A journey through the therapy looking glass insidetime & insideinformation – InsideTime

All Lives Matter

Its 3.17am and I am writing after waking several times with family, friends, a particular radio DJ and the insidious blight of systemic racism on my mind. Growing up on a council estate, I also attended a multicultural school in North West London, and have lived a life where my friends and family are those because of who they are, and not because of the colour of their skin. I recognise since studying however, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people are disproportionately represented in prison, which now troubles me greatly.

Did you know in the UK, Black men are 225% more likely to be arrested than white men? And if charged, the odds of receiving a custodial sentence are 53% higher still. For Asian men its 55% higher and other ethnic minority groups are 81% more likely to receive a custodial sentence for an indictable offence at Crown Court than a white man, even when factoring in higher not-guilty plea rates. Furthermore, a quarter of the prison population are BAME and according to the Lammy Report, commissioned in 2018, if the prison population were to reflect the make-up of England and Wales, 9,000 less BAME men and women would be behind bars. Now I am not saying that all BAME convictions are unsound but that total is 36 Grendon sized prisons, which is probably why Im awake at 3am writing this article. We need to start talking about this subject properly. Not next year or when the Coronavirus crisis is over but now.

For me, there are a lot more white drug dealers and weapon carrying violent criminals in prison than Black men with the same charge, yet the focus appears to be on Black men instead.

Living in a multicultural society in the 21st century as a white prisoner, oppression for a convict is real I can vouch for that. To experience subtle or blatant oppression for the colour of your skin however (racism), I cannot even begin to understand how that feels. I want to understand though, because my life is a fuller, richer and brighter experience than it ever would have been without the people of colour I know and care about. Yet I have learned things recently from watching the disgusting scenes in America that racism is still prevalent here too. Having discussed this at length with my neighbours Im doing lockdown alongside they dont expect special treatment; they just want equality.

Listening to the radio recently, DJ Ace a 1XTRA presenter described watching the repeated scene on live television of unarmed black man George Floyd being killed by a white police officer in the US. A deeply traumatic experience for anybody watching, yet I doubt if George was white, the same footage would have aired on breakfast television here. A poignant example of British television executives ignorance I think. Growing up, Ace and his brother agreed that if one hit the other, the argument wasnt over until the other had hit back. Once retaliated, the disagreement was settled, and it felt even. For Ace however, watching the lynching of an unarmed black man by a group of white police officers only further compounded the realities of today. He describes his personal harassment from institutions like the police as being hit but never being able to hit back. Ace described the multiple times police pulled him over, whilst driving, for suspected drug dealing. Though having never been arrested, and despite explaining he was a presenter for the BBC, he felt as though he had no way to hit back. And that, he describes, is how it feels for him as a Black man living in London today. He cannot hit back at a system which disproportionately targets his section of the community. A community which is divided because of a larger problem than gang violence or drug dealing alone; problems which some media and sections of the criminal justice system label as the cause for so many of the issues facing our society.

Implementing tangible change will meet with real scrutiny and resistance because it will mean holding a mirror up to institutions that currently are comfortable in denial.

In truth though, it is because of the very real problems of socio-economic inequality and poverty, and therefore educational attainment, work prospects and health outcomes, which has its roots not in the colour of our skin but the size of our bank accounts. Yet because BAME people are predominately from poorer backgrounds, millions of which it is now evident are essential key workers such as nurses, carers, cleaners, delivery drivers and the like, then how can we justify continually allowing these social injustices to occur?

On the occasions I have been a free man, clubbing outside London came with a guarantee my Black friends or cousins will experience a search on entry. It was as though the colour of their skin was an indication of criminality. This can only come from a persons beliefs. If people are not used to meeting people from BAME communities (which sounds absurd), then where on earth do these beliefs about profiling come from? For me, there are a lot more white drug dealers and weapon carrying violent criminals in prison than Black men with the same charge, yet the focus appears to be on Black men instead.

Much rehabilitative literature Ive read is written by predominately white middle-class people, with minimal BAME culture in mind. This does not excuse peoples individual crimes. Murder is murder, robbery is robbery, and no crime is victimless, but to rehabilitate (to support change) an offender surely needs to have a model of what to change into based on more than individual risk management alone. I believe this is where we need to redress the balance in the prison system too. Actually discussing this subject, learning about the ways in which rehabilitation can address the issues of a culturally diverse society, therefore giving Black and Asian people, my friends, realistic and achievable objectives and role models to strive to become. Im convinced a great deal of my BAME friends, when faced with the concept of change, struggle because they dont want to change into the unconscious, oppressive, passively racist role models many are presented with through the criminal justice system from childhood. Now this isnt to say people dont want to change, who wants to suffer with prison time? But giving people a real tangible road to hope surely has to become part of the solution.

We have an equalities group at Grendon which organises a multitude of team led events all year round. They cover all equality and diversity subjects including Black history, religious education, mental health awareness and LGBTQ too. It is a committee which goes beyond the standard reactive practice of the wider prison estate, where the only time problems of racism are officially addressed is when a man has no option other than to complain via the DIRF system. This proactive approach is a start, but by no means addresses the whole issue. What I have learned in my time here in therapy though is that when times are tough, quite often anger can arise, and I tend to want to focus that anger somewhere. At the moment, with lockdown and much trauma and hardship across the system, it would be easy to direct our anger towards those around us. I believe this is a mistake.

Aggression and violence never solved anything and wont do now, if anything it will just take attention away from the importance of our argument. But talking about peoples experience can begin to shed light on all the discrimination which continues to occur. Until people learn about this type of silencing systemic racism, without dismissing it then nothing will change! And my friends will continue to suffer psychologically, emotionally and aspirationally; which is unacceptable. I want to learn what its like for them so I can help to be part of a solution, and not continue to consciously or unconsciously add to a deeply shameful subject, whose roots began in colonial Britain and still penetrate language, beliefs and societal policy today, whether people care to acknowledge it or not.

Implementing tangible change will meet with real scrutiny and resistance because it will mean holding a mirror up to institutions that currently are comfortable in denial. People who are happy with the way things are, officially, who take things very personally every time questions about their imagined diverse attitudes arise. To change things would mean everybody having the courage of sharing their honest experiences. Please write about them, and send letters to our friends at the Prisoner Policy Network c/o Prison Reform Trust, 15 Northburgh Street, London EC1V 0JR. They want to help us all seriously. If we can build an honest picture of the subtle, though mostly blatant ways racism affects people every day on our prison wings then we can start to build a plan of education and change.

Black Lives Matter, Asian Lives Matter, damn it its the 21st century all of our lives matter man!

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A journey through the therapy looking glass insidetime & insideinformation - InsideTime