Tale of two Jimmys, the law that loves Saville but hates Mubenga?

Despite receiving over 450 complaints between 1955 to 2009 of abuse against some victims as young as 8 years of age, Jimmy Saville managed to live his life with an OBE without feeling the wrath of justice deserved. Where in contrast Jimmy Mubenga was given the harshest form of so called justice by officials contracted by the Home Office, which was death. His only crime was being a deportee. If his death was in just, then his murders wouldn’t have been cleared of manslaughter.

Over the past week I took the liberty to visit the Marcus Garvey library, where I went to an exhibition called the “Empire Needs Men“. Learning about how millions of Africans from Europe, the Caribbean, Africa and North America lost there lives fighting World War I to maintain social liberties British citizens enjoy today. So how as a society do we not remember these lives? Why does our education system barely speakth the names of Sergeant George Williams or George Edward Willams? Why are the lives lost on SS Mendi not nationally recognised? Why don’t black faces spring to mind when remembering WWI heroes? How many World War I war flicks have you watched and gained the impression that a material number black people fought in World Wars. Is it because if we begin acknowledging the true value “ethnic minorities” in both world wars, does it then diminish racially bias immigration policies or miscarriages of justice? Does our whole paradigm on race and justice need to be reformed?

37 year old, Christopher Alder (1998), a British Paratrooper “served in the Falklands War and was decorated for his service with the Army in Northern Ireland” suffered an inhumane death in police custody. His family conscious of the fact CCTV footage even exposed the police making monkey noises. Another fatal victim of police violence, 57 year old, Paul Rosenberg (2003) Isle of Wight ‘I think I have killed the bloke. I only did it because he is Black. He looked dead. I think he’s dead. I kicked him;’. In 1983, 21 year old Colin Roach apparently shot himself in Stoke Newington police station. All because both men ticked the black British box when filling out surveys? Yet there are over 300 similar real life narratives of black people who have died due to police violence but not once has a police officer ever been trialed guilty of even manslaughter.

Why is Jimmy Mubenga so insulting? Why is the death of this 46 year old father of 5 young children on the 12th of October 2010 so insulting? Why on British Airways flight BA77, did 3 G4S security officials feel the need exercise excessive force to the extent Jimmy died? Only supposed crime being a “deportee”? Why over 4 years later are the 3 men cleared of manslaughter? Why did the judge not let the jury read at of the 76 racist messages from G4S guard Terrence Hughes? So in the era of social media and smartphones, members of the public witnessed Jimmy’s death and recorded him saying “I can’t breathe”. Jimmy’s death has been discussed globally, including via mediums like Ted Talks.

Despite the clear evidence those responsible for his death have walked free. Its one thing for a state to be bias in favour of police officers but these men weren’t police officers, they were G4S. How can this not be deemed as a clear illustration that our justice system is racially bias against black lives?

But are we partly responsible for Jimmy Mubenga not obtaining justice? Is our urban Hip Hop, Rap, Grime culture guilty of not doing enough? Not saying enough? Not displaying the level of solidarity Hip Hop in the US has shown when standing against police deaths of Micheal Brown, Tamir Rice and Eric Garner? Considering the fact our music is supposed to liberating against social shekels of class, race and gender as many lyricists proclaim? Even lyricist that don’t but express their dislike of the police (feds)? Some even label them pigs but how often do they turn a blind eye to such atrocities? Is the dream of commercial gains so addictive that custodians of the artform can ignore such occurrences on their own doorstep but RT a US rapper who raises issues regarding state in justice on their shores? If the answer is no, then I would like to encourage you to sign this petition: STOP