There’s Still A Riot Goin’ On

Image via Wikipedia

Firstly I’d just like to express that I don’t know the ins and outs of the Mark Duggan story… of how and why the Police took it upon themselves to shoot him dead in a mini-cab somewhere along Ferry Lane, Tottenham on Thursday, August 5th 2011.

Needless to say I’ve seen it all before… there were the riots of 1985. I was a young man and no, I wasn’t caught up in it all… well not from the frontlines. But I was immersed in it all mentally and for me it was a terrifying but somewhat exhilarating experience. There’s this sense of putting the place where you live ‘on the map’. Ghettoes love street credibility and at some point throughout those riots way back then, the area called Tottenham – that place in London where I grew up earned its stripes. The respect was instant, the code of conduct has been immortalised and to be quite honest nothing much has really changed ever since in N17 and N15.

Sure, the crimes have progressed on a wider scale to knives and guns and the all-boys school that I went to no longer exists – ironically a housing site now proudly stands in its place. Yet needles and haystacks come to mind with regards to finding someplace decent to live in the London borough of Haringey which presides over the streets of Tottenham. Even the football team, Tottenham Hotspur have to beg for planning permission and grants in order to build a new stadium and promise to help generate jobs, opportunities and something to look forward to (a future) in order to stay in Tottenham (they want to make the Olympic Stadium in Stratford their new home)… go figure?

Man, for me, the only thing that’s changed in Tottenham over the last 30 years or so is me… and therein lays my solution to the problem. Start with yourself first as an individual and maybe somewhere along the line you’ll see that there are other ways to live and this thing called life is in fact bigger than the amalgamation of streets where you grew up and their associated postcodes. Try to be someone who get’s on the front-page or the news bulletins for a different reason (this isn’t about right or wrong) other than crime-related activity. Ghettoes have been in existence across the UK for decades and in the majority of the cases the inhabitants are still no closer to finding another way forward. Education for the most part is free in Tottenham, so too is the spirit and will power that comes from within – that’s an individual choice and a mind is still a very terrible thing to waste!

So who in their right mind would want to live like that forever? Don’t they know there’s still a riot goin’ on? And no amount of jumping on bandwagons is going to change that.

Sly & the Family Stone released the seminal album There’s A Riot Goin’ On in 1971. Here’s three cuts from that album that I feel are most poignant at this time.

Welcome To My Winter Wonderland

Looking through the windows out into the great unknown.
A place of forgotten treasure lays in wait for curious souls.
The seasons have spoken and mother nature gave the signal.
Paving the way for children’s delight and snowballs in flight.
But what of you and what of me? And what of the humble tree?
No time to hibernate – for we are busy create in wood, ceramic and slate.
It’s great in the morn, noon and when it gets late.
Making love is like electric in heat beats are passionate.
Snow-bound but content we’ll wait for the dates to roll-over
And over, and over again.