Streets of blood

Another week, another killing. A 16-year-old boy chased along the street by a gang of youths and stabbed. To death. This happened in the area close to where I grew up in west London. Like Marvin Gaye once sang: “What ‘s going on?” I feel helpless, powerless when I hear this kind of ‘news’. My friend’s daughter knew the boy. Like Aids in the 80s, soon we’ll all know someone who has lost a child, a partner or a loved one in some senseless attack.

Daughter complains about the fact that she can’t go out with her friends on the weekends. They like to go wandering out of the area (south London). The way London is, and has always been is, you don’t visit ‘ends’ you are not familiar with, where you don’t know peeps or peeps who know peeps. People will start ‘armshouse’ with you.

Some of her friends have the freedom to roam the streets after school, and on the weekends. But now they don’t ask her to meet them to wander London after she attends Saturday school, because they know she cannot go. This upsets her a bit but she accepts it. I say: “I can’t help it if they have parents that don’t care about them. Be thankful you have parents that care about you.”

Her year head phoned me once to moan. She asked me: “Does Clarke spend a lot of time in adult company?”. As opposed to what? She’s at school more than she’s at home but she is an only child, and during the week, she goes to school and comes home, so she spends a lot of time with ME. Where else should she be? What would she prefer? That she spends more time with her friends roaming the streets of south London so she would have less of a smart mouth and not argue the toss with the teachers?

She has a friend across the road, and hangs out with Suzie Wongs son. They go to the park, play football, watch football and wrestling and play on the computer. They get involved in random kickabouts, and everyone goes home exhilarated. I get a play by play of the goals she scored. That’s the normal childhood shit we know and love. And that's how I'd like it to stay for as long as possible. But of course I know it won't.

This shooting kids in their homes, stabbing them on the street, that’s the shit like most people I just can’t understand. I’m scared for my child. She uses public transport, I’m at work when she’s travelling home. What would I do if someone took her life so cheaply? People are raising murdering little bastards who will take your child’s life for looking at them the wrong way, and not being from the same ‘ends’.

I don’t want to just watch this happening. I want to help, I want to find solutions, I want to get involved.

I don’t want my child to be next.