I was born in London and went to school in Clapham.
I was sick of the gangster admiration of my schoolmates in the 80's, they seemed to think that cos they lived in Brixton and the environs that made them 'street'. Then NWA came along and of course we all fucking loved it, but dickheads who somehow thought that the horrors of the streets around them kind of reflected on them in a gangster way really pissed me off.
Two of the people in my year at school, one who was a pretty close friend, the other not, are now dead cos they were murdered by this 'street' bollocks.
Then the 90s happened and the flood of people that in our ignorance we called "wiggas" arrived, from all over the UK, unable to cope with their own towns, but coming in to fuck ours up, guess they'd been gravitating to area for years, accelerated in the 90's though.
Urgh, awful. Wanted out. Got out. And have not looked back since. The area area is unrecognisable from when I was a kid. It is no longer anything to do with me, you incomers are welcome to it. If you wish to protest the filth on their rare killings of gangsters and ignore the almost daily killings those same gangsters carry out, you're fucking welcome to it
I don't live in London, don't live in Brixton.
I have lived in London, three times, including in Hackney, during the 2011 riots. I'm a white, middle-aged, very 'straight'-looking woman, in the hetero and other sense, ie no dreads, no tattoos, no piercings (except for standard ear-piercing). In the middle of the riots, I escorted an African-American woman onto the Pembury estate where her relatives lived, past a shop being looted and burnt out vehicles. I just happened to be passing the bus stop at the bottom of Clapton's 'murder mile' when she got off the bus in the middle of 'WTF' when she asked me for directions and I sort of assumed responsibility for her. A few days later, I was also wandering around with a Swiss army knife in my bag as I clocked two black youths being stopped and then searched by cops, and of course I stopped to watch and make sure things didn't go south. Because ACAB. But of course * I * was safe. But I understand that very many black people on those same streets will not feel safe, in general, and, more specifically, will not feel safe if/when stopped by the police.
I do, however, live in inner city Manchester.
About 20 years ago, I witnessed a shooting in the street outside my flat and nearly ended up in witness protection. I think I've described that incident previously on urban, how I heard some shouting and looked out of my window, expecting to see the usual local drunk punks on the park bench opposite, but instead seeing two guys standing in the street in front of cars facing opposite directions, having a face off, then some guy in a balaclava popped up from behind the bushes in the park opposite, there were orange flashes and bangs, and I ducked and scrambled for my mobile and (stupidly) called the cops. Uniformed turned up and made some notes in a dinky little notepad.
The next day, non-uniform turned up, to take a formal statement. She made some small talk, how long have you lived here, do you own or rent? I explained I rented but I liked living there, was involved in community projects, planned to buy my flat under Right-to-Buy. We sat down and started to do a formal written statement. Her phone rang. She went into my hallway. I overheard the conversation. She came back. I said, 'I overheard, you were telling someone that I like living here and don't want to move.' She said, 'Yeah, if this case goes to court, you might have to go into witness protection.' I thought, Fuuuuuuuuuuck! I was trying to be a good citizen, now this? Wtf?!? She explained that because of how I described what I saw, with part of my view obscured by the corner of the building... Basically, my view could be narrowed down as coming from one of two flats. There are three flats in my block, the view from the ground floor flat is obscured by a fence. There's a male tenant in the first floor. I'm the only woman tenant.
Bearing in mind that I'd previously worked as a journalist and hoped to do so again in future, my thoughts immediately turned to 'bylines' and also profile photos, and what would happen to my professional career if I had to go into witness protection and change identity and had no CV, no 'clippings'? I asked what would happen if I chose not to give evidence in court, despite having called the cops to report the incident via 999, and being in the middle of giving a formal statement to a non-uniformed officer? She told me that I would be summonsed and if I didn't turn up and give evidence, I would be imprisoned for contempt of court. Fortunately, the case never went to court. (Although I understand that someone had been shot in the leg and had ended up in hospital.)
Do I think that the cops should have subsequently shot dead the perpetrator? Nope. Maybe, if they'd turned up in the middle of a 'shots fired' incident, they could/should have played it by ear, and there might've been a fatal three-way gun battle. But after the event? Nope.
And this is bearing in mind that I was a witness to a gangland shooting, saw shots fired, saw someone get shot, and nearly had my life turned upside down and inside out in an instant, nearly had to move away and change my identity.
I don't admire gangstas. But I also don't think that the police should be acting as judge, jury and executioner. We have a criminal justice system in this country. Criminals should be brought to justice. We do not have a death penalty in this country; it was abolished decades ago.
stopped their heroic defence of the Irish People thr evil empire
forces went home and stopped murderizing people funny that
