English State Racism Raise its Head Once Again, the Ugly Flower of History

By Malik Sekou Osei

(First daft for Black Star News August 7, 2011)

The events this last weekend with the shooting of Mark Duggan riding to see his friend Ms Semone Wilson bring to the fore the importance of history and historical memory, to provide some level of clarity to recent events in North London.
This pass weekend in Tottenham in North London rioting had broken out, following the protests over the shooting death of Mark Duggan, A father of four who died at 29-year-of-age, who was killed by the police last Thursday.
Mark Duggan was in a taxicab on his way to see Semone Wilson his fiancée in the early part of the evening, when the police had stopped his cab. There were members of the anti-firearms unit who somehow was in a position to stop his cab, while they were also escorted by officers from the Specialist Firearms Command (CO19) in what was expressed by witnesses as a “pre-planned operation.”
At this point there are conflicting accounts of what actually happened. The police goes to say that Duggan had opened fired on them and narrowly missing a police officer and Duggan was shot in self-dense. However, eyewitnesses have reported that Duggan was shot as he lay on the ground, where he died immediately.
While it must be noted that Ms Wilson, Duggan fiancée had told the press that she receive a text massage from Duggan shortly before he was killed by the police “At about 6: PM he sent out a message on his BlackBerry [phone] ‘the Feds are following me’ and that’s it. [And…] That’s the last time anyone heard from him.”
Shaun Hall his brother goes to say that Mark was a “family man” and say claim that he opened fire on the police was simply “rubbish. Mark [was] not that sort of person. He’s not stupid to shoot after police that’s ridiculous.”
At this time the family of Mark Duggan has not receive any explanation from the police of the reasons why mark was shot. His killing has been referred to the Independent Police Complaint Commission (IPCC), which to be frank is just a powerless and socially symbolic institution who only purpose is to cover up evidence of the racist state violence of the English police.
Last Saturday in the afternoon, the family and friends had a protest outside of the Tottenham police station. The crowd had grown over 200 participates, mostly young people who demanded “Justice for Mark Duggan.”
At this point the police had conceded that the protest was more than peaceful. However, they claim that after several hours of protest, at 8: 30 PM, a group of young people begin attacking police cars parked on the street.
Other witnesses had reported that the turbulences and conflicts were initiated when a young woman protector was attacked by the police with a club.
Another woman had told other journalists “It started out as a peaceful demonstration. The police shot a guy here last week and they lied about what happened. They said he pulled [out] a gun but he wouldn’t have done that with [the] armed police. They shot him so badly that his mother could not recognize him.”
At this point, some 500 young people of color were drawn in and engage in clashes with the police, centering on the main high street in Tottenham.
The police claim that although they were aware that tensions were running high following Duggan’s killing, they were totally ill-equipped for what had ensued.
This explanation contradicts the fact that the British infamous Territorial Support Group (TSG) was on standby as part of the “contingency” plan. For it must noted that the TSG were involved in the attack on Ian Tomlinson, an innocent bystander, during the protest around the G20 summit of capitalist world leader in London two years ago in April 2009. Mr. Tomlinson died shortly after his attack. Another TSG officer was caught on video tape Police office Delroy Smellie during the same demonstrations launching an unprovoked attack on a female protestor, Ms Nicola Fisher However, despite video evidence of the assault; the Crown Prosecution Service announced the officer Smellie would not face any charges, back in 2009.
Then again, at this point in North London , what was not mention in the media is the fact the Metropolitan Police were sufficiently prepared to be able to set up a Gold Command structure early in the evening—used in the case of major operations, including suspected terrorist incidents.
Hundreds of riot police and vans were soon on the scene, and together with by the mounted police and a police helicopter above.
At this point, crowds had gathered, with many young people shouting “We want answers’ and “Whose streets? Our streets.”
There were many reports that there were many attacks by the mounted police against onlookers, thus causing a terror, in scenes similar to those that been an adjunct to student protest in London in the beginning of this year.
The rioting had continued up until Sunday morning with reports that police cars and passenger bus and shops were set a flame and the police being bombarded with stones, eggs and bottles.
As of this time it has been reported that 52 people has been arrested, and there has been reports that 32 people were injured.
Now, many English commentators and some Americans have drawn parallels with the riots that broke out in Tottenham in October 1985. Then, as in now, the immediate cause was a police brutality. On October 5th that year, the police in Tottenham had arrested a 24-year-old Floyd Jarrett, an unemployed Black youth, on suspicion of stealing a car.
At this point the police had then carried out a raid on the home of Floyd’s mother, 49-year-old Mrs. Cynthia Jarrett, at the Broadwater Farm Housing estate, in the course of the raid Mrs. Jarrett collapsed and died of a heart attack. The Jarrett family goes to say that Mrs. Jarrett was pushed by the police, to get her out of their way, thus causing her to fall and to die under 15 minutes later.
An angry response was to take place at the Tottenham police station. While at that point the Broadwater Farm public housing estate was placed on serous lock-down, and then surrounded by the riot police. They were met with blockades and gasoline bombs. During the conflict a policeman was attacked with a machete and was killed.
The people arrested and charged with the death of the police officer was Engin Raghip, Mark Braithwaite and Winston Silcott and convicted in a frame-up show trial back in 1987. Their convictions were then overturned on an appeal in 1991, after forensic tests had proved their confessions had been made-up.
The Tottenharm riots were a part of a series of rebellions that swept many cities in England during the 1980s. It was one week before the Broadwater Farm riots that young people of color in Brixton, in South London had erupted after the police had shot 37-year-old Caribbean mother named Cherry Groce (1948-May 2011). She was wounded as police officers raided her home looking for her son, Michael Groce. Mrs. Groce was shot by the police and left paralyzed from the waist down, by Inspector Douglas was subsequently cleared of “malicious wounding.”
The police violence that started these riots was inextricably connected to the Thatcher Conservative/Reactionary government’s assault on work and the living standards on working people and the youth of Britain .
The 1985 riots broke out just a few months after the defeat of the year-long miners strike, which had been a rather pitched battles between the polices and the picketers as the Thatcher government sought to dismantle the nationalized mining industry, with the loss of ten of thousand of jobs.
The L80 billion austerity programs of cuts now being employed by the Conservative-Liberal democrat coalition government dwarfs anything attempted by the Thatcher government. Moreover, they come after three decades in which people of color and the workers and young people have seen their wages and living standards have become stripped to the bear bone, while the very rich and international financiers have come to enjoy more than record levels of wealth.
While, a reporter of the Telegraph Raf Sanchez interviewing some of the people on the street in goes to say: “most seem to agree that the riot was a long time coming and not just a reaction to the Mark Duggan shooting. ‘You had a tinderbox that was waiting and that was just the match,’ said one woman. ‘It’s frustration by young people who have pushed to the wall. Most of them are NEETs [not in Education, Employment or Training], they can’t read and write and they have got nothing to lose.”
For the people of England , the people of Tottenham, the people of Broadwater Farm housing, the Duggan family, the Groce family, the Jarrett family and the rest of us all over the world, history is on our side, but not time….

8 Comments

Anil MC August 10, 2011 at 3:18 pm26

facts: wrong. hyperbole: ludicrous. language: infantile.

but the understanding isn’t a million miles off. a more measured tone would guard against overreaching.



Jeremy August 10, 2011 at 3:21 pm26

Can you imagine if we had this type of protest when Shaun Bell was shot? 50 times? really!!! I know this end result of the riot is being belted as more than it started out as and no one is talking about Mark Duggan now. No media outlet or anything. Its a shame a life taken wrongly and for what reason? Was Mark a suspected terrorist? was he doing illegal activities? Who knows and All we know he was in a cab and ended up dead later on. But someone is not going to take a cab if he is running from the police or govt. agency. Thats why this is BS all around and no one will be held accountable and the youth, teenagers, young adults who started out protesting and now it has turned into violence will be looked upon as useless people in society and your rich, your ignorant, and racist will say kill them all. The question I have for them is what if Mark Duggan was your family or friend? Exactly!!!!
The riots are traveling across the globe from civil unrest, economic unrest, dictatorships, violence, etc… The US has yet to be taken by this. Is it that we are too afraid too? We fear our goverenment that much? There is no more WE THE PEOPLE. It’s more like “WE THE PEOPLE, FEAR OUR GOVT”!!!!



Pixesale August 10, 2011 at 10:05 pm27

Now whilst I do not agree with the way in which the Police/IPCC have yet again badly handled an already complicated situation I would like to make it clear that Duggan was carrying a firearm which here in the UK it is not only illegal to own a firearm but to carry, so his gun was an illegal gun.  I would like to bring to light a story from my home city of Liverpool,  were a boy called Rhys Jones died aged 8 in the cross fire of a gang related drug turf war. The gun related violence has hit epidemic levels in our city along with knife & gun crime being an epidemic across the UK, now whilst those Police officers may have shot a man, he was under investigation for the pocession of firearms so in the eyes of UK law he places himself in a position were by police officers are armed and protected by law if they make the decision to open fire. Now back to the situation of the Riots in the UK and to Toxteth Liverpool http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1981_Toxteth_riots on Monday 8th of August 2011 after two days of rioting in London which as you say emanated in Tottenham, which incidently the over riding majority of  people including Duggans family condone – the rioting spread across London to the Midlands and North to Liverpool and Manchester in mindless copycat criminality with no reason or socio-political cause what so ever other than destruction and theft! My friend lives in Toxteth where the community are proud of the regeneration in the area  since 1981 and Liverpool as a whole have been subjected to rioting for the past 2 nights but the Toxteth residents are angry at the acts of these mindless idiots who for no cause or reason damaged there property. My friend was woken at 1am to noise in the street when he went out he saw a gang of 8 youths who were destroying cars, he asked them why they were destroying there own community and hurting others to which they replied by throwing a For Sale sign at his head smashing his teeth and then chasing him into his stair well and assaulting him, he fought back enough to escape into his flat but the residents woke to the destruction of 20 burnt out cars?! The following night in Birmingham 3 men were murdered by a rioter who mounted the kerb and directed a car at the 3 innocent men who were protecting there property, business and residents against the very people who murdered them! We have a generation of young people who know no respect, have no aspirations, show no positivity or care for other people or there communities no matter how bad times are economically the spiralling mindless violence will never be justified! So if you ask me if the UK will forgot Mark Duggan then no they won’t, but ask me now if they I have forgotten Rhys Jones and sadly the answer will be never because he was a young boy who new nothing of how bad and rotten the situation had become! Rhys has had a foundation set up by his parents and donations, who are already trying to put into place the change our young people so desperately need! The people of Liverpool pride themselves on there fight for JUSTICE and PEACE!



Pixesale August 10, 2011 at 10:19 pm27

http://rhysjonesmemorialfund.co.uk/progress.php

These are some other links related to the events of the past few days:
Darcus Howe BBC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biJgILxGK0o&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Proud Hackney woman
http://llcdn8.twitvid.com/twitvidvideosv2/4/J/T/4JTZH.mp4?e=1313019720&h=88d930df0d930e7ec73c48f22a332900

Scum
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Gex_ya4-Oo&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Contradictions
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9560000/9560646.stm



Jeremy August 11, 2011 at 1:55 pm26

Marshall Law- I feel bad for England, because thats what is coming. 100% lock down! 100% control by the governement & they are the only ones with guns?Shyt they are trying to make all guns illegal in the US, and probably once that happens and the militia’s spring up with stockpiles and the illegal gun market skyrockets, you will see the rebellion on the US government in mass proportions.
I feel bad for the Duggan Family. Whether he was being investigated or not, he didnt deserve to be shot. How do you know he had a gun on him? The media/police said he did to justify shooting him. Do you know how much police conterfiet evidence to justify their actions? Alot more than one may think. I just don’t buy if your carrying an illegal gun in a country with 100% zero tolerance for guns, you would be in a cab going home. Now if the dude is a known drug dealer, known weapons dealer, I get him being investigated. But if he’s dealing guns and such he’s not taking taxi’s! Is all my point is, and if he was, he’s got to be one of the worlds dumbest criminals. You may think he deserved to be shot because he was being investigated. Big deal police make mistakes. Racism is more prevelant in other countries than even in America. Blacks in England are looked at as scum, from the true Die Hard Englanders. Look at other countries in the middle east their treatment towards whites(no matter what nationality) is one of hate.
I do agree with you about the lawlessiness of the youth over there, It happens here to in the US, but on a small scale and in clusters in neighborhoods. Its called the dumbification of society and the erradication of the poor. They dont want people to have knowledge, self awareness, power, or control of anything. They will let some slide thru just to give people hope. Im not condoning the actions of the protestors/rioters, but I understand their mindset, I understand their struggle, Could you imagine if the US dropped welfare? It would be the same thing over here. On massive proportions.If you offer no way out, no programs to help improve your life and then you take away more & more. Then strip them of the little programs you have left. Well my friend, “You never see a Happy Hungry Person- Cause that ain’t Rational” People react, people become enraged, they become animalistic & a scavenger! They Take & pillage as much as possible and when you have no cares, no hopes, you become fearless and the good people around you become part of the problems . They don’t see them as doing good, they see them as taking from them personally, because they have something they dont have. FOOD, SHELTER, MONEY!!!
Kids getting killed in drivebys are a natural daily occurrence in some large cities in the US. They are all forgotten by the communities long term. I could tell you of one that happened in 2009 where I live & it happened on Mother’/s Day- 9y/o girl gone. This is in a small town on the East Coast

So, in the end of all of this, was killing him really worth it to the police, they city, and the state? I bet if they know now what has happened, they would rethink it. London will be in a Marshall Law, SHutdown, Police State. Once ordered is restored, the question is do they lift it? Englad would love to be in control of the people like back in the times of KINGS & Queens who had Authority. Many people will die, be hurt, lost all types of belongings, people will be jailed, convicted and still nothing will have changed to improve the situation and the people who are left to pick up the pieces will forever be changed and who knows might even turn into one of these youths in their mindset!



Pixesale August 12, 2011 at 4:58 am26

Jeremy, I don’t think we should ever be Blahzay about an innocent 8 year old child being killed in the cross fire of gang related violence.
Not all the rioters were the forgotten youth plenty were Educated people, Olympic Ambassadors, Estate Agents, Working People?!
I also think that the title of this article by Malik is not only negative but quite insulting to the UK, whilst there are still people who will insist on trying to go back to the bad old days there are just as many people who are happy to stay there to argue with them!
Whilst I agree that our social problem of forgotten youth, opportunities, education and unemployment need addressing and fixing from the bottom instead of putting a police band aid over the sore we also need to sort the government, education, legal system, cuts, community out from Educated people, Olympic Ambassadors, Estate Agents, Working People?!
You also need to take in the wider voice and listen to all opinions and there are plenty of small business owners and hard working, working class people from Black communities, Asian communities (of which 3 young Muslim men were murdered in Birmingham when a car mounted a pavement and threw them into the air, they were protecting there businesses, residents and elderly)
Sometimes in life we have to trust what we are told and that the truth will out even from the Police/IPCC, they were brought to justice over http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Jean_Charles_de_Menezes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Ian_Tomlinson! The rioting and looting that ensued was mindless and destructive it was not protest it was not through need. Back to your other point – Guns have to go from one place to the next whether that’s by a courier on a bike via a drop off or stash point they do move around, people also carry firearms for protection also but we still have a zero tolerance compared to the US having a right to arms. To say Blacks in England are looked at as Scum insults me, my friends and I imagine the rest of the United Kingdom so please don’t speak for others with pseudo psychology! I have travelled extensively throughout the US and saw many aspects of your cities which I could relate to being from a city that suffered badly with poverty and unemployment, similarities of abandoned and forgotten cities which were the powerhouse cities of the US economy which used Black labour to create the thriving economy of the US places like Detroit, Georgia, Memphis but I suppose the difference now being with Liverpool is that we saw investment into our city even though there is now major unemployment due to the worldwide recession we are proud of what we have built and do not want a group of copy cat criminals and disrespectful scallies to ruin it for the majority of working class people who have very little have never had much but are happy to stay positive and push forward without being the victim, You make some clear and valid points but as many, myself included, when online we seem to speak with out premise or feel we can sweep our singular opinions across wide sections of human nature, we can’t!
Hypocritical, judgemental? I’ve done some stupid shit in my time and along the way I’ve had some shit back, what goes around comes around karma etc but I believe I’m not a bad person and although I’m not religious, I have forgiven and moved on. I have made and will always make bad decisions but I will also always learn from them, these mistakes have made me who I am today, I have also got the luxury of a loving and supportive family and friends who have never lost faith in me and have inspired me to believe that I can achieve my goals! Some people don’t have the luxury of this support system or positive peers but we should also never give up on them, even if some may never be willing to learn by there mistakes or care about the consequences because one day they may realise what they have done wasn’t right but they have a chance to learn from there mistakes and how it has put them into a position of being able to put things right and make a difference and use there experience to guide others through the knowledge of there experience! I think it is right and fair that people answer to crime but we need to look at breaking the cycle of criminality and reoffending. It’s easy to put up barriers up point fingers and make hypocritical shoot from the hip to lip judgements, believe me over the past few days on twitter I’ve been guilty of it myself but when the dust settles and the discussion of causes and solutions ensues I think we all need to look at our mistakes and make this moment count, for once we all need to talk to each other with respect, compassion and ditch the apathy and look how we can live in peace and unity! I’m not a rich man have been in and out of work due to being self employed, the nature of my work and the recession, but I have taken from this what I already knew but never properly realised and possibly the most important lesson I will ever learn, money does not mean happiness and it is not who you are, not all rich people are happy and not all poor people are sad, the poor can be as judgemental of the rich as the the rich can be of the poor so it comes down to inner happiness, contentment and how we can be a better person in life, humans are not savages and should be able to live by side in communities with respect, love and most of all in PEACE!



Pixesale August 12, 2011 at 5:12 am26

Three ways in which we can make a difference and take a positive outlook from 3 very sad negative situations!
http://rhysjonesmemorialfund.co.uk/index.php
http://www.anthonywalkerfoundation.com
http://www.damilolataylortrust.com
I hear that Talib Kweli is to appear on BBC Question Time here in the UK so I would be interested in hearing from Talib & Malik as it was he that posted the original article and Malik who wrote it.



Pixesale August 12, 2011 at 5:28 am26

Pixesale is @framedink who is William Johnston.