenfranchised ones especially, there will be more Tottenham-like riots.
The English – and Londoners in particular – prefer not to talk about race. Little weight is given to the experiences of being black in Britain, nor is racism or the intersection of race and class discussed in any meaningful way. Many find race-related topics uncomfortable and believe them to be unnecessary. After all, England does not have US-style segregation. This ignores however, the very real and shocking statistics about what it means to be black and British today. Black children – boys in particular – continue to be at the bottom of the ladder when it comes to education. They are over represented in crime statistics and in prisons. The majority of black populations live in the UK’s most deprived areas. It should not take extreme incidents like this for people to wake up to what’s happening under their very noses.
This is not just an issue for the government either. As I said, black leadership has failed massively. Apart from a few like MP’s David Lammy and Diane Abbott, those at Operation Black Vote and some notable others, many black people are simply silent on these issues. Where are the young people coming up and saying they will not stand for this? Who are we expecting to repair this damage? Who are we expecting to deal with our frustrated youth? Who is setting out and outlining a vision for the future of our young people and holding anyone accountable?
One of the things that I like most about the US – something that stems from their history of having to be self reliant and fight against segregation – is that there is a willingness and a sense of duty and responsibility in some circles for black people to stand up and take ownership and make a difference for their own. Consequently, there are prominent black leaders – activists, intellectuals, politicians and even vocal entertainers like Bill Cosby – who can be counted on to take issues to task. This is a vital, yet missing, facet among black Britons – young ones especially – that is hindering us collectively. We seem to be afraid, perhaps ashamed, disinterested or just plain unwilling to take any ownership which leaves me to ask “if not you or I, then who?”
There are some deep issues which must be handled here if we are to avoid a repeat of this type of violence. Hopefully we can use this as a teachable moment. We don’t seem to have learned much since 1985. The only question is, what will be different this time around?
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Check Out The German Show Verbotene Liebe Gay Storyline Christian & Oliver Story On You Tube!!!
A few months ago, I discovered the German soap Verboten Liebe which means Forbidden Love in English on You Tube. I am very impressed with Jo Weil and Thore Scholermann’s acting because their characters are very convincing of a gay male couple in love. Jo’s character Oliver Sabel is a sensitive gay manager of a bar called No Limits in Dusseldorf Germany. Thore’s character Christian Mann is a former boxer and he is now a horse trainer. Oliver and Christian have dated for three years which is an eternity in the soap world.
I know, it sounds strange that I am talking about a soap. However, there is a paucity of quality gay male entertainment in pop culture. I think the internet has allowed people to find interesting stories about gay male love from across the world. It is exciting to see how homosexuality is viewed in different countries. Some German soap fans of Forbidden Love have translated the German dialogue into English. I notice that it is only the Christian and Oliver storyline that got translated from German into English. It seems to me that everyone likes seeing hot men make out on television!
Now the Oliver and Christian storyline has reached a huge international audience. One of the first things I noticed about Christian and Oliver’s storyline is the passion and eroticism is so strong compared to gay male romances on North American television. The love that Christian and Oliver have for each other is evident it is not just about sex.
I am surprised to see multiple scenes of the two men in bed together! I know I shouldn’t be surprised but gay male love is simply not shown like this in Canada or the USA mainstream television. Of course, Queer as Folk was on cable on the showcase channel in Canada. However, I never liked Queer as Folk for multiple reasons. I just did not feel a connection to Queer as Folk as I do to Forbidden Love. The sex was gratuitous on Queer as Folk and I also felt the acting was terrible. Christian and Oliver really seem to be in love and their friends accept their same-sex relationship. Perhaps, Germany is more progressive than Canada and the United States in relation to male homosexuality depicted on television?
The character Christian Mann is actually not gay, he is probably bisexual because he has cheated on his partner Oliver Sabel with a few women. Meanwhile, Oliver is gay and his character is furious at Christian so he went to Spain and had an affair with a Spaniard. Currently, Christian and Oliver have actually broken up because Oliver is distressed that Christian has cheated on him with multiple women. First Christian slept with Jessica and Theresa.
Some fans of Forbidden Love are upset that Christian is still sexually attracted to women. However, I think it is refreshing because the writers of Forbidden Love are illustrating to the audience that Christian’s sexuality is fluid. I think the reason Forbidden Love fans are upset is they fear the writers will place Christian with a permanent female partner. Christian is mad at Oliver because he has tried multiple times to make up with his boyfriend but he is constantly being pushed away.
National Post Article: Is The Canadian Government Afraid To Change Law On Honour Killings Due To Fears Of Being Called Racist??
Barbara Kay: Two more tragic reasons for a law against honour killings
Barbara Kay Aug 2, 2011 – 8:57 AM ET | Last Updated: Aug 2, 2011 11:20 AM ET
It has happened again. And again. Two honour-motivated murders have made front-page news.
Abdul Malik Rustam of Toronto is alleged to have made his way into the apartment of his estranged wife, Shaher Bano Shahdady, and strangled her. Not a week later, across the country in Surrey, B.C., Ravinder Bhangu’s estranged husband, Sunny Banghu, allegedly barged into her office at an Punjabi-English newspaper where she worked, and murdered her with a meat cleaver.
Sources within the South Asian community say the violent murders bear the hallmarks of honour killings. If the alleged murderers confirm that motive, then that would make these cases numbers 14 and 15 on our official count list of murders of girls and women – official in the sense that the motive is not in question. How many other “accidents” and “suicides” to girls and women within the South Asian community that should have been included under the rubric of honour crimes we will never know.
Just last week we learned of Arif Mubashir, a 40-year old Pakistani father who gunned down all six of his daughters in front of their mother, simply because their brother had told him that two of the girls were socializing with male students at a nearby college. Not having sexual relations, merely being friendly. To him, that meant they were “without honour.” The girls “were both corrupt,” Mubashir told the police. In his mind corruption was contagious, so all the girls had to die.
One of the more chilling aspects of honour-motivated killers is their lack of fear of reprisals. Their inability to live with their perceived shame trumps any apprehensions of punishment by the state. The police inspector who interrogated Mubashir told reporters that “He does not regret what he did. He boasted that he would do it all over again if he had to.”
We saw a similar scenario in the case of Toronto teenager Aqsa Parvez, murdered in 2007 by her father and brother for her perceived shaming of the family in taking up a typically Canadian social life, and her refusal to marry a man chosen for her in Pakistan. Even though the “system” did not fail Aqsa – her teachers, the police, social workers: all were aware of the situation and all did their best to prevent what happened – she was killed in the end.
Last July Status of Women Minister Rona Ambrose floated a plan to introduce an honour-killing-specific amendment to the Criminal Code. The Justice Department shot it down. A spokesperson said at the time, “An intentional killing is murder, regardless of the motive.” But there is a vital difference between typical murders and honour-motivated murders. A “normal” murder is perpetrated by a single murderer with a particular motive. Punishing the murderer is justice delivered. But honour-motivated murders are almost invariably conspiracies by members of a family, and always for the same culturally-based reason. The father is always the leader of the conspiracy, and if there are sons, they are often involved in the planning and execution.
Women in the family do not usually execute daughters (although in one Canadian case a Chechen widow strangled her daughter as a proxy for her late husband). But they are almost invariably in on the planning, and rarely act to prevent it by warning police. In the case of Aqsa Parvez, there were 10 or 11 people living in the household. Every one of them knew that a terrible punishment lay in store for her. She had been living with friends. Her mother lured her home with a false promise of reconciliation, and that is why she was killed.
And that is why we do need to treat honour crimes differently from the way we treat other murders. It is not enough to imprison those who actually execute the crime. The entire family must bear some responsibility, and must be punished too. That may seem harsh to many people, because those abetting these crimes have not only been brainwashed into the belief system that sanctions such hideous acts, they have good reason to fear punishment themselves if they don’t support the family patriarch.
But we have to start somewhere if the problem of honour crimes is not to escalate out of control, as it has in the UK, for example, where there are about 13 honour killings a year, not to mention rather shocking statistics on suicides of South Asian girls aged 16-24. When Aqsa Parvez was killed, anyone who called her murder by its proper name was vilified as a racist. Everyone said it was just another case of “domestic violence.” We have made progress; we are calling honour crimes by their real names. Now we have to take that extra step and make the punishment fit the crime.
National Post
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