David Lammy moves LBC listeners with powerful reaction to teen homicides
31 December 2021, 12:36
David Lammy's powerful reaction to London's record-breaking homicides.
David Lammy has moved LBC listeners with his powerful reaction to London's record-breaking teen homicides.
It comes as two teenage boys were stabbed to death in London on Thursday night, taking the total number of teenage homicides in the capital this year to 30, a grim record high for serious violence.
David said: "Surely it must be time to reflect on how drastically things have gone wrong.
"This kind of senseless violence has become so frequent that it would appear that as a society we have almost become immune to the children being killed on our streets.
"When I began my political career 21 years ago, there was a real sense that we would be able to get on top of the problem of violence amongst our children and young adults... The sad truth is the situation over those two decades has got clearly, significantly worse."
.@DavidLammy Powerful words on LBC just now, made me cry, what are we going to do about it? I agree with everything you have just said, David. They are all our sons and our daughters and we are responsible for one another. Let’s make change together.
— Shelley Silas (@shelleysilas) December 31, 2021
Read more: Boy, 15, stabbed to death in Croydon park
David hit out at the PM for his "concerted effort to increase stop and search" as he "just wants headlines about being tough".
"If we want a different ending, we need to tell a different story," David continued.
@DavidLammy @lbc …..Probably the most powerful , mind blowing , introduction to a speech radio programme I have heard in 2021 …..Well done David Lammy ….
— Hugh (@shugiehughie) December 31, 2021
'They were all somebodies son or daughter, not statistics.'
"And it's a story of institutional neglect. councils' budgets slashed by this government who've spent the last 11 years ripping out the social fabric.
"Essential youth centres shut. Outreach gone. After school activities all lost. It's a story of alienation, as inequality widens there are more and more people without a stake in the economy, their community, and their neighbourhood."
Read more: Knife crime: London 'on track' for worst year of teenage killings, Met warns
David remarked that black boys are socially isolated, with many growing up on housing estates that have a "small green" outside with a sign saying "no ball games".
"That's the context they're growing up [in]," he said.
Read more: Four people injured after two double stabbings in London
