I wonder if we should join with the radical campaigning organisation Buy Larger Mansions (BLM) in order to protest about both the verdict in the Chris Kaba case and indeed the racism inherent in the Metropolitan Police? Perhaps we can get Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer to wear some BLM badges on Match of the Day and recreate the heady, exciting atmosphere of 2020 when white liberals in the US and here decided that George Floyd was a kind of combination of Toussaint Louverture and Rosa Parks, rather than a former criminal jailed eight times, including for robbery with a deadly weapon.
It is true that every man’s death diminishes us and I am not delighted that Kaba is no longer with us
In the Floyd case, the man who killed him, a policeman called Derek Chauvin, was convicted, following a tidal wave of self-pity and self-righteousness and middle-class people taking the knee so often they wore holes in their Silas jeans. Perhaps in order to replicate that kind of cathartic stuff over here, we need to move towards the American model for selecting juries, where the prosecution can stuff them with people it believes will help them win the conviction.
This is what happened in the Floyd case, and so the jury which convicted Chauvin was comprised of six black or mixed-race people, in a county where the black and mixed-race population stood at about 18 per cent. We could do that, and also check that they are on board with the general BLM message that whitey is always an oppressor and that those of us unfortunate enough to be born white should spend our lives cringing, saying sorry and flagellating ourselves with a birch switch. Oh, and that we should abolish the family and capitalism and force white folk to give their homes over to black folk and then profusely thank them for it.
Even without this, there is still plenty of poison and counter-rational grandstanding we might do in the case of poor Mr Kaba, whose life clearly held so much potential, given that at the age of 24 he was driving a £100,000 Audi Q8, presumably as a consequence of diligence and hard work on his behalf. Of course, BLM (yes, it’s still going) refused to accept the verdict and instead ‘stood by’ Mr Kaba’s family, who are also demanding that something must be done.
You may consider it a shame that Mr Kaba’s family was not a bit more pro-active in standing by the young Chris Kaba so as to prevent him turning into a violent, gun-toting thug – or maybe they could have just asked a few questions about their own parenting methods. A little bit of introspection and self-examination of their own part in a denouement which was, in the end, almost inevitable. But that would be too much to expect. They are not to be judged any more than Kaba himself was to be judged (apart from in those court cases where he was judged and repeatedly sent to prison).
Useful idiots abound, of course. None are more useful to the cause of inflaming racial tension than the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. He delivered himself of the following emetic encomium: ‘I understand the impact Chris Kaba’s death has had on London’s communities and the anger, pain and fear it has caused. I send my heartfelt sympathies to Chris Kaba’s family, friends and the wider community once again. There’s clearly still a wider lack of trust in the police, particularly within the black community, that needs to be addressed. As Mayor, I will continue to work with the government to support and hold the Metropolitan Police to account to ensure any lessons are learnt and the Met commands the trust of all Londoners as we build a safer London for everyone.’
You abject ninny, Khan. There is so much in that tendentious rot to take offence at, to pick holes in, to ask questions of. For example, to which ‘communities’ was Khan referring? London’s vibrant and industrious drug-running and shooting community? Or was it London’s communities of the perpetually aggrieved? Later, Khan mentioned the black community – but I suspect a very large proportion of those people believe Kaba got exactly what was coming to him, as occasioned by a series of what we might call questionable lifestyle choices.
Do not lump all black people in together, Khan, they are not as stupid and credulous as you. And what is the point of working with the government and the Metropolitan Police to ‘ensure any lessons are learnt’? The very straightforward lesson to be learned from the Kaba case is: don’t drive your car at a bunch of policemen, but instead get out slowly and perhaps co-operate with their inquiries. Then you won’t get shot in the head.
I suppose another lesson to be learned is that you would be mad to be an armed officer in the Metropolitan Police, because they will dob you in and haul you before the courts as soon as they look at you. The officer who was cleared, Martyn Blake, had a gangland bounty placed on him and fears for his life. Maybe we should raise funds that might allow him to sue Khan for creating an atmosphere in our capital city which demonises the police and champions the criminal.
Kaba was known as ‘Mad Itch’. He had been in trouble with the law since he was 13 years old. He had served time for affray, possession of an offensive weapon, possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, possession of a knife. He also received a 28-day domestic violence protection order and an interim gang injunction. He was believed to be part of one of London’s most dangerous drug-running gangs and in 2022 shot a bloke in a nightclub.
It is true that every man’s death diminishes us and I am not delighted that Kaba is no longer with us. But when we are weighing up the social costs of this case, I wonder how many lives have been saved as a consequence of Kaba being peremptorily withdrawn from circulation.
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