Tension has been heightened in Birmingham after the deaths of three young men out to protect businesses and property from looting that has been rife in Birmingham for two nights. It appears a car was driven deliberately into a crowd standing on the pavement on Dudley Road in Winson Green.
In a television report on Midlands today a father said “they will be forgotten in a few day’s time”. That will not happen, and moving tributes were given by members of the community, including an African-Caribbean neighbour who said she was “deeply distressed”. She had lived next door to one of the young people killed for years and had developed good relations with the family.
That there are inter-community tensions cannot be denied, but they can be fuelled by politicians, police and others or they can be recognised and prevented. The closing down of community resources which addressed problems of alienation and gave something to poorer members of the community is having a significant effect on worsening community relations. The dispossessed are dispossessed further by an elite and uncaring government and local council.