Monday, September 14, 2020

Jay Blades from the 'Repair Shop' on TV







I read an article about Jay Blades recently.
He is the key worker in the TV programme 'Repair Shop'
This extract below jumped out at me.
I lived and worked in the East London area mentioned.

Jay speaks::
"Several times, he says, he would be picked up by special patrol group vans. "They would beat me, and take me to another area, like Canning Town 
[also in east London], which was predominantly white and just throw me out."

It wasn't a case of: 'Oh, where's the nearest bus stop?' 
It's, like, you're walking through some : estates that don't like black people - 
and you're in their manor. 
So how do you get out of there? 
You've got no money, you're a bit disorientated, you could be bleeding." 
He was about l3 or 14, he says. "

I also remember the SPG =  'Special Support Group' Police patrol units.
I have many stories about these Police Units - how they stretched their role to often abuse young people.
There is a whole section about them in my first book - 'Gutter Feelings'.



BHP