Opinion: We've seen killings like Chris Kaba's before…

Opinion: We've seen killings like Chris Kaba's before but when will it stop?

I was 11 when Mark Duggan died and funnily enough, I was in London. In a family friend's flat, a tower block in Highbury and Islington, the news played as the riots were only premature.

It was daylight and yet the shop across the road put its shutters down to avoid destruction. It was the start of a 5-day whirlwind of violence in the capital as people were outraged and wanted to know why an unarmed black man had been shot and killed by the police.

Now, I’m 22. Last week, Monday, I watched the news to learn another unarmed black man had died at the hands of the police - 24-year-old rapper Chris Kaba. Chris died of a single gun wound. His fiancé is pregnant and he will never get to meet his child.

The officer who shot Mr Kaba has been suspended and the case referred to the police watchdog, but a question echoes loudly in my mind: when will this stop? My mum on many occasions has spoken to me about the London Riots in the 80s on the Broadwater Estate Farm in Tottenham, where Cynthia Jarrett died from heart failure during a police search of her home.

It seems fitting to mention that Mark Duggan also lost his life in Tottenham. My mum described the scenes of absolute disaster with racial tensions between the black community and the police evident through burnt cars, punches being thrown and police battens out and ready.

PC Keith Blakelock also lost his life as a result of violence on the Broadwater Estate Farm. My mum has also mentioned the names: Joy Gardener, Trevor Smith, Sarah Reid, Cherry Groce, Julian Cole - the list goes on.

They had all died at the hands of the police. Since the 1990s, 16% of people who have lost their lives in police custody or having had police contact are all Black, Asian or another minority.

That’s over 100 people. Why is it so many?

Amid plenty of reports, the Independent Office for Police Conduct has suggested ‘lessons will be learnt’ after someone’s loved one has been killed by an officer they’ve had to investigate. It isn’t good enough.

In 2020, the world watched as even though we were in a pandemic, it became clearer to people who may not have known: racism happens all the time, in all circumstances. George Floyd was killed and a 17-year-old girl recorded it for millions to see. After George Floyd died, in my mask and with my mum, we went to the Forest Recreation Ground for a Black Lives Matter protest.

We saw so many people at The Forest - many we knew - who all stood demanding justice, equality and better policing. People held up signs that said ‘The UK isn’t innocent’ with many of the names of black people who have died here. To those signs, Chris Kaba’s name has been added.

At protests, you see signs that read ‘I‘m here so the next generation doesn’t have to be…’ and yet time and time again, those signs are re-used, re-made and held up in the air whilst chanting ‘no justice, no peace.’ But when will that finally stop?

Will it ever stop? As a black person, I know the death of Chris Kaba may not have shocked you; this has happened plenty of times before, but I know you're confused, angry, tired and hurt.

Many are angry and feel Chris’s death hasn’t been getting enough coverage in the media. I know the killing of someone who looks like you or reminds you of a brother, son, cousin, uncle or friend cuts deep. It could have been that person you think of but on September 5th, it was Chris Kaba.

My love and solidarity is with Chris Kaba’s family. I don’t know what it will take for this to never happen again, I hope lessons really do get taught within the police force. To those who aren’t black, please know you are so important when it comes to the Black Lives Matter movement because we need all voices calling for justice with us and not against us.

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