Violent childhoods - 2
(part 1 below should be read first)

Under normal circumstances, such a group would have tended to gradually disperse among the indigenous population and finally, after several generations, intermarry and eventually disappear into the general population. Various factors have acted to prevent that happening in south London. The first being those wretched council dwellings, the effect of which is to virtually imprison the inmates who cannot move elsewhere. The whole idea of council housing being predicated upon life-long occupation, notwithstanding the fact that the average occupation time among owner occupiers is around, I believe, seven years.

This meant that the black Caribbean population was forced to stay where it was at a time when employment opportunities in the area were declining. Then, another rather nasty little trick was played. Some dotty visionary educationalists decided it would be a great idea to play around with education and see if they could do a bit of social engineering. Schools were therefore rearranged into comprehensives consisting of a thousand upwards pupils spread across various sites. A depressing aura of under-achievement and limited expectation settled like a miasma.

Just to stir the pot a bit more, there was a clamour of voices telling the black community that their predicament, stuck in rotten housing with poor job prospects, was not their own fault, which was true. It was, the voices of equality and multiculturalism said, the result of discrimination on the grounds of race and colour by the rest of the white population. Which it wasn't. This had the effect nevertheless, of alienating still further a black community which had, mainly by circumstances beyond their control, become ghetto bound, welfare dependent, and housing estate incarcerated.

There is a book which should be required reading, nay, should be learnt by heart, by every politician, meddling multiculturalist, town hall bureaucrat, equality-mongering theorist, government agency do-gooder and well meaning amateur. It is entitled Kinship at the Core. It was written by an anthropologist, Marilyn Strathern, who used the techniques she had learned studying the society of Papua New Guinea, to examine an Essex village called Elmdon.

In particular, it examines in great detail the effects of a number of new migrants to the village in the period, if my memory serves, after WW2 when numbers of Londoners moved out to the country. In it you will find described all the exactly similar responses by an indigenous group towards newcomers as immigrants to this country, on a larger scale, have found. The newcomers in Elmdon, however, were not exotic strangers. They were white, co-religionist and English.

What is glibly referred to as racial discrimination is a normal response among human societies the world over to strangers, especially strangers in any number. The reactions to Caribbeans, Pakistanis, Indians etc. are exactly the same as have been displayed by the population of these islands to, at various times, the Irish, protestant French, eastern European and shiploads and planeloads of other immigrants.

Of course, the situation in south London has now gone beyond being solved by uninvolved understanding of how the problem originated, but it is at least a start. The situation has been aggravated by a tendency among some members of Caribbean communities to form themselves along matriarchal rather than patriarchal lines, i.e. no resident father.

Natural human responses do not cease just because the accepted means for their expression are curtailed. Young black men are just as anxious for economic success and leadership prowess as any young man of any race anywhere. If the educational and employment route to prosperity seems to be barred, for the reasons described, is it any wonder that the rewards of the illicit drug trade should beckon so alluringly.

Illegal capitalism, as was made abundantly clear in Prohibition America, does not sort out its market leaders in the normal way by competing on quality, and price. Market leadership in the drug underworld is gained through violent victory. Of that other method of capitalist competition, innovation, there has certainly been plenty.

Gangs form to protect their area of distribution. Inevitably, the gang comes to be seen as a surrogate for family. It provides a sense of belonging and peer approval which would normally be provided by marriage and job success within an acceptable and respected organisation. Gangs consisting of older members will quickly become aped by youngsters. That's what boys do. They follow the example of older males.

So that's how it happened. Can it be solved and if so, how? Well, believe this, solved it will be. But if it is not solved relatively peaceably it will inevitably be resolved violently. So where to start. Honesty from politicians and others in authority is as good a place as any. For thirty years they have been peddling lies. Tell the truth. The only two possible outcomes are either assimilation or permanent isolation and alienation. That fact has to be understood by all, white, black, brown or sky blue pink. The only equality which can be offered is equality before a commonly accepted law, equally applied.

There are no fast tracks to the top on offer, no routes to success via positive discrimination. No legs up because our ancestors profited from the slave trade. Taking this path hands a willing franchise to the racists. Personal success can only come from personal commitment, talent and hard work. After thirty years of hearing mendacious platitudes this approach will be hard for the black community to embrace. They need something in return.

If there is one area which is crying out for the dumping of comprehensive education and the reinstatement of grammar schools, under whatever trite nomenclature Blair chooses in order to save face, it is south London as well as similar areas throughout the country. Educational success followed by economic success by black men will provide a different guiding star to that provided by the drug dealers and gang leaders. Black sportsman already provide an alternative model but sport alone is not enough.

Break up the ghastly housing estates, offer financial inducements to move elsewhere. And finally, when all these other things are under way, legalise drugs. This will destroy the economic powerhouse which is driving the whole sorry mess.