Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

The riots, one month on

A month has passed since the riots, and it still feels as if nobody has grasped what really happened. The media debate has been limited, to say the least: lots of self-appointed community leaders and youth experts talking about giving kids a “voice” or “stake” in society, or calling the likes of David Starkey racist. The BBC “riots debate” last night, featuring Dame Claire Tickell, Liam Nolan, Shaun Bailey and former gang member Sheldon Thomas was particularly frustrating. Every time somebody came close to making a good point – Bailey, for instance, issued strong remarks about the commercialisation and sexualisation of children – someone else would drown it in bien-pensant blather.

It’s a shame that David Goodhart’s brilliant Prospect article on rap and the yoof – which explores race issues in a thoughtful and sensitive way – did not make a greater impression on the rest of the press. It seems to have been dismissed by the left – who regard Goodhart as a traitor anyway – and ignored on the right.

I don’t see why. The article was an example of liberal thinking at its best. Goodhart did not foam, yet nor did he shrink from going where others dare not tread. He was particularly shrewd about the cultural effect of rap music:

“Watch the videos of rappers like Lethal Bizzle and Giggs… It is not true to say that this is non-political. There is a politics, but it is vicious and self-pitying. In an admiring piece by Dan Hancox for the Guardian, Lethal Bizzle and others are reported both regretting and justifying the rioting; slagging off the politicians while completely absolving themselves of all responsibility. Lethal Bizzle wrote an article in the Guardian back in 2006 attacking David Cameron for presuming to make a connection between rap music and knife crime.

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