Economic - When these people went to apply for jobs or houses, they would get turned down by employers or estate agents or even the council, because of the colour of their skin. But it wasn't necessarily all Black or Irish ethnic groups, the women would have had an easier time getting jobs or houses as the males were seen as thugs and known to be violent, therefore the council did not want them working and estate agents didn't think they were "worthy" enough to have homes of their own.
Environmental - The Brixton area was a very run down area. There were dark and dangerous alleyways, people getting mugged and over-all a lot of crime e.g. vandalism.
2. What were the immediate causes of the riots in Brixton in 1981, 1985 and 1995?
In 1981, the immediate cause of the riot in Brixton was because of the introduction of a new police scheme called the Stop and Search (SAS) - the police took advantage of this because they were racist, i.e. they were all white and the community were almost 100% black, the police picked on the black community. This came to the conclusion of Racism of Police. The black culture became very angry which resulted in the first riot of Brixton because of lack of jobs, crime and discrimination.
In 1985, the immediate cause of the riot in Brixton was because of a shooting of an innocent black mother by a white policeman. The incident came about when the police came to the home of a drug dealer to arrest him and when the mother of the house found out, she rushed out in hope of protecting her son. When the police officers saw this they thought she was carrying a weapon - a knife, so the police did what they thought was right and shot her. When the people/community of Brixton heard about this, they took it as an act of racism this therefore caused them to, again, rebel and riot against the police.
In 1995, the immediate cause of the riot in Brixton was because of a a black man by the name of Wayne Douglas, was beaten to death by the Brixton police for a supposed robbery. His death, and again the unfair treatment of the people by police, sparked a protest by the people. Even though the people of the town were protesting, not rioting, the police ended up recreating the conditions of Brixton like it was in 1981. Worryingly the Voice newspaper encouraged these ritos, so that they could get their "interesting" stories.
3. What social, economic and environmental measures were put in place to improve the conditions for the people of Brixton after 1981?
Following 1981, the government had passed Anit-Racist Laws. These were laws against being discriminative about race, nationality, ethnic group, religion or sexual orientation.
Social - After 1981, the Lambeth Council had a policy which was called Positive Discrimination this was when black and asian ethnic groups were encouraged to join Lambeth Council, so it worked like this: If two people went for the same job, they were more likely to give the job to the black/asain person, to make the council ethnic, therefore, you would end up with a councli who would be working only for the sake of their colour/religion ect, and not their qualifications, this to me was racist aswell because of the people that were well qualified for the job, but did not get it because they were white. Before the riots, police drove around in cars, therefor there was no relationship at all with the community. But, after the riots, the police were put to patrol on foot, so that the community would know, recognise and trust the police more. The government then decided to try to encourage ethnic minorities to join the police force so that they were able to mix with the community and they wouldn't be called racist's when they arrested people.
Economic - After 1981, the government gave money to businesses to set up and to improve, this action encouraged other bigger businesses such as Marks and Spencers and Woolworths to set up, this would give more job oppertunities for people.
Environmental - The government re-paved the pavements, placed street lights on the roads to make them safer (with the dim street lights, they repaired them to make them brighter), on the streets, they installed CCTV cameras to be able to see the goings on eg vandalism's and car crimes and encouraged seperate areas to organise a Neighbourhood Watch scheme to prevent break-in's and robberies. In housing, double glazing was put in windows so that it would be quieter and warmer, they installed Intercom in blocks of flats so that the blocks would be safer from drug dealings, robberies ect.
4. How successful have these measures been?
These measures have indeed been very successful to the social, environmental and economic development of Brixton. On the whole, today, Brixton is a cleaner, safer and happier place to live in. The streets today, are safer to walk around, they are not completely safe, but then and again, where is? Crimes rates are lower and people overall live happier lives.
5. What alternatives do you suggest to improve the environment and quality of life for people living in Brixton?
The alternatives that I suggest to improve the environment and quality of life for people living in Brixton are: To install speed cameras on the high road, this would slow down traffic and prevent more accidents, therefore, this will lower the death or injury rates, I would get more people/workers to help clean up the streets of Brixton so that it would make Brixton look more asthetically pleasing, again, by doing this, people will lead happier lives. Also, I would improve the state of builings by setting up regular maintenance checks to reduce vandalism - grafity on walls, the quality of the buildings - cracks in walls and checking for break-ins and being able to repair them - broken glass ect.