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Damilola Taylor

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Ok this kid was murdered and it was very sad. Nobody should be left to bleed to death in a stairwell.

What I find hard to understand is just why its such a big deal. This morning there was a remebrance service for him on the 1st anniversary of his death. The service was done by the archbishop of Canterbury. The PM and his vile wife are in attendance. The mother of Stephen Lawrence was there for some bizarre reason. The Met police commissioner, Sir John Stevens and MP Harriet Harmen were both there as well.
The local youth centre is being renamed to the Damilola Taylor centre. Its been given 700,000 for refurb by Lord Harris.

Now I dont want to sound like an arsehole but why the hell is all this happening. They are making him out to be some kind of god or saint.

Dozens of kids are brutally murdered in our country every year. Some of them tortured and mutilated, some of them raped and terrorised..They dont get remembrance services with the PM.

He may well have been a decent kid but why is he more important than the thousands of other dead kids weve seen over the last few years.

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Actually not that many kids are killed in the way he was in this country, that's why it always makes the headlines (Sarah Payne, Jamie Bulger etc).

    But you do have a point. He wasn't special. I think all these memorial services are held mostly out of guilt. After all, he and his family had only come to the country a few months earlier. It's just white folks sucking up to black folks to prevent a riot or something. The police already get little co-operation from the locals, so they need to make some effort to restore confidence and let the Peckham people know that people do care about them.

    It was the same with Stephen Lawrence. He was killed in 1993 for goodness sake, yet the case drags on still. There must be a time when we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and get on with life without dwelling on the past all the time.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Makes me sick. It seems that only ethnic minorites count.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Sarah Payne and Jamie Bulger were killed quite horrifically. Damilola Taylor was stabbed once in the thigh and bled to death.
    It may sound heartless but his death was nothing out of the ordinary in todays world.

    I could understand the idea of smoothing community relations if he had been killed by racists or something but he was murdered by a group of black immigrants. It usually takes the involvement of white people to set them off on a riot.

    The Lawrence case is different. His killers are still on the loose. I can totally understand why that case is still around..The furore surrounding Damilola is amazingly bizarre.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Balddog:
    The Lawrence case is different. His killers are still on the loose. I can totally understand why that case is still around..The furore surrounding Damilola is amazingly bizarre.

    Damilola's killers are still on the loose, if I am not mistaken. The thing about the Lawrence case is we all know who did it, but for some unknown reason they got off.

    And I don't think we should accept Damilola's death as just 'a sign of the times'. He was so young and there was never any motive. It was a dreadful thing to happen to a young boy. Perhaps not as horrific as Sarah Payne or worse Jamie Bulger, but unacceptable nonetheless.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Kentish,

    4 black, teenage immigrants have been arrested for his murder and are awaiting trial.

    Im not debating whether it was or wasnt tragic but whether its right for the PM to treat it as more important that the hundreds of other kids that are murdered
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I kinda agree with Balddog here. This issue seems to be more about guilt than the crime itself. Guilt that a little boy could die in a stairwell without anyone noticing, that the crime could havce happened at all...

    This isn't like the Lawrence case, where raciism was a motive. This case is different, this is one of neglect and blame passing - where were his parents? Nigeria, if I recall correctly. What happened to the responsibility of bring your own children up, instead of chasing a fast buck?

    There are hundreds of murders in this country every year, so why should this one get such recognition? Or is it the Govts (and the previous one) neglect of policing (PC policing DOESN'T work) and society's lack of values that makes us sit up and notice another preventable and unnecessary death.

    Rather than sitting around making themselves look important it would have been better if those present had used the opportunity to start spelling out some truths - like the one that says that sometimes we need to take responsibilty for our own actions and not blame it on institutional racism (whatever the fuck that is) and realise that claiming that the entire system is racist we just give an excuse for criminality.

    Look at who was arrested for the crime...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Balddog:
    Kentish,

    4 black, teenage immigrants have been arrested for his murder and are awaiting trial.

    Apologies all round.

    And I agree with parts of what MoK said about the inappropriate attentions of the top-brass. I also agree that parents should have a lot to answer for. But I remember walking back from school when I was about 10 but I wouldn't say I was neglected. There's a fine line between over-protective and negligent. I wouldn't want to shift any blame to his parents necessarily. Afterall, we would all like to think we could walk along the street without threat of attack (especially at 4pm).

    Finding fault is not a problem - it's the compensation culture that often follows our seeking of blame that does the harm. It's the money that scares the hell out of people and this leads to constant passing of the buck.
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