makemymark

Reading The Riots - My experience

American Professors Gary Lavigna and Ann Donnellan state that ‘Human behaviour never occurs in a vacuum’. 

The August riots were deeply affecting and remarkable because of the sheer scale of which they grew. In the aftermath many were judging the behaviour and subsequently the people who were involved without taking time to consider the causes in any detail.

Admittedly, as the riots escalated and spread I began joining in with the head shaking and finger pointing. I witnessed the disorder first hand in Hackney; explosive clashes with police and mass looting. In the heat of the moment I found myself abandoning my beliefs and labelling young people. However, while the generalisations and vitriol continued I paused and reflected. Why did the riots happen?

I’m a mentor. I work in North London with challenging teenagers who, for various reasons, have been excluded from taking part in mainstream education and society in general. Despite the nature of my work, despite the extensive training and despite my understanding of the obstacles young people in Britain face today, my faith in them had been challenged.

The ‘Reading the Riots’ project gave me the opportunity to speak to those who were directly involved in the disorder and discover their motivations for taking part.

My greatest worry was that I would spend a month chasing shadows with my Dictaphone. I was wrong. The general response to the project was positive. People felt as though they hadn’t been given a platform to speak freely about the riots and their reasons for getting involved. Now they had the chance to do so. I conducted interviews across London. Some took place in areas that I knew well, others in unfamiliar territory. All of them provided invaluable insight into what happened.

It was an emotional journey. I was able to reconnect with faces and revisit places from my past.

 I interviewed young people who live on the periphery of society. They feel persecuted and victimised by the police; consequently a festering hate develops. Mark Duggan’s shooting compounded this hate. My interviewees in Tottenham spoke with great emotion and passion about this incident. They were genuinely hurt and took to the streets in order to retaliate. In comparison, interviewees in other areas cited Mark Duggan’s shooting as an excuse, rather than a serious motivation, to take on the police.

London is a city of extremes where poverty and wealth exist in close proximity to one and other. Young people that I interviewed in East and West London described areas where the amenities only cater for the privileged few. They described the riots as the ideal opportunity to acquire the things that are normally out of reach. Some felt that constant pressure from the media to own the latest must haves contributed to the looting.

There are numerous gangs that divide London. My interviewees across the city explained that gang divisions were put aside during the riots. They felt as though young people were uniting against a common enemy, be it the government or the police. This challenges earlier perceptions on gang involvement during the riots.

The interviews that I conducted left me speechless on numerous occasions. Being involved in the ‘Reading The Riots’ project reaffirmed my faith in young people. My interviewees dispelled the notion that those directly involved in the riots were mindless criminals. The exemplary justice being served post riots further excludes young people who don’t feel a part of society already. I feel that in order to avoid a repeat, the emphasis should be on how we can make these young people feel included.

My mentoring has taught me that behaviour is plastic; it can be altered, changed and shaped. This is only possible when the causes are properly identified and addressed.