More on Lozells
Talking directly to people who observed the events of the weekend I’ve discovered a few things.
The man stabbed to death on Saturday night was Isiah Youngsam, an employee of the city council’s Business Solutions and IT section. As has been reported in the media he was attacked as he and a group of his friends and relatives walked home from the cinema. A large group of youths, wearing balaklavas to hide their faces, pulled up in cars and leapt out to attack them with knives and other weapons.
As a mark of respect the IT helpline, where Isiah worked, was closed today.
What has not been widely reported in the media is that his cousin, who had also suffered serious injuries, had to carry him to city hospital as apparently the ambulance service were not allowed into the area by the police.
Whilst the police and media are still maintaining that the rumours of a rape are just rumours there seems to no doubt at all in the local Black community that it did take place. There has been a lot of anger from the community that the police seem to have just ignored a rape because it happened to a black girl in a deprived area. To quote one person: “If it had been a white woman in Sutton Coldfield or Solihull, the police would have been all over it.”
The BBC have pictures of events.
Just adds to the sadness of what has happened/is happening, goes beyond injustice against one person.
As far it goes, injustice doesn’t care what colour a persons skin is, it happens to anyone regardless of social standing. I have been victim of much crime commited by many kinds of groups of people, and I have seen no justice. I’m white, so the race card falls flat on its face when talking about justice and equality. As a young person I used to live in Handsworth, and then Aston, now I don’t each of the places where I have lived so far, even outside of Birmingham and even in affluent areas has seen crime go unresolved or have a sense of ignorance on behalf of the authorities.
What happened to the places where I grew up learning to repsect my neighbours?
No matter how or why it started or what it has unearthed, it has to stop. The growing militancy in the area has to end, we all have a responsibility to use common sense.