U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron has promised to flood the streets of London with 10,000 extra police officers as rioting and looting spread across London. Images of fires, looting and altercations between protesters and police have taken over BBC News shows.
But 68-year-old Darcus Howe, a broadcaster and columnist, who lives in South London where riots have been taking place offered some context this morning for BBC News viewers. Darcus told a BBC News anchor that political leaders had no idea what was coming but if they had taken a moment to ‘look at young blacks and young whites with a discerning eye and careful hearing” they would of heard messages of what to do prevent this.
The Trinidad and Tobago native who says he’s been in London for more than 50 years goes on to tell viewers about his young grandson who can’t count how many times he’s been stopped and searched by London police.
And when the news anchors asks if he condones the riots he gives her a piece of his mind. “Have some respect for an old West Indian negro and stop accusing me of rioting. Have some respect, I have grandchildren. You sound like an idiot.”
Howe is a notable British writer and is the former editor of the magazine Race Today.
Another video making the rounds online is an elderly woman walking around in Hackney on one of the first nights of looting. “Get real black people, get real. If we’re fighting for a cause, let’s fight for a f*cking cause” she tells people in her neighborhood that are looting.