This article portrays the opinion of a rioter. The riots kicked off because a group of friends were angry because of the unjust murder of their friend, a friend who was killed by a police officer for no given reason. They had the right to stand and protest but what was not right in my eyes was how they damaged peoples property to get their message across. Many youths and adults across London started rioting, it is perfectly natural to feel rage because of injustice, but there are better ways to express that anger. “I learned that only through constructive political action can we achieve the promise of a better future in which we are able to clothe, feed, and house our families in” this sends a very good message that things can be succeeded through legal terms and through doing things right, not by galloping around like lunatics theiving and vandalising.
Power can only be levelled with power, not by running around stealing and scarring the streets. Many of the younger generations started rioting with the excuse “the police abuse the power they have on us” this might have been true but to have thousands of youths looting and thieving this cannot be the response. I agree with the fact that youths felt like protesting, but why i do not agree with is how the thought they would get their message across, there were also a group of people that lototed for the fun of it and to get free things, many of them were caught but many got away with hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of merchandise, merchandise that had nothing to do with protests.
Things to a turn for the worst when businesses were being set on fire and being burnt after being open for many years, this is just a stupidity in my eyes, businesses that possibly took years to develop were being thrown into the dust because of youth that do not know what boundaries are, this was unfair on the owners as they had to pay the price for what the government had supposedly done to the youths. In the article it says that a girl of about 13/14 years of age stole just a pint of milk, her reason was the government did not help her homeless family and they had no money for food. I partially agree with what she did as she was trying to find an alternative way to feed her family, but I also disagree with her actions as she was putting herself in danger, dangers such as fires, rocks being thrown and police plastic bullets. She was not doing it to cause havoc, she was doing it for her families well being which is understandable.
The writer (rioter) states he had been rioting because of the depression he was going through at the time, as well as living on the streets and having just recently lost his job, he then lead on to saying that he gave himself in for his actions, which were throwing a yogurt, throwing a shopping trolley and passing on stolen goods. It is understandable that the rioter was depressed and was going through a hard time in his life, but he could have found another alternative to make his situation better, such as, see a therapist, apply for a new job and many other things instead of following the crowd which lead him into becoming a criminal. I disagree with the decisions he made, even if they were not major they were still wrong and still made him a criminal. He did the right thing by giving himself in to the police, this shows that he recognized his mistakes and was ready to accept his punishment, which was 75 hours of community service.
He says that he served his community service in a church every Saturday, but even after his commmunity service hours were over he still continued helping out the church because he says that he wants to out himself in the same position as the people who cleaned up after the riots, this shows that he regrets his actions and if he didnt give back what he did when the riots happened, he is giving it back now but in a different way. He states that he now runs a youth club at the same church that helps teens that are in the position he was in during the riots to realise what the right and wrong decisions are and gives them ideas of other ways they can get there message across. I strongly agree with his choice of starting a youth club, he shows that he has learnt from his mistakes and has changed, but also seeks to change the lives of the youths that are in the same situation he was in to create a better living environment.
Overall my opinion on this article is that people did not just do it to create havoc or to gets free goods like the media presented it, but that people are affected by the decisions of the government and they found that rioting was the only way they could get the message across, it also shows that people did feel remorse for what they did and they were willing to accept their punishments.
React!