I wish

I wish…that today’s so called ‘youths’ could be treated as equals and with respect.

From the topic ‘I wish’ come connotations, for me, of Martin Luther King’s 1963 speech entitled ‘I have a Dream’. This speech was made with change in mind; so that people of ‘colour’ could be viewed as equals in society. I wish that young adults (the term I prefer) could also be seen as equals in society. This view is not as radical as Kings was at the time, nor is it as progressive or even in some people’s eyes as important, but as a 17 year old I feel that it directly affects me and the majority of population need to understand young people’s struggle to be seen in a positive light.

The media play a large part in the stigmatisation of Britain’s ‘youths’, after the August riots in the cities of England, blame has once again fallen on our shoulders. On the rolling 24 hour news it was being reported every few minutes that masked youths were attacking police officers, looting shops and vandalising premise. These claims were entirely misleading. Firstly if they are masked, how is it known to the reporters that they are youths? Secondly it was clear that some of the rioters were older, why was that not reported?

In terms of the convictions, the Ministry of Justice reported that out of the cases where the age of the accused is known, only a mere 17% of the defendants are under 18 years old, or ‘youths’. Therefore reporting that the majority of the rioters were youths is surely slanderous.

Returning to Martin Luther King’s speech I believe that with the simple changing of ‘Negro’ to ‘young’ this passage is very appropriate for today’s current climate: “And those who hope that the [young] needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquillity in [England] until the [young] are granted their citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges”

The fact that these infamous words can still have meaning almost 50 years later shows that we will never stop fighting the battle of injustice, whether the accused is condemned because of colour  or age.