Why The Riots Need More Black People

OK a slightly provocative title I admit but hopefully it got your attention. To be precise the riots need more black and BME journalists reporting it.

Over the last few days I have received twitter comments, corresponded with people through emails and spoken to friends about the racial nature of the recent riots. A lot of people have told me that I am wrong to draw any conclusions about race relations from the riots. They have told me that it is not a “black and white thing” but an “underclass thing”, they point out white kids and Asian youths are rioting right alongside their black friends. “This isn’t like the Brixton riots in 1981, they aren’t protesting against police racism or anything like that - they are just mindless looters, it’s wrong to ‘racialise’ these events” is what one person told me.

However if you look at any old footage of the original Brixton riots there were white people rioting alongside black people. When it comes to police stop and search, in total numbers more white people are stopped than black people. But there is no denying that there was a strong racial element to the 1981 riots and stop search is an issue that preoccupies the black community.

In the same way black youth are disproportionately involved in these recent riots. Not all rioters are black and not all black youth are rioters (that is obvious) but it is an issue that disproportionately affects the black community and has its roots in a black grievance (the police killing of Mark Duggan). Whether we like it or not these riots are a black issue.

If plastic bullets are used in mainland Britain for the first time, as recent reports have indicated, the targets of those bullets will more than likely be black youth.

That is why recent events have proven the need for good quality black journalists reporting the riots. While I have not been able to kick the habit of listening to the BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme when I get up in the morning I have increasingly been turning to independent black radio to supplement the predominantly white mainstream coverage of the riots. In much the same way as my usual diet of BBC and SKY News was complimented by Al Jazeera during the Arab Spring one radio station has now been added to my DAB radio pre-sets to compliment my understanding of the riots: Colourful Radio.

Colourful Radio was set up by Henry Bonsu three years ago, an old BBC journalist himself Henry he has paid his dues; first as a reporter on the BBC’s Today Programme and he finally left the BBC as the presenter of Radio London’s Drive-time show under newspaper headlines of being “too intelligent”.  The station was set up to try and meet the needs of a slightly older, more educated multicultural audience that just isn’t serviced by other “black” radio stations who are normally more youth focused. In the last few days this approach has proved vital to anyone wanting a different black perspective on the riots.

In the last few days they have interviewed Cindy Butts (from the Metropolitan Police Authority) Chuka Umunna (Member of Parliament), Onyi Onyando (Gang member turned writer) and even Olympic black power legend Tommie Smith – “to inspire our youth”. Through their quality journalism they have also been able to get scoops no one else come close to. For example this morning Met Assistant Commissioner Steve Kavanagh said the police were responsible for the "murder of Mr. Duggan". A statement he quickly retracted when further pushed on the issue by the presenter.

While the scoops and the quality of the guests have far surpassed anything you would normally get on a pirate station more importantly the presenters have asked the the questions I would have wanted to ask. Questions that sometimes differ from the questions the BBC, ITV or other mainstream media would ask.

Equally interesting are the phone-calls from the listeners. After listening for an hour each day I feel I get the real temperature of what Black communities in the UK are feeling about this massive news event (the biggest civil disorder in living memory). And like the black community itself  its not one view I'm hearing but a myriad of opinions. I feel I don’t get this when I listen to other phone-ins as by their very nature they normally have a predominantly white audience and so I will only hear one or two black voices at most.

While I will continue to listen to BBC Radio 4, watch Channel 4 News and read every newspaper I can lay my hands on from the Daily Mail to the Guardian recent events have proven the need for black journalists to cover the major news issues and how that can enrich our understanding of the big stories.