Black Denial Black Responsibility - Smiley Culture a Case in Point

I was saddened to read about the death of Smiley Culture - real name David Emmanuel. However, it seems obvious to me that people behind this drive for a separate independent investigation into the death of Smiley Culture have their own political agendas.

The likes of Mike Franklin and Lee Jasper who are taking the lead in wanting a dual inquiry, I believe are exploiting the singer's death for their own reasons and it has very little to do in getting behind the real cause behind Smiley Culture's demise.

Its is plain that the likes of Franklin and Jasper have already made up their minds irrespective of what The Independent Police Complaints Commission investigation may bring up. They want to believe the artist was murdered by police officers and feed this message to the Black community, in order to stir elements within the community for direct action towards the police. Lee Jasper has previous form for this.

Franklin and Jasper's motives are quite simple - to achieve political power and kudos not only within the Black community but wider society as well. They are the people that governments would go to with lucrative contracts to speak on behalf of Black people. One thing is for certain is that they and their ilk don't speak for me and for millions of other Afro-Caribbean people making a honest living in this country.

Unfortunately, we are a community who are willing to indulge them and embrace their message. If as black people we were so concerned about violent black deaths we would only have to look internally and see young men and women being stabbed and shot on an almost daily basis on our very streets. But this would mean examining ourselves, taking accountability - cease the culture of denial - but we are not ready to take responsibility for any of our actions. When we realise that we have to stop seeing ourselves as victims and not blaming society for all our ills is then and only then we can progress and prosper.

I wish as many people turned up at Brixton Town Hall in an animated fashion every time a black teenager lays dieing on a London pavement as a result of a gunshot or stab wound. But this would never happen as someone may tell the unpalatable truth that we have only ourselves to blame for this carnage happening in our own community.

It is so much easier and simpler to look at the death of David Emmanuel and have our so called community leaders lead our moral indignation in order to seek the 'truth' surrounding Emmanuel's death. In reality this is not about the truth and never will be. Its about victim hood and searching for scapegoats to blame. We have been doing this for the last 40 years - whether its education, crime, jobs or mental illness - someone has to be answerable. God forbid that we take an introspective examination of ourselves.

By the way at the time Emmanuel's arrest he was on bail for conspiracy to supply cocaine. This will be lost when he is feted as a hero in the Black community in the same light as Nelson Mandela - madness indeed.