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Gun Crime Crisis
The recent shootings in London have rightly shocked communities across the country. Teenage boys being gunned down in their own homes or on their local streets is a terrifying thought.
Talk in the media is of how to solve this kind of crime- but there seem to be no easy answers. I am currently involved in a study being conducted by the Home Affairs committee I sit on which seeks to determine why so many young black men are caught up in the criminal justice system. We are hearing again and again that many of these young men feel isolated within Britain and seek gangland life as a way of belonging and fitting in.
Clearly somewhere we are failing to reach these young people and as we have seen, the consequences of this are often violent and tragic.
The report isn't complete yet but I imagine the conclusion will be that somehow we need to end these feelings of exclusion within some communities in Britain today.
But how can we do this? What is the best way to promote pride in ethnic heritage while strengthening social cohesion and building an inclusive Britain.
I'd love to hear your thoughts,
Gary
posted by Gary Streeter M.P. on Monday, February 19, 2007
2 Comments:
You may like to see a fellow blogger's comments at:
http://www.ralphkeyes.com/blog/?p=14
"For society as a whole, the loss of social capital – ties that develop the glue of trust – degrades public life......
....families function best in a context of community. A growing body of evidence also suggests that emotional and physical health alike are promoted by firm social connections."
Also, my own blog at:
www.saflearning.blogspot.com
including:
"...... if 'social capital' and 'social and domestic cohesion' were being measured with neighbourhod indices - like 7 of the 8 indicators of deprivation .... described by the Social Exclusion Unit - and if the figures had improved in the last couple of years, the government's claim that the UNICEF figures are out of date would hold some water....... It certainly looks as if HMG is keen to suppress any statistics that could be used for an evaluation by neighbourhood of the effects of family breakdown."
Ten years ago the Labour Government thought it could solve a perceived problem with hand guns by banning them. Apart from the obvious effect of losing an Olympic sport at which we in Britain were in the medal tables, this stupid and ill-conceived law has had no effect at all on gun crime in our country. On the contrary, it has increased year on year instead.
Due to an ethnic Caribbean culture where fathers tend to live a free lifestyle and the responsibility for bringing up children largely falls to the mothers, gangs, drugs and Bob Marley are a way of life for the young men. But there are checks and balances in these cultures that keep it under control. It is not surprising then that in a Britain that has been afraid to raise its voice about any misbehaviour in case it is accused of being racist, this culture has evolved further in recent years to encompass guns, knives and routine black-on-black killings.
Problems that have previously been politically correctly overlooked by our over-stretched forces of law and order, have now become so serious that the black communities themselves are asking for help to stop it. Without the normal checks and balances of their own culture as it is practiced in their countries of origin, and none at all from British authorities, these communities can now see that anarchy rules.
What can be done? I have heard black community leaders in recent days asking that police are more pro-active in arresting those who carry guns and knives in their districts and that the penalties are greater when they do. I have heard a black professional in education asking for schools where a majority of teachers are black men and that they be given stronger powers to enforce discipline. It has been widely acknowledged that lack of discipline in the family (breakdown of family life), at school and in society itself is the cause of most of the ills. We have the American experience of gun culture in New York and the remedy they employed to help us. Our leaders must learn the lessons and action the remedies for the sake of everyone who is or aspires to be British.
It will be a long hard road back from anarchy for these communities but one that should be actioned from within and assisted from without. Only once control has been re-established have we any hope of introducing the concept of Britishness to these isolated people. But, as I have said on a previous blog, we must strongly defend our culture from those who would erode it or attack it. People in Britain from whatever origin must be required to live by our laws and embrace our values. It does absolutely no good making excuses about it, or exempting on cultural grounds anyone who breaks our rules of behaviour. We must assert our majority rights to run our country to our own standards, and those who have a problem with it must leave. No one is forced to stay in Britain after all. The world embraces many different types of society and those who don't like ours don't have to stay here. It really is decison time.
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