One Mile Away Page #7

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Punk business.

- You understand?

- Look at the size difference.

This is why they try and pick up

on lickle D boy. You get me?

But just forget it, innit?

It's a girl business, innit,

like I say.

They didn't pick on me.

They went to my mum's house.

My mother's house.

I don't even live there.

You've gone to my mum's house.

Do you understand it? For what?

Now the big issue is a youth died

yesterday night.

I woke up in the morning

at seven o'clock.

My son said to me, "Dad, a boy's

got killed. My friend's got killed. "

These are the things

we're trying to prevent.

It's just going on

right in front of us

and it's just raw and it's kind of...

Tried to do something that I thought

was gonna benefit everyone,

but, obviously, some people

don't see the vision.

We just want a better future

for the youth coming up.

We don't want them jumping on a bush

that we jumped on.

We need to uplift ourselves

and do something. Understand?

Look around.

Like, we don't own nothin'.

Look on the Ansell Road,

all those places,

n*ggers don't own sh*t.

You understand what I'm sayin'?

Man wanna inspire the youths

to be something,

so when they get to them ages,

they own shops,

they've got that mind where they

say, "Why should I go on the road?

"Why don't I go college?

Why don't I aspire to be something?"

What are we doing, Dylan?

We're gonna walk over by that dome

and meet the kids.

Where's the rest of your gang?

Down there on the thing.

A couple of days ago,

when I was saying talk to the kids

before their friends die

or something...

These kids have got that in them -

"They killed my friend. "

They've always got a reason now.

Every time you tell them something,

they'll tell you,

"But he killed my friend. "

When people in normal society

get murdered,

there's a whole campaign,

there's rewards put up.

But when people

in my community get murdered,

it doesn't even make the news.

You're just dead.

We saw you two days ago

and nothing had happened then.

It's really shocking.

Like, my friend, Shyheim,

he got f***ing... stabbed for...

He owed him money for some reason.

Do you know the story?

Nah.

Like, it hit one of his main arteries

and it bled out too much,

like five pints of blood.

How did you hear about it?

Oh, on BB.

Like, everyone just kept putting up,

like, "RIP Shyheim" and "RIP Tricks. "

But I thought

it was a joke thing at first.

"To all the people on BB,

this should be a wake-up call to you.

"Rest in peace, Shy. "

What does that make you feel like

you wanna do or think?

This is real life, isn't it?

This ain't a game.

It's real life. Life ain't a game.

Yeah.

Scary world.

Real talk, I'm not even involved

in the gang thing, really.

It's all about money.

Just because I'm from Handsworth, I

wouldn't want one of them to bully me

because I'm from Handsworth.

But you told me it was about girls

and every girl likes a tough boy.

No, that's, like, part of it.

That was... That was...

That was back in the day!

Cut! Cut!

It was about, to me,

I was trying to look cool for girls,

so I throw a gang sign

just to impress the girls, innit?

But now you're growing up thinking,

"Girls are just shadows to me. "

I walk and left them.

I don't chase them, I replace 'em!

Yeah, yeah! Change 'em like socks!

After Shyheim was murdered,

there were four days of violence,

stabbings and shootings,

not connected directly to Shyheim,

but the violence was terrible.

There was a shooting and

a two-year-old girl was trampled on,

as people tried to escape

the gunshots ringing out.

That's what the text said,

the two-year-old or three-year-old

that got trampled

is in a critical condition.

That's what the text said.

They must have heard the gunshots

and everybody ran.

But the buggy must have fell over,

the kid tripped over,

and while everybody's running,

they probably never even noticed.

In the last four days or so,

how many shootings and stabbings

has there been?

There's been like...

I've heard a couple of shootings.

I've only heard the one stabbing,

that was a fatality,

but I've heard

a couple of shootings.

A couple of stabbings.

Somebody's arm got severed.

That was nothing to do with gangs,

but I did hear

a young man's arm and leg

got severed, was hanging off.

I don't know the full ins and outs.

There's been a lot.

How many things do you know about

that happened in the last few days?

That stabbing.

Someone died the other day.

A stabbing and a shooting

in a club the other day.

I don't know

how much people got shot.

I've heard five, I've heard four,

but I know people got shot.

I'm just statin' the facts

Talkin' about reality

Whole leap of casualties

Bag of fatalities

It's f***ed up

But this is the life we live

This ain't the type of life

that you want for your kids

Little young tugs screamin' out,

"Dawg, f*** the pigs"

14 and stressin'

cos he can't buy kicks...

It's mad how being

in a situation,

being in the wrong place

at the wrong time

does mess up your whole life.

What do you mean?

We're more harsh on our own people.

You get me?

My friend got stabbed... Wednesday?

Died on the night.

Was that the boy

that was stabbed to death?

Yeah, yeah, my friend Shyheim, man,

and it's all cos of... hype.

People ain't got no morals no more.

Imagine getting dragged out your car

when your family member is there

and getting stabbed up.

This ain't Cali. Is it Cali now?

Is it California now?

Look at that.

Waste of two lives, innit?

The youth's mother and family

in jail, as well, they're feeling it,

and I'm not condoning him

for stabbing this guy,

but I know

he didn't mean to kill the youth.

They stabbed him in his leg.

It's not like he went AWOL

and stabbed him in his neck and face.

He stabbed him in his leg,

just thinking,

"Let me just preps him

and let him know I want my money. "

They licked a main artery

and now the youth's dead.

Stab people... Your whole body

is full of main arteries, innit?

You hit somebody in the wrong place,

you get me, you miss 'em.

Let me show you something, as well.

Let me show you something.

Like...

You know, the grave looks nice

and it's all pretty and nice.

It's all nice.

But you have to understand,

there's a youth lying in there,

that was alive like me and him,

breathing and speaking... living.

He's in there dead.

Like, in a box,

in a hole, in the ground.

Life's just gone.

You know what I'm sayin'?

It's just gone.

No, we're not gonna see Shy again.

Do you get me?

If Heaven was a place on Earth

then I'll go, then I'll go

No matter how far

I would fill the tank in my car

And I'll roll and I'll roll

Cos where I'm from

there's a lot of sad faces

A lot of us had

to live with the basics

And this heart thinks

we've got to face the places

I know, I know...

No one wants to come to the table

and see what's going on.

Everyone's making up what they think

it's about or I've heard this...

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