Loski, Akala - Interlude 2 lyrics

Let's remember we've got a
Couple of centuries
Of this type of violent youth crime
In predominantly white communities in Britain
The overwhelming majority of murders have not
Been committed by teenage black boys
In 2017 there were 117 or 16 murders
21 of which were of teenage black boys
In 2018 there were 134
24 of teenagers in general
When you think that blackness
Is the most important
Thing to emphasise about thеse young men
Almost half of the young pеople in
Prison in Britain, regardless of ethnicity
Were in care as children
Almost half of young people in prison in
Britain were expelled from school as children
When we offer blackness as
An explanatory factor
As if we don't need to know anything else
Because let's look at it in the other sense
Where young black boys overachieve
Is race offered as an explanatory factor?
For example
British Ghanaian and Nigerian boys
On free school meals, so
The poorest sector academically outperform
And are more likely to go
To university than similarly
Poor white mix race and black English kids
Whose grandparents came from the Caribbean
The four youngest children in Britain to
Ever take GCSEs are all black
Ramarni Wilfred
A young black boy from east London
Has a higher IQ than Einstein
Young black men are more
Disproportionally represented in professional
Football than any other area of British life
With all of the consequences and
Implications that has for
Their contributions to the tax base et cetera
So it's almost as if a
Black person does something negative
The entire so-called black community
Is to blame
A black person does something positive
And they suddenly regain their
Humanity and their right to be
Viewed as an individual
I started carrying a knife when
I was maybe 15
I don't say that my own personality
Is in no way responsible
Most of the young black boys I
Grew up with didn't carry knives
I made bad decisions
But those bad decisions were
Made in a context
And unlike a lot of the rest of my friends
Because I had good GCSEs
Because I had self-confidence
Because I had this pan-African support
When I decided to stop making bad decisions
I had the equipment to progress