When I saw the picture for the first time, like many of my friends, I was shocked and quite disgusted. Not only does it look extremely painful but there is a very high chance, that this person had been stabbed for no apparent reason, just like many of the victims that had been murdered in London.
Young people especially, need to realise that going out with a knife and carrying one is not okay and is not the only way you will stay safe. A local incident happened only last week when a truck driver in North Baddesley was robbed and threatened at knife-point. He was told to get out his van and it was driven away with hundreds of parcels stolen. It seems to be a regular occurrence in this country and whether people are being injured or not, knife possession has become a growing problem.
I feel a good way of promoting an anti-knife-crime policy would be if celebrities got involved. Because many young people are inspired by celebrities it would possibly be a better idea than using horrifically graphic pictures put on display. Maybe posters using photographs of celebrities and taking a quote from what they believe should be done about knife-crime or just what they think about it in general would be a more positive way to help people understand that it needs to be stopped.
I’m not saying that this is a guaranteed way of helping to cease the number of knife-related incidents but it could help the project become more successful, in the sense that people will want to become more involved. If it assists in making even the slightest difference then it may just be worth it. We want knife-crime to stop because it is damaging people’s lives, tearing families apart and taking away innocent people. We need to start taking action, now.
London Knife Crime Protest As Another Victim Dies.
Thousands of Londoners, alarmed by the rising toll of knife-crime in Britain over the past year, formed a protest march which took place only hours after a young man was stabbed to death in Brixton.
The victim, Lucas Gordon was aged 23 when he was attacked outside Brixton Sports Club on Friday night and pronounced dead in hospital by 9pm.
The march began this morning in Kensington park to the centre of London. Motorists beeped their horns in recognition and the march was accompanied by a gospel choir and chanting, “stop knives, save lives”
It was made apparent that the friends and family of Mr Gordon planned to join the march even before he was killed.
The victim, originally from Jamaica had celebrated his 23rd birthday, the day prior to his murder. His cousin said, “he was stabbed in the neck and didn’t stand a chance. It’s always the good who die young.”
Sharon Singh and Gemma Olway, both 26 were the brains behind organising this march. They set up a group on the social networking site, ‘Facebook’ and joined together with families of young people murdered on the U.K streets and the Damilola trust fund. They were both sickened by the rising number of killings.
The marches from the south and north met at Piccadilly Circus and erupted into deafening applause. Brooke Kinsella - sister of the murdered Ben Kinsella and Richard Taylor, father of Damilola met here for the first time.
Also on the march, were the family of Oliver Kingonzila. Oliver’s death last week, brought the number of knife-related teenage deaths in the United Kingdom to 26 this year.
A video message from Gordon Brown received jeers as he told the audience, “the solution lays ion the making sure young people always hav ne something to do and are prevented from just hanging around”
No arrests have been made yet in relation to Friday’s stabbing.
Observations made by reading the article.
This particular article was taken from The Times, which happens to be a conservative paper. Seeing as the conservatives are not in power it does show extreme bias against the current British Government. It puts across negativity on the government’s part, when it mentions the jeers Gordon Brown was given from the protesters and what he had said in his video message.
The headline given to the article instantly captured the attention of the reader because, many people living in London may read the Sunday Times and the mention of London in the headline would instantly spark an interest because the protest is happening in the area of their residence. I believe many mothers would want to read it, because they may be concerned as to why this protest is taking place and want to know whether to worry about the time or at which place the should not be allowing their children out at. To the everyday reader, the headline appears shocking and by saying that someone has been murdered, instantly provokes fear within a person and would make them want to find out more.
This article includes a lot of points indicating that people of different ethnic groups are more often that not involved in the knife-related crimes. The places mentioned, as well as the names of the victim’s given are all implicating black peop//.le. Brixton is well known for accommodating more black families than any other, and names such as, Damilola, Kingozila and Lucas are strong indications that this article is subtly trying to put a message across. Also, to make sure it’s readers know the race of this particular victim, we have been told of his original race, not where he may have been living now, but of his ethnic background. The article does not stop by giving the names of places and people, but we are also told that a gospel choir was accompanying the march, gospel music is known for being influenced originally by black people and many of the gospel choirs of solo singers of today are of a black ethnicity.
