Tonight we remember teenager, would-be entrepreneur and alumnus of the Alkebu-Lan Academy of Excellence, Prince Ethan Nedd-Bruce who was shot and killed after being ambushed by three assailants on mopeds on October 22nd. (1) We pay tribute to him and all the other young people killed as a result this current spate of violence within the community. May they all rise like Ra on the wings of Ma’at after a favourable judgement in the counsel of Asar.

According to available reports teenagers account for a fifth of murder victims in the capital so far this year (23 out of 115). (2) However, these figures do not include those killed by the police, such as Kevin Clarke who was killed in March after being restrained by up to nine officers. (3) Analysis on the current situation by Sky News emphasises the racial element:

“Black people in the capital are disproportionately the victims of murder when compared with other groups, new figures have revealed. A Sky News freedom of information request to every police force in the country showed London was unique when it came to murder statistics. Almost half of murder victims – as well as suspects – were black despite the ethnic group accounting for just 13% of London’s population. White people in London make up 60% of the population, but only account for 35% of murder victims and 24% of murder suspects.” (4)

But aside from the statistics and the subtexts, each case is a real person, with a real family, experiencing real grief. This grief can only be compounded by reports that three in four alleged assailants are escaping prosecution. (5) Quick relief doesn’t appear to be on the horizon either with London Mayor Sadiq Khan suggesting that the capital’s violent crime problem could take “a generation” to solve. (6)

When speaking of solving the issue, one might think there is an understanding of what the causes are. The government has it’s own ideas, such as doubling its funding for its scheme to “steer young people away from crime” from £11 million to £22 million. (7) The police are also seizing the opportunity to make its case in the court of public opinion, amid claims that police numbers are at there lowest since 1996. (8) West Midlands police and crime commissioner David Jamieson echoed the familiar refrain, saying that “having fewer officers to deal with rising crime was a deadly equation”, and it was an “inescapable conclusion that cuts to policing were endangering the public.” (9)

Policing is just one aspect of the prevailing narrative around youth violence. Another key pillar revolves around the ‘pathological Black family’ trope. However, even that pervasive view (in both official and non-official circles) looks like it has been subject to a recent embellishment. Now it’s not just absent absent fathers as the main causative factor – it’s absent mothers too. According to the minutes of the London assembly’s police and crime committee, the interim findings of research carried out by Croydon council showed “maternal absence was a very important feature” in the cases of dozens of young people subject to serious case reviews after they were embroiled in serious youth violence. (10)

Often absent from discussions about youth violence are the ways in which schools prepare men for prison. (11) The schools often work in conjunction with state agencies including the police in a comprehensive criminalisation process. The Metropolitan Police’s ‘Gangs Matrix’ is a clear example of this. Established after the 2011 uprisings it has recently come under serious scrutiny for being both ‘racially discriminatory’ and ‘not fit for purpose’. (12)

In its damning report, Amnesty International slammed the matrix for having a wildly disproportionate number (78%) of Afrikan people on the matrix:

“The report raises serious concerns about the practice of monitoring young people’s behaviour online to determine possible gang affiliation. The sharing of YouTube videos and other social media activity are used as potential criteria for adding names to the Matrix, with grime music videos featuring gang names or signs considered a particular possible indicator of likely gang affiliation. Amnesty’s research raises concerns that people are therefore being profiled and monitored by police Gangs Units simply because of the subculture to which they belong and the people with whom they associate online.” (13)

In other words Afrikan young people are (still) being criminalised simply for being themselves. (14) The information commissioner is now investigating the gang matrix for any data law breaches. (15)

The data indicates that more than 80 per cent of all knife-crime incidents resulting in injury to a victim under 25 in London were deemed not to be gang related, which invoke queries about the intensive focus on “gangs.” (16) But even the term ‘gang’ itself is problematic. As one Senior officer of the Metropolitan Police declared:

“Gangs are, for the most part, a complete red herring… fixation with the term is unhelpful at every level.” (17)

On another level, the London Mayor has interestingly pointed to a factor rarely broached in official circles, namely that “cocaine use at ‘middle-class parties’ helping fuel gang violence on London streets.” (18) It’s an open secret that not only are many of the city’s top hotels “five star drug dens”, “the City (i.e. the financial district) is a major link in the global drug trade.” (19) Now that that names from that gangs matrix have been leaked online (putting numerous young people in ‘serious danger’), it would be interesting to see if there are any city bankers included in the list. (20)

Something that Mayor Khan will never do, however, is discuss youth violence within the context of “low intensity warfare.” Low intensity warfare is a strategy developed by former British army intelligence officers Frank Kitson and Robin Evelegh. Governments, utilising various levers of state (police, penal system, judiciary, etc.) implement this approach to suppress what it considers to be insurgent activity. The Counter Intelligence Programme (COINTELPRO) against the Black liberation movement in the USA is a classic example. As Mutulu Shakur and others have noted:

“Frank Kitson was the commander of the British counterinsurgency force In Northern Ireland for many years, and before that he was an officer in many of Britain’s lost colonial wars, e.g. Kenya, Aden, and Cyprus. Most of his examples of low intensity operations are drawn from Britain’s war in Ireland and the United States war in Indochina. One of his strategic techniques was the use of gangs. The rise of gangs in the oppressed communities in America partially reflects the successful use of his strategy by past administrations. The corollary to the use of gangs is the emergence of an increasing clamour for law and order. Kltson’s book, which is titled “Low Intensity Operations” [1971), Is the basic manual of counterinsurgency methods used in Western Europe and North America.” (21)

But whatever, levers and subterfuge the state employs, Afrikans still need to act, to try and safeguard it’s young people. In the absence of a national strategy, it’s down different organisations and even individuals to put things in place. Common sense should suggest that the best strategies are those that have been found, by historical experience, to be effective. With regards to Afrikan youth, nothing was, ancestrally, more effective than rites of passage.

One such formation that is making definite inroads is the Manhood Academy for Boys, that sees as its mission “To nurture, through a ‘Rites of Passage’ program, the evolution of our ‘Boys to Men’ through social, emotional, economic and spiritual guidance, under the wings of ‘The Manhood Academy for Boys.” It does this in order to manifest its vision of ‘Building Leaders of Tomorrow for the World of Today.’

Launched in 2016, through its rites of passage’ programme the Manhood Academy aims to:
“• Teach our boys about manhood
• Expose our young leaders to images of positivity and responsibility.
• Become more empathetic towards community issues, encouraging them to become active and responsible citizens.
• Create tangible goals that are in direct relation to their value system, passions and expectations.
• Understand their most powerful weapon is at their disposal; and having the ability to communicate effectively is the key to unlock that power
• Better understand themselves and the world around them.
• Respect and practice materialising their dreams, future and their potential.
• Understand that with confidence and a powerful sense of self, they have won every battle, even before they have started. We want our young leaders to be balanced.
• Have a vivid vision of what they want from life and the steps necessary to get there; we want our boys to become unstoppable, focused and iconic!” (http://www.manhoodacademy.co.uk/#about-us)

Their first cohort of young men will be travelling to Gambia, West Afrika in December 2018 to complete their cycle into manhood. Although the Academy’s fundraising has nearly attained its target amount for the trip, the Academy still welcomes donations (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_sLGn3FjI23DkJnPa4KPoVI6Akx5vTuo/view).

Having run its own programme for over twenty years, the Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement are also keen advocates initiating young people into adulthood through rites of passage programmes. Over a decade ago, in an article in issue 4 of The Whirlwind Newspaper called Gun Crimes, Black Deaths And Deadly Conspiracies, Alkebu-Lan Spiritual Leader, Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka, pulled together the threads that many are grappling with today with an insight to what’s behind the periodic spikes in youth violence and the strategies we need to adopt to combat and ultimately overcome it, ideally under the aegis of a national strategy:

“Throughout the 1990s, school exclusions soared with Black children overrepresented 6-8 times and equally under-achieving. As one educationalist put it they “die slow deaths everyday” in British schools; which is what Sis Dianne Abbott called a “silent catastrophe”. It is this catastrophe that manifests as violence among a minority of our young people. They are violent because they are angry; they are angry because they are being abused; they are being abused because we have failed to protect them; and we have failed to protect them because we have, by and large, misunderstood the issues. The cause of the violence in our community is political – not sociological. Our parents were lured here to rebuild post war Britain, we were surplus to the requirement and they were not going to allow us to surpass their children in socio-economic prosperity.

If we do not realise that our children are the victims of a deadly conspiracy, then we cannot save them. Solutions go to root cause of a problem, not only to stop it, but to prevent it recurring. When a Black youth is looked up for killing another, the crime is already committed and the circumstances which created ‘him’ still exist. The solution is in counter the conspiracy, by: 1) stopping the guns and drugs, from coming into our community; 2) controlling our children’s exposure to the media; 3) building community schools, 4) Restoring our traditional family values and cultural institutions, in particular ‘Rites of Passage’ programmes that prepare them for a healthy prosperous adult life.” (22)

It makes sense then that one of the most last tributes we can make to Prince Ethan and many like him is, to set forth a comprehensive agenda to engage our young people acknowledging them as our most vital resource. Otherwise as the Ancestral wisdom decrees:

“If the children are not initiated into the village they will burn it down just to feel its warmth.” (23)

(1) Press Association (25/10/18) Teenager killed outside party was shot, not stabbed – police. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-6317815/Teenager-killed-outside-party-shot-not-stabbed–police.html
(2) Florence Snead (06/11/18) London violence: a list of the victims killed in the capital so far in 2018. https://inews.co.uk/news/uk/london-violence-list-murder-victims-killed-in-the-capital-so-far-this-year/; Tony Whitfield (08/11/18) Tulse Hill stabbing: Teenager, 16, knifed to death on Bonfire Night is named. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tulse-hill-stabbing-teenager-16-13559421
(3) Paul Gallagher (09/04/18) The death of Kevin Clarke: family reveal how vulnerable 35-year-old lived in fear after previous encounters with police. https://inews.co.uk/news/health/death-kevin-clarke-family-interview-campaign/
(4) Sky News (2018) Black murder victims and suspects: London v UK. https://news.sky.com/story/black-murder-victims-and-suspects-london-v-uk-11443656
(5) Martin Bentham (25/10/18) Revealed: London knife thugs going unpunished – three in four escape prosecution. https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/revealed-london-knife-thugs-going-unpunished-three-in-four-escape-prosecution-a3971421.html
(6) BBC News (05/11/18) ] (02/10/18) London violent crime could take ‘a generation’ to solve. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-46095279
(7) David Wilcock (30/07/18) Government doubles funding for youth crime prevention as violence soars. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/government-youth-funding-rising-crime-murder-robbery-knife-statistics-england-wales-a8469011.html
(8) The Voice Online (21/07/18) We Proudly Share the Noble Dreams of Martin and Malcolm. Africology: The Journal of Pan African Studies, vol.10, no.3, May 2017. http://www.jpanafrican.org/docs/vol10no3/10.3-19-MBishop.pdf
(9) Wilcock. Op Cit.
(10) Damien Gayle (08/07/15) Maternal absence cited as major factor in rise of youth violence. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/nov/09/maternal-absence-cited-as-major-factor-in-rise-of-youth-violence .
(11) Dr Karen Graham (22/09/18) Does school prepare men for prison? https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/resources/does-school-prepare-men-prison
(12) BBC News(09/05/18) Met Police ‘gangs matrix’ ‘not fit for purpose.’ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-44045914
(13) Amnesty International (09/05/18) Press Release: Met Police using ‘racially discriminatory’ Gangs Matrix database. https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/met-police-using-racially-discriminatory-gangs-matrix-database
(14) Menelik Shabazz (1977) Step Forward Youth. https://menelikshabazz.co.uk/stories-behind-the-films/
(15) Vikram Dodd (09/05/18) UK accused of flouting human rights in ‘racialised’ war on gangs. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/may/09/uk-accused-flouting-human-rights-racialised-war-gangs
(16) Amnesty International (2018) TRAPPED IN THE MATRIX: Secrecy, stigma, and bias in the Met’s Gangs Database. p. 37. https://www.amnesty.org.uk/files/reports/Trapped%20in%20the%20Matrix%20Amnesty%20report.pdf.
(17) Ibid. p. 10.
(18) Mattha Busby (27/07/18) Cocaine use at ‘middle-class parties’ helping fuel gang violence on London streets, Sadiq Khan warns. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/cocaine-party-london-gangs-drug-violence-sadiq-khan-mayor-a8466601.html
(19) Max Daly & Steve Sampson (25/10/13) 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Britain’s Drug Trade. https://www.esquire.com/uk/culture/news/a5077/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-britains-drug-trade/
(20) Rachael Burford (09/11/18) Young Londoners put in ‘serious danger’ after names from secret Met gangs matrix are leaked online. https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/young-londoners-put-in-serious-danger-after-names-from-secret-met-gangs-matrix-are-leaked-online-a3985786.html
(21) Dr.Mutulu Shakur, Anthony X Bradshaw, Malik Dinguswa, Terry D. Long, Mark Cook, Mateos Adolfho And James Haskins (1988) Genocide waged against the Black Nation, through behavior modification/orchestrated by counterinsurgency and low-intensity warfare in the U.S. penal system. The research committee on international law and Black Freedom Fighters in the United States. p. 17.
(22) Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka (2007) Gun Crimes, Black Deaths And Deadly Conspiracies. The Whirlwind Issue 4 p. 3
(23) Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement (28/11/04) The Initiation Ceremony of Tafadzwa Mbandaka Programme. Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement.

So tonight we ask the question:

In memory of Prince Ethan: Youth violence – who is responsible?

1. Is the fact of fewer police “endangering the public”?
2. Are absent mothers a real factor in youth violence?
3. What is the real purpose of the ‘Gang Matrix’?
4. Are we victims of low intensity warfare?
5. Will rites of passage really have an impact on youth violence?
6. Do we need a national strategy?

Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka: Resident guest who is Spiritual Leader of the Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement and UNIA-ACL Ambassador for the UK and national co-Chair of the interim National Afrikan People’s Parliament. Bro. Ldr is a veteran activist of over 30 years standing, a featured columnist in The Whirlwind newspaper and author of Mosiah Daily Affirmations and Education: An African-Centred Guide To Excellence.

Bro. Davis Williams: an organiser, activist and a founder of The Manhood Academy for Boys. He is the author of No Enemy Within and Along Came a Lion.