Power Pack Articles

Blackstarline

Empowerment through Self-Determination

 

Britain Eats Its Young

More policing, stop & search, different police tactics, more youth clubs, more funding, less poverty, more education, more parental responsibility, more government involvement – these are  the most common comments and demands towards the solution of dealing with Britain’s current social ills regarding youth crime and violence.

Yet there are fundamental actions that need to put in place before any direct action can occur. How are we to know if the direct action is correct and how do we know how to correctly implement these actions without first making an effort to know the cause of the problems?  Let us not fool ourselves, Britain’s ruling class and adult segment of society in general has always needed a much improved relation with its young. 

If we take a look at the situation towards the end of the 19^th century and the beginning of the 20^th century we will find child exploitation using orphaned and “pauper” children from Victorian Workhouses.  These poor and uneducated children (usually aged between 6 & 7 years old) from a working and underclass background were forced to make there marks on contracts that would bind them to a factory owner; working in appalling conditions, loosing limbs, half starved and beaten until they were 21 years old - In fact conditions in a Victorian prison were actually far better than at a workhouse for children!

It became such common practice that Parliament passed acts of law sanctioning the mistreatment of hundreds of thousands of working class children to keep Britain’s industrial domination alive and kicking, holding its position as the Number One nation of industry in the “civilised” world.  It wasn’t until around 1912 that the protesting voices from society were heard by the government which then reluctantly, being afraid of working classes coming together through early working clubs and unions, reformed the working laws and children’s act, they stopped hiding behind and morally dirtying the word ‘apprentice’ to finally admitting that  using infants and juveniles in mills, matchbox and textiles factories where they were required to clear out small spaces in machines, spaces that an adult worker would loose their hands, arms or legs (but with a child there was no problem because they’re cheaper by the dozen!) was no longer acceptable.  Did the British Government and ruling upper classes then turn and seek atonement, did they attempt to repair the damage of generations of youths that had been exploited, abused and damaged….no!

The government then decided to hide behind the principles of learning and professed it would now remove the young from enforced labour and place them into school - why? Could it be because they where afraid of what they considered to be ‘foreign subversive teaching’ entering the country (Marxism and the philosophy of united workers was on the rise) and the need to stay ahead of its fellow European competitors? An educational plan was launched by Parliament expressing the view that if you have a basic educated working population with the bare rudiments of the “three R’s” these same children when grown to legal working age will still turn back to the same factories for employment however they will be better mentally trained and therefore be a “smarter” workforce than those in the rest of Europe.  Parliament decided it was better to “educate” the young as long as the schooling for the poor and working classes was controlled and training was disguised as education just in case they ever thought they could “rise above their station” - maybe the recent moral crusade of Britain criticising countries such as China and India for the use of child labour in building their growing economies can be looked at with some justified cynicism using the Biblical principle of “He without sin cast the first stone…”

 

Children Should be Seen and Not Heard

For centuries Britain did not have any distinguishable youth culture, children had no real expression of their own whether it was in music, dress, language or activities etc.  Young people were dressed as mini versions of their parents; shoes, shirt, tie, v-neck tank top and short pants with their hair oiled, parted and combed to one side, only when they became teenagers did they graduate from short pants to trousers!  With the ever-growing influence of the Black youth within America creating Rhythm & Blues and Rock & Roll and it eventually reaching British shores did white youth begin to imitate and start to have a youth culture that they could call their own.  This pioneering cultural social youth development was consolidated with the arrival of Black people from the West Indies in the 50s and 60s bringing a vibrant young unique expression of dress, language, dance and music such as Calypso and Ska. The masses of Britain’s children and teenagers had no cultural rites of passage to go through to help, guide and celebrate their development.  Any reputable anthropologist, social scientist or psychologist  would agree that African and Asian societies that  kept and practiced their rites of passage suffer extremely little juvenile delinquency this is the reason why the upper classes of Britain have always exercised a tradition of a rites of passage; child activities when an infant, attending a Finishing School to become a gentleman or lady thus making the transition from child to adult and readying the young person for leadership and/or military academic school to guide the sense of natural aggression and breed a sense of responsibility and command over their nation.  It’s a shame that the ruling classes did not want to empower their fellow countrymen in the same way!   

 

Rise of the Gang

Because of this lack of cultural process amongst the working class masses there has been a steady deterioration in youth development.  The Bloods & Crips or Hip Hop did not start gangs, stabbings or shootings.  The inner cities of the UK have been home to gangs from as early as the 1700’s!  The ‘Thief-Takers’ a forerunner of the Bow Street Runners were a ruthless gang dealing in knifing, stolen goods and protection rackets.  The Bow Street Runners later became London’s first police force! 

Throughout the decades London has witnessed the rise of “gang” youth knife violence in the shape of teddy boys, rockers, mods, and skinheads, each competing for “territory” and “respect”   with the flick of a knife.  That was however until they decided to turn their violent racist attention towards the newly arrived African Caribbean population, the very people they had originally got their first taste of youth culture from - and let us not forget the adoration and endearment of cultural gang icons such as the Krays or ‘Mad’ Frankie Fraser! With this historical social understanding can it be any surprise that the current generation of youth are now the perpetual perpetrators of street so – called ‘gang violence’.  Yet why does there seem to be a high disproportionate involvement of Black males, especially from a so-called West Indian background?

A Culture of Violence  

When the British royalty and Parliament wanted to set out on their quest for global dominance and become the biggest European empire since Ancient Rome they decided that the world’s second largest continent, Africa, had to play a major role.  Unfortunately Africa’s role was one of being at the receiving end of trespassing, rape, robbery, illegal trafficking, coercion, grievous bodily harm, murder and kidnapping.  The very same crimes which today’s gang members usually find themselves in a court of law for! We were taken out of the East and brought to the West under a culture of violence to serve as enslaved Africans on the death plantations of the West Indies for over 300 years, this began Britain’s industrial revolution.  After three centuries of affliction and enslaving terrorism we had to experience another 100 years of cultural violence in the form of colonialism and imperialism.  A social science plan of oppression and subjugation was put into place to viciously and sadistically rip the very foundation of the African’s humanity from him; a knowledge of his God, his history, his culture, his knowledge of self.  All that was taken was replaced with lies of our origin and the European’s slave master’s identity and behavioural traits.  Even after this we fought in every major war campaign the British Empire then had from Britain fighting America in its war for independence to World War I, World War II and beyond, always trying to gain acceptance and freedom from our British slave masters.   After fighting and surviving through these eras of conflict we were told to leave our own post war depleted countries in the West Indies and “come to the mother country England” to help rebuild her!!  This time however, the slave ship came with beds! The Wind Rush took us to Britain unsuspecting of the new wave of cultural violence that awaited us. 

On arrival we were not greeted with open arms, neither appreciation nor streets paved with gold but instead racial intimidation, discrimination, threats and open cowardly attacks plus streets layered with the faeces of dogs that would often end up being pushed through our letter boxes by a welcoming white neighbour!  Just to survive going to school, work or coming home from socialising, young Black men had to formulate themselves into groups for protection from marauding gangs of teddy boys, rockers and skinheads aswell as the most powerful street gang….the police!  After decades of racial aggression, of physical attacks from the aforementioned white thugs plus institutional (judicial, educational, political, economical and media) racial oppression and after physical racial conflicts in various London boroughs through the 60’s and 70’s it all came to a head in the 80’s with the rebellion labelled the Brixton Riots.  The riots were classed as the worst and most violent in any inner city.  For the first time the police were actually loosing and the government were genuinely afraid. A parliamentary task force meeting was held as other areas and cities such as, Newham, Lewisham, Hackney, Haringey, Nottingham, Manchester and Liverpool had all decided to unite on the streets and answer violent racist oppression with violence.  After all the Molotov cocktail smoke cleared, parliamentary ministers gave token gestures to the restless natives and local councils wasted more money on pool tables and trips for inner city youth to the seaside. Black people failed to socially and politically capitalise on the biggest rebellion “riot” ever to take place in mainland Britain, instead we went back to our blues parties and carnivals and were left with centuries of cultural violence reaped upon us to internalise it and target each other so it could now have another social expression - “Black-on-Black violence.” 

So now here we are, with a current Black generation of youth lost of the value of not knowing this aspect of history but still showing the behavioural traits of being the victims of it.  The inheritors of the group behaviour that once existed on the streets of Brixton, Lewisham, Peckham, Forest Gate, Brick Lane, Harlesden, Notting Hill and Tottenham for protection of community have now become the instigators of violence on the community.

 

From Boyz ‘n’ Hood to Nationhood  

As one conspiracy factualist once said “the people are more like ‘sheeple’ and this needs to stop!”  He’s right; all the facets of institutional rule or influence have been misleading shepherds of the flock.  At present Parliament does not stand in the position of a government that represents the desires and wishes of the people - especially the least empowered.  Instead Parliament expects the people to represent and fulfil its governmental agenda.  How can a ruling power that steals people, “jacks” resources and orders its soldiers do to “fly bys”,  to drop bombs and kill other world leaders or nations it doesn’t like then turn around and tell the youth of today to stop killing and sort out their differences using peaceful means?  This may not be the most articulated youth we have ever produced but they definitely have the potential to be the smartest - given a moments thought the youth of today will not follow or even listen to a government that they can see is being  hypocritical! How can 23 year old Prince Harry travel thousands of miles to Afghanistan to kill yet he can’t get involved in the war on the streets of Britain, his kingdom, to save his subjects?  If people that are in the highest position in society won’t set the example of getting their hands dirty to clean up the lowest part why should young people change?  Taking some publicity shots playing football with some African village children just won’t cut it Harry!  Remember who pays your wages!

I do not believe that this government or the ruling classes can be trusted because of past and current actions.  I think the youth should be that revolutionary aspect of Jesus, where in the Bible it states, “For we war not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places...”   Adults please think twice before you call out for those in power to do more because you could be ushering in your own destruction!  This is the same government that repealed in its entirety the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833.  The new Statute Law (Repeals) Act was passed by Parliament on November 19^th 1998.  It is still illegal to trade in slavery but with this new law the word “slavery” has been replaced with “enforced labour” and it is absolutely legal for the government to place you in enforced labour if you have served detention (i.e. prison) or are a  conscientious objector (refusing to fight in a war on moral or spiritual grounds). Believe me when I say this government has plans for criminalised or unproductive or what it may consider unruly and rebellious segments of society.  If you had ruled in this way for so long and can now see your society eating away at itself wouldn’t you have plans?  I think we should take heed to the words of David Icke when he said watch out for a government that can cause a “problem, reaction and a solution!”

 As another institution it was Scotland yard’s Special Branch, with the backing of the Home Office and MI5 I don’t doubt, that launched an infiltration programme back in the early 90’s to go to Jamaica and “recruit” so called “Yardies” to come to Britain and infiltrate “Yardie gangs” within London.  These men were given a budget; living expenses, start up money for dealing crack and immunity from prosecution - nice bonus!  There was only one problem, there were no “Yardie gang” syndicates operating in London before Scotland Yard launched this operation.  Special Branch then claimed to have lost track of where these criminal infiltration informers were hiding out  although according to the mass media they were carrying out open shootings with impunity or would that be immunity!  Either this was done by total design by law enforcement and government or it was an incredibly stupid and carelessly dangerous disorganised plan that went wrong, whatever the reason, the situation left the Black community with a gang problem we didn’t have in the first place!  It wouldn’t surprise me if it was the former considering in the late 80’s and early 90’s there was a resurgence of Black organisations and consciousness (Public Enemy, KRS ONE, etc) within London amongst a growing youth population.   This “mistake” gave birth to Operation Trident - the first and only specialised police unit to deal with a specific racial group! With the help of the media you would think that the most common owner and user of firearms were young Black males living within the inner cities and not the White middle age middle class male living in the country!

We need to start believing in ourselves as the solution for change.  Our parents may have made a mistake back in the 50’s & 60’s in coming to a foreign and strange land and not preparing for future generations to be born here. Most of our parents thought they would be back in the West Indies or Africa after only 5 years or so and the government nor the educational system had long term plans for us in the UK either.  So while our parents/grandparents where busy being distracted, fighting to establish civil rights and laws of equality that may have made Britain learn to be slightly more civilised and tolerable for everyone, a fact which our generation of elders should always be honoured for, there was a certain level of failure of not laying down an independent educational, economical, political and spiritual cultural development that would have had a far more positive impact for today’s generation of Black youth and the general population as a whole. This is the duty and obligation that now falls on my generation of adults to start to establish this for the teenagers and children coming up.  Time is critical and we cannot afford, as Dr. William ‘Lez’ Henry would say, “to be taken by these mass distractions of “the music and the media is to blame,” “computer games have a terrible influence,”  “the youth have nowhere to go or nothing to do,” “they’re victims of poor education and poverty,” stop finding excuses, say a prayer and get up out of your self imposed slave comfort zones and learn, evaluate and implement what needs to be done for ourselves, then all of these things that we think hold influence and power over us and our children will appear as they really are…nothing to speak of because they will have to take our lead of interest to survive.  Ignorance used to be an excuse but in today’s age of information it is now a choice! Whether our children go to state, private or are home schooled we must always be in charge of their education.  Parents direct their learning and guide their understanding do not just leave it to any stranger.  Yes, I know the daily living pressures of sorting out our own lives and finding time is hard, but tough! The reality is this society is set up that way, we had the children and we are now responsible for them not the teachers or government.  We expect our children to be magically enlightened when our homes only contain TV Weekly or Hello magazine! We would have cupboards and shelves full of DVDs and CDs worth hundreds if not sometimes thousands but can we say the same for books of knowledge in our homes?  There can be a TV in every room but no black or white board for family group learning.   We can watch a film or TV programme for 2 – 3 hours and then cuss about how rubbish it was but find it hard to use that regular amount of time planning and laying down a route of development for our children!  How the hell can a child exemplify learning and improved behaviour if they don’t have a living example in front of them?   Fix up!

 There is no excuse today.  There are cultural development projects such as the Origin; Rites of Passage Programme for the transitional growth and advancement of young people.  We have brilliant independent educators, consultants and social interventionist like Dr. W. Lez Henry, Twilight Bey, and Paul Obinna.  There are community social activist groups such as Ligali. We have our own media outlets, music industry associations and law societies, counsellors, police associations, mentoring programmes with 100BMOL, medical practitioners and dieticians, businesses that cover every living aspect from food to clothes to construction, religious figures and politicians and not just in London, this is mirrored throughout the major cities of the UK.  We have more today than we ever had on the plantations in the West Indies and we have all these things because of perseverance and self determination, do not believe that we have had anything handed to us here in the UK and we cannot afford to forget this because this leads to complacency and an attitude of “we’ve reached!”   Worse still, we will never look to learn of the position that we came from before we were brought down to this level and to regain and then surpass that position in modern form.  If we do not know of all of these means and service providers for the community then we to need ask why? How come we can know of Dot Cotton or Mel Gibson but not Pablo Reid or Hilary Muhammad? Sorry, but Dot or Mel are not going to save your children!  You have to make the effort to familiarise yourself with these brothers and sisters as resources, links or services, surely we can travel a short distance across London or regional England you know they made us travel further on those slave ships!  How are we suppose to tell young people it’s silly to have an area code conflict that stops their travelling and we don’t make the effort to travel to establish change?  Being proactive and not reactive is a necessity, make demands of those that say they represent you and put them to work and if they don’t work, expose them as exploiters - let us take our power back!  Get businesses involved in local training and business mentoring for the young so they can gain work & career experience and earn as teenagers so they don’t have to sell a bag of skunk to by a pair of Air Force Ones to ‘floss in!  We don’t have to wait for government to sanction or come up with the ideas. Find out where and when Black politicians and councillors hold surgery and get to Black people within that region and let’s make group demands of changes we want otherwise we will withhold our votes, we don’t need any political party alliance, we should just care which party is meeting our demanded needs in exchange for our votes.  Tell them to leave President Mugabe alone for a minute and deal with violent matters closer to home, which party is prepared to use their political resources and allow grass roots representatives to guide them in travelling across boroughs to start peace talks and breakdown area code conflict amongst the young?  Do that and we will help canvas for votes!

We have all the right ingredients of services to devise real institutions, to have social impact of power here in the UK and the rest of Europe.  If our young saw that level of impact and knew such institutions were looking out for them and more importantly that there was something real and tangible that they had to go into when they became adults, they would have a greater sense of purpose, that is, fulfilling the sense of self value and worth that comes from a fully comprehensive knowledge of self.

Institutions born out of a nature and ideology of subjugation of ruler ship over people must die so a more humane institution can live.  Because of our learned past experience I believe the day we decide to make the effort to empower ourselves in all facets of human existence using an independent cultural foundation we will be blessed to bring a greater sense of nationhood built on justice, freedom, equality and peace for self and others that have also experienced disempowerment and I believe that is a Britain the next generation of youth will want to inherent.

 

 

Brother Hakim

 Blackstarline

Empowerment through Self-Determination