Racism within the Criminal Justice System

Hey guys, welcome back!

Earlier this week I attended an event and I thought as a journalist-to-be, I should share my take on it.

The Stephen Lawrence Centre at De Montfort University held one of their annual lectures this week on racism within the criminal justice system and touched on how music (specifically drill music) was being used as evidence in the courts to convict young black males.

It was such an interesting talk with all the guest speakers who shared their experience representing wrongfully convicted youth, but also sad to hear about the cases they’d worked on.

I wanted to talk about this on my blog to raise awareness about the institutional racism that’s prevalent within the system. The guest speakers brought to our attention that the courts are using the lyrics of drill to prosecute young black males.

Can we talk about how insane that is? 

But it’s real and it’s happening. Hence the ‘Art not Evidence’ campaign. Because that’s what drill is, it’s music, it’s an outlet, it’s a form of expression, it’s art. It shouldn’t be used as a means to convict young black males.

https://www.artnotevidence.org

An example that was given at the talk was the phrase ‘mash up’ in a drill song, which was labelled as ‘gang talk’. The courts interpreted ‘mash’ as being a gun. The words ‘mash up’ is a phrase in patois, used by Jamaicans. It refers to something being ruined or destroyed. However, in this case, the courts mistook it for a weapon. Because the defendant had the song downloaded on his phone, this was used against him as evidence to ‘prove’ that he was violent therefore guilty of the crime he was accused of. 

It’s extremely hurtful and ignorant to see black culture being labelled as ‘gang talk’ rather than being embraced.

Can you imagine being wrongfully convicted of a crime and the evidence that’s used against you is lyrics from a song that’s been misinterpreted? Because that’s some people’s reality.

The criminal justice system is failing black people.

It’s a harsh truth learning about the injustice people of colour endure within the system, especially when it hits close to home. Take the Manchester 10, for instance. If you don’t know who they are I’ll quickly summarise, but feel free to educate yourself about them via google or via Kids of Colour (@kidsofcolourhq) on instagram; the Manchester 10 are a group of young black males who were wrongfully convicted of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm in 2022.

So far, only 4 of the boys have been released. One of the boys was actually one of the guest speakers at the event and talked about the inequalities he faced within the criminal justice system because of the colour of his skin.

Again, in his case the courts tried to use a music video from a drill song to prosecute him and label him as violent/guilty. The courts tried to claim that he was in a gang because one of the boys in the said video, who was wearing a blue bandana, was from the same area in Manchester as the defendant, therefore assumed they were in the gang together.

They concluded all this through one music video. 

They put 2 and 2 together and came up with 7, because in what world does that make any sense?

The problem with the system is that they’re not up to date with the way young black youth express themselves. It’s biased and extremely stereotypical to associate drill music with gang affiliations.

Drill music does not equal being in a gang!

But honestly, the event was a real eye opener. If you missed out on it this year, definitely don’t miss the next one next year!

Thank you for reading, stay tuned for the next one🤍