“My mistake was not having my eyes wide open. The kids do have opportunities, they just need to open their eyes”.
The importance of this story is focused rather not on the identity of the storyteller, but on revising the narrative of a seemingly pre-forged script of young people entering into crime.
Through the Tackle It project, CFYDC are striving to educate young people away from offending.
“I don’t believe in racism – it’s just a lack of education”
Our narrator was convicted into prison during the 1990s, the environment of racial-infused 1970s,80s & 90s Leeds playing it’s part.
This is during the same time of the 1981 Chapeltown riots.
He sees Leeds’ contemporary environment similarly influencing young people now.
“As a black person in the 70s, 80s, early 90s you were boxed into your own area. Because if you went out, you were a target for racism,” begins narrator’s story.
“If we were stuck inside this room for a week, I can guarantee someone’s falling out with someone and that’s what it was like. A lot of offending behaviour came through that kind of set up. You were offending against people outside your ‘box’ and inside the ‘box’. There was offending behaviour going off all the time, in the name of the community.
“I don’t believe there is such a word as racism, just a lack of education. Back in our time, it was prevalent. Our parents told us to be careful, work twice as hard as the next man. So when we lived in the ‘ghetto’, it was about community. We weren’t a gang, we were individuals that came together as a community. People then fall out if they disagreed. The repercussions of that was; whoever started the trouble probably couldn’t handle the debate. There was no head, cos a gang has a head. A lot of our behaviour was to achieve for the community or personally, dealing with outside influences of racism.
“Leeds was vibrant in the 80s, like a lot of cities: London, Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield, Nottingham. For someone to travel from London every weekend to Leeds means something: it was vibrant, especially Chapeltown. Having that energy around the place was different to what it’s like now. Chapeltown is a shadow of its former self. As elders we can’t revert them [young people] to the past, we have to look at what’s there now. But the music is what kept us pretty much a community because we always used to come together for the music.
“Sometimes there was trouble at the events; sometimes they were the arbitrator of trouble. People had a lot of people coming from all over the country.
I remember one night, West Indian Centre, a sound from London was in there, and a sound from Birmingham. Manchester people turned up and started robbing everybody in the car park. That’s nothing to do with Leeds but it happened in Leeds.
“What does that do the youth of Leeds when they’re stood in their own car park, watching people get robbed. They also have an image of carrying that in. I wrote a song about this – kids seeing things they shouldn’t.
“Crackhouses, they’re not in Horsforth, a bookies or wine shops. Harehills is a bad one and it’s not even Chapeltown, it’s worse. Kids growing up in Harehills, are going to do go and do what they’ve seen on the streets of Harehills”.
Sentence
“Before I went away, I fell short, because my life sent me to prison – it sent a lot of us to prison,” explained narrator.
His sentence came during the 1990s, having been released 16 years now.
“We were made to think there were not a lot of opportunities for us. The kids do have opportunities, they just need to open their eyes.
“It took me away from everyone I loved. There were more victims than myself.
“I’ve struggled since I’ve been out. I’ve struggled to see where the love has gone. I’m half of what society is now.
Growth
“When I was away, I did a bachelor’s degree in social sciences with honours,” symptomizes narrator’s new-found education both elementarily and in maturity, now achieving through opportunities.
“I’ve trained myself in Wing Chun 10 years solid, not to fight people, just to protect myself.
“I decided to change through maturity. I’m here to correct a few mistakes. We’re looking to bring positivity with the music.
“We should of stepped out of that fishbowl. I’m trying to steer my own path. The minute I picked up my music was the moment I thought I’ve stabilised since coming out. This is my hidden talent”.
Educating through music
“We need to change the rhetoric into positive or else the kids growing up in places such as Harehills are going to continue to go and do what they’re seeing on the street. Unless we give them something to enjoy and I hope to nail that with my music” explained narrator.
Beginning by performing live shows and now contributing to a live theatre production is the narrator’s efforts to put a spotlight on the positive opportunities available for young people otherwise blinkered into following the path into crime.
“Some younger people around me are actually enjoying my music and [it’s] bringing good people around me. There’s other things we’re planning to do to bring people under a good umbrella.
“Music was the first the first thing that we were interested in back then. It was the primary entertainment. It brought people together in a big way.
“It’s something I’ve started doing again solely for that purpose, to bring people together and enjoy something that’s positive, different to what’s out there now.
“I’ve entertained thousands of people, travelled the country. Not in it for the vanities or the money. The primary goal is to bring good people together.
“A year and half ago I started to do my music again, writing. I’m an avid writer.
“Most of my songs are educational in their own way. They have the element of ghetto life in them; say what you see.
“We’ve got a theatre production going on, someone I know, I wrote a song for him. It’s him telling his life story, and I perform the song. Shows coming up in May, June & July. I’ve done four theatre shows and also music videos.
“Anyone who sees my story, I’d be a shining light, beacon, who wants to look at a story that isn’t worth it, but it is from the aftermath”.
I’d like to again say thank you to the narrator for sharing his experiences to help educate our community away from repeating his mistakes.
CFYDC’s tackle it project is supporting the education of young people in Leeds to refrain from crime.
For support from the Tackle It Project team, contact project lead Brian Claxton either via phone: 07458094285, or by email: b_claxton@hotmail.co.uk
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