One Mile Away Page #11

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You have no idea. You are a foot

soldier, so I refuse to speak to you.

Unless you are a boss,

don't talk to me.

Let's roll out, man.

What makes a race not come together?

We want order

And why do gangsters go jail

before they find religion?

If they stayed and listened

would they be still with us?

No fate

Then they die behind prison gates

Are we supposed to wait or just hate?

A joke that we had -

what's the difference

between Aston and Handsworth?

It's like Birchfield Road.

You know, a road, a dual carriageway.

You know what I mean?

How lame, how shallow, how petty!

Let's just hope

that two weeks from now,

that the focus changes again.

That after they've mashed up

their community,

after they've, you know, united,

whether willingly or not,

let's hope they look

at that bigger picture

and say to themselves,

"What are we fighting each other for?

"Because my vulnerabilities

are the same as yours. "

You know what I'm sayin'?

"My institution lies, racism

experience are the same as yours.

"My lack of opportunity

are the same as yours.

"The only thing that's not the same

is our postcode. "

That's the only thing.

Cos this one lives in B6

and this one lives in B20.

Two opposite sides

of Birchfield Road people.

Come on. Come on. Do better.

After almost a year on his own,

Shabba finally made a breakthrough.

Obviously, I targeted,

like, official people.

I tried to go to official people,

people that had influence,

people that had respect

and try and get them

to see the picture.

I had a meeting with the mandem.

There were about 30 men in the yard.

There were people arguing

and voices were raised.

They were in there getting mad

and there was a lot of tension.

I can remember Sykes

was in there quiet, innit?

He was quiet the whole time,

taking it all in.

I was expecting Sykes

to probably take their side,

but he actually was

on my side, you know.

The gang thing don't make sense.

I can tell you now,

the gang thing don't make sense.

From them people that we lose, yeah,

we need to make a positive from it,

you know.

There's too much memorials and that

in the name of...

- Look at this.

- What's all this?

That there, on the gravestone,

these are all my friends, you know.

Friends that has gone.

You know what I mean?

For sh*t that started when

man weren't even f***ing born.

Cos these are young men.

One, two, three, four, five, six,

seven, eight, nine.

May they rest in peace.

May those brothers rest in peace.

Madness. You get me?

Absolute madness.

I'm 26. Done nine-and-a-half years

in jail. Don't make no sense.

You hear me? Don't make no sense.

All that time as a youth

getting sent to jail for madness.

OK, here's my hypothesis now.

Firearms were made here

during the Industrial Revolution.

Guns were made right here.

The guns that were made in Birmingham

were used to trade for African people

to be taken

to the Caribbean as slaves.

The youth involved in the gun crime

are the descendants of the Africans

who were traded for guns made here.

The Industrial Revolution

fuelled the slave trade

and the slave trade

fuelled the Industrial Revolution.

It was a triangle of trade,

where goods were made right here

where we stand

to trade for our ancestors.

Hence why today Caribbean people

have European surnames,

including myself,

including these two gentlemen.

And all this is testimony,

you know, to the grizzly past

of the European doing

dodgy business in trading man.

We should become

intelligent enough

to learn about what happened to us.

Now we're born in opportunity

and where there's laws here

to protect us as black people,

we should take advantage of that.

If the youth are gonna join a gang,

I would suggest

to join an academic gang.

Join an academic gang

of bankers, solicitors, lawyers, OK?

Growing up, yeah,

I ain't thinking about...

I'm gonna be in no gang

with no bankers and that.

I wanna be with the mandem, innit?

I wanna make P.

I wanna do this thing

with my friends, innit? You get me?

Your friends who you grow up with.

That's all it is, you know.

That can still happen.

I got my friends here.

My older friends,

I will listen to them

as older brothers.

We are what we are.

We're a product of our society.

We grew like this.

This is just what we are.

We need to break free

Get the f*** up out of these chains

Inside the game, B

Mentally enslaving our brains

You think you've changed

In reality you're still the same

Stuck in the game

B*tch made

Mentally enslaved

and that's life, n*gger

That's life, n*gger...

Nuggz did the same,

as well, you know.

He come over and say, "It's true.

"I'm definitely down for it.

Anything you need, I'll support it. "

And that's life, n*gger...

No one tells Nuggz what to do.

He does what he wants to do.

So, if Nuggz wants to get on board,

it's because Nuggz wants to.

Motherfucking cops

on the block, yeah.

Undercovers.

A true Muslim knows

that you can't harm your brother.

You can't kill your brother.

No bullshit.

No gang-related bullshit.

So if a man's a Muslim, then a man's

a Muslim. That's how it is.

Any beef he had before

is done with. Gone.

Fear Allah, innit? And that's that.

And is it a way in prison

in which people have come together,

who previously out on the block

might have been shooting each other?

Yeah, cos they've got time

to sit and read and reflect

and see what's what, innit?

Yeah, that's true.

They ain't got no time for no...

Well... they ain't got nothing to do.

They're in jail, innit. Jail's jail.

Lockdown. Get me?

And why did Zimbo

change his mind?

Kind of the same thing.

We are getting older.

We've got kids.

Can't be running around

gunning down men all your life.

So it's time for a change

and he could see

the business side of it, as well.

Like, let's stop this.

Let's come together and do something.

You have to show love to Shabba.

He started this.

He's getting it going.

He's made it happen, innit?

Is it too late

for the youths to go, huh?

I don't know.

It's never too late. Never too late.

It ain't never too late.

It's never too late to grow

Cos I don't wanna feel

the same no more

And I don't wanna feel the same

Kickin' back

Getting lost in my thoughts

Thinkin' about the things I see

and all the things I saw

Headin' down the wrong road

And I couldn't change course

Used to wanna be a G

But now this G wants more

Always in and out of court

My life in the hands of a judge

Looking straight at me with hatred

Cos I'm black and I'm young

18 and I'm going down

for packing a gun

Misled by my olders

I was slanging for funds

Still attackin' my lungs

Weed smoke got me para

Celebrity, number

Everybody in the manor

In this life I've never walked

straight only ever stagger

Sober so I can't even blame

the loose manner

Just like a weak bladder

I was out of control

My fate's in my own hands

What was I never told?

I'm livin' with no limit, limitless

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