Birmingham Riots 2011

Participating as a contributor to a debate on the riots and social media right now for The Guardian - take a look and feel free to comment!

Those of you who follow me on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ will know that yesterday, I received an email from the Chairman of the West Midlands Police telling me that they would like to present me with an “Authority Award” at a ceremony in December - because of this very blog. 

A moral dilemma immediately ensued. Should I accept it or not? I immediately found valid reasons for both. As I always said, I never did this for any recognition. Given that police failings, racial profiling and the Mark Duggan situation were all a factor in the riots in the first place, would it therefore be wrong for me to accept this award? I’m a young ethnic minority in the inner city myself, I’ve been racially profiled, stopped-and-searched and accused of criminal activity myself on more than one occasion for no apparent reason. My entire life, frankly, I’ve felt like the police are not on my side. It’s a sad fact that most of us young people, especially minorities are made to feel like criminals when we aren’t. We regularly get tarred with the same brush as gang members, anti-social vandalists and criminals. I can’t speak for rioters but I do feel that many young people feel that if we’re already being treated like criminals, why shouldn’t we act like that? This is the “Me too” attitude of many of the looters/rioters that I spoke about before, where I said that most of them weren’t troublemakers but simply following the crowd.

For all my cynicism that the offering of this award might be a tokenistic PR move by the WMP - as my cousin told me, “that’s how life works”. From politics to business, so many things are done on the basis of PR. But is it really that shallow? If it isn’t - then what this means is that the police have at least acknowledged (if not accepted) the criticisms I presented to them throughout this very blog, both during and following the riots. Surely that’s a positive thing, even if there’s scope to question the motives? And in accepting the award, am I showing that it’s wrong for them (and society in general) to tar all us young people with that same brush? Am I proving a kind of legitimacy and being an example for others? It’s certainly possible, and for those reasons I am accepting it. It wasn’t an easy decision, but I believe the positives outweigh the negatives. I also hope that the ceremony will allow me the opportunity to express legitimate concerns to somebody on the inside with the power to make a difference.

Something that I care equally about is that this blog, regardless of any award, is a triumph for new media. The frankly shameful efforts of the mass media organisations are the primary reason this blog became so popular in the first place. I don’t have any bones to pick with the likes of the BBC and the Murdoch empire but I would hope that they reviewed their strategies regarding so-called “citizen journalism”, how quickly they can operate in a rapidly breaking situation/landscape, and their social media strategies. Every “old media” person I spoke to in the aftermath admitted their failings. So are the people at the top paying attention now? 

I still have so many thoughts rushing through my brain on the situation but for now at least, I’m going to end it here. I hope all of you are well and I really appreciate all the replies I got yesterday on Twitter when I was trying to decide whether I should accept the award or not. 

Peace…1luv

Casey

x

Lots of you messaging me on various platforms asking, or suggesting to others, something that you could do to show your appreciation for me and this blog.

I want it to make it very clear that I didn’t do this for any recognition or appreciation and I certainly wouldn’t dream of trying in any way to capitalize on it (some people suggested I put an advert on here, others suggested I should be charging the big media outlets that have been interviewing me, or be promoting my music on here). Everybody has different opinions of what is acceptable and what isn’t, but I personally find those sort of suggestions to be in bad taste. 

I am, however, very grateful for the businesses that have offered me something free to show their appreciation. And also for the people that have done things like submitting this blog to the bloggers awards, nominating me to carry the Olympic flag, suggesting to various big blogs that they should mention me, and many more things besides. I am truly humbled, but more than anything I’m just glad I was able to help and inform so many people.

To all the others who have been asking how they can show their appreciation…

1) Please consider making a donation to Retail Trust.

The people who truly deserve support are the many people who have had their very livelihoods damaged and in some cases completely destroyed. These people will be picking up the pieces long after the mainstream media has forgotten about this whole affair and moved on to something else. 

and… if you really want to do something for me specifically…

2) I’d really appreciate a follow on Twitter, if you’re not already.

This would undoubtedly be the best way for you to keep in touch with me and support the various things that I do. As some of you already know, I’m a professional musician, a songwriter and vocalist in a band called Swami, and we’ve just finished recording our new album, “Upgrade”, from which we hope to release the first single within the next few months, with the album to follow later this year or early next year. I also present and produce documentaries, and have recently been working on the “25” series for XFM, covering classic albums that turned 25 this year, like Prince & The Revolution’s “Parade” and The Smiths’ “The Queen Is Dead”. I always tweet about the projects I’m working on, and a lot more besides, and I really enjoying talking to people on Twitter, so get in touch :)

Peace…

@CaseyRain

This is one of the best articles I have seen yet about the riots. And it comes from a man I’ve always admired as both a comedian, and actor - Russell Brand.

Here’s an excerpt - and here’s a link to the entire piece, which I encourage you all to read.

“I remember Cameron saying “hug a hoodie” but I haven’t seen him doing it. Why would he? Hoodies don’t vote, they’ve realised it’s pointless, that whoever gets elected will just be a different shade of the “we don’t give a toss about you” party.

Politicians don’t represent the interests of people who don’t vote. They barely care about the people who do vote. They look after the corporations who get them elected. Cameron only spoke out against News International when it became evident to us, US, the people, not to him (like Rose West, “He must’ve known”) that the newspapers Murdoch controlled were happy to desecrate the dead in the pursuit of another exploitative, distracting story.

Why am I surprised that these young people behave destructively, “mindlessly”, motivated only by self-interest? How should we describe the actions of the city bankers who brought our economy to its knees in 2010? Altruistic? Mindful? Kind? But then again, they do wear suits, so they deserve to be bailed out, perhaps that’s why not one of them has been imprisoned. And they got away with a lot more than a few fucking pairs of trainers.

These young people have no sense of community because they haven’t been given one. They have no stake in society because Cameron’s mentor Margaret Thatcher told us there’s no such thing.”

Well, this list is overdue. My apologies. I had to have a break and some time to myself after the events of the last few days. Also, this list is far from complete. There may even be something or someone obvious missing, I apologize if so! At some point there will either be another list or I may simply add to this one. So, if you know anyone that you think should be added to it, please let me know using the submit link at the top of the page, or on Twitter. Thanks.

Inspirational People:

1. Tariq Jahan

For the courage and humanity you have shown despite the tragedy of losing your son as a result of all of this. Despite your extreme grief, you chose not to look for revenge, but to make a call for peace - amongst all sects and races in our community. Inspirational. 

2. Upinder Randhawa and Sangat TV

A few people asked why I haven’t mentioned them on here before. Truth is, I was inundated trying to maintain this blog and sort through all the info I was receiving as it was all happening. I simply didn’t have time to watch Sangat TV during the riots and initial aftermath. I barely found the time to sleep or eat! But now that everything has calmed down somewhat, I was able to catch up. Serious bravery was shown by going right into the heart of the riots and reporting from the scene. Inspirational.

3. All participants in #RiotCleanup

By the simple use of a Twitter hashtag, people all around the country were able to congregate and combine their efforts to clean up all the mess in the aftermath of all the vandalism. Inspirational. 

4. Riot Repairs on MyBuilder.com - link

Hundreds of qualified tradesmen have offered their services for free to business that have been vandalized and damaged by rioters and looters. Inspirational.

5. Killer5 Interiors - link

This Midlands-based Interior design firm reached out to me on Twitter. They are willing to offer their services free of charge to any business damaged by riots, and to provide furniture and fittings at trade cost. Inspirational.

6. You :)

Over the past few days, thousands upon thousands of you have submitted tips, photos, videos and information. This blog wouldn’t have been possible without you. Thousands more of you have reached out here and on Twitter to say thanks. You gave me the motivation to keep going even running on little sleep. Inspirational.

No serious reports coming in at this stage. There has been rain, and there are twice as many police on the streets. Hopefully all this has dissuaded any would-be troublemakers from causing more problems. Understandably there is still tension particularly amongst the community where the murders occurred last night, but for the moment, all is calm. Let’s all hope things stay that way.

In other news, mainstream media have been on my tail! In the last 48 hours I’ve been on BBC WM radio twice (once yesterday morning and once earlier tonight), I was on BBC Midlands Today TV yesterday, did an interview for a French-Canadian newspaper earlier tonight, CNN and the Online News Association in the US have been in touch, The Guardian mentioned me in their blog, I pre-recorded an interview for BRMB which I think is going out imminently on Caroline Martin’s show, I was just live on the FRICTION show on BBC Asian Network, and I have another interview tomorrow morning with a French national newspaper. My head is spinning, so hopefully I didn’t miss any of them. If any of you see or hear any of them, let me know. If I can record back any of the audio or video, I may repost if there’s interest, so follow me on Twitter for updates on that regard.

But I want to point out that the reason I set up this blog was simple. To provide real-time and unbiased coverage. We may not have been 100% accurate, 100% of the time, but I think our accuracy level has been pretty high for the most part. The thousands of messages of support I’ve had from so many of you not only gave me the motivation to keep going but also showed that there was a real appreciation for the updates.

Sky News, BBC News and other media have been painfully slow on updates, and many of you have accused them of even being biased. Of course, they are far more liable, but in this day and age they simply must evolve or people will turn elsewhere, which the 1million+ page views this blog got yesterday would indicate. As for me, I have no agenda other than to keep the people informed and safe as quickly as possible. I’m not getting paid to do this, and so I am truly humbled at some of the messages I’ve received saying I’ve put the mainstream media to shame. A few of you have even called me a hero, but I’m not. I’m just someone that believes in the power of the internet and social media as a force for good. That’s all. And the truth is that I couldn’t have done it without the thousands of you helping, submitting information, pictures and more. We should all be proud of ourselves as a community - but the real work begins now. Not just to clean up our battered streets, but to all do as much as we can to ensure these kind of events don’t happen again. No matter what your job or background there are ways we can all help. I firmly believe that. 

The imminent threat of major violence may or may not be over. So we all need to stay vigilant, stay safe, and above all have compassion for each other. The unity that this has brought between us in response to these sickening acts of violence, might well be the silver lining to this incredibly dark cloud.  Thank you all.

Peace….

@CaseyRain