This week a jury acquitted Sergeant Martyn Blake of Chris Kaba’s killing. In the days since, the press have predictably characterised Kaba as a criminal, in attempts to validate his killing. Reports fail to mention that Blake did not know who was in the car when he shot a visibly unarmed man in the head. Blake will now be handed back his gun.
Evidence shows how disproportionately black people, boys and men in particular, are policed – from stop and search to use of force and death in custody. According to a BBC report and Inquest’s monitoring, in the 10 years to 2019 8 per cent of those who died in custody were racialised as black, despite representing only 3 per cent of the population.
