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A young, black, professional, Spelman College and UNC Law grad, and new mommy who practices law in the Chicago suburbs.

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Tony Blair joins those who have lost their mind

April 14th, 2007 • Related • Filed Under

Young Black Professional Guide to Tony Blair gone wild

Tony Blair made a low blow comment and decided to play the blame game when he accused the black community for the recent violent crimes in London. Since the start of the new year there has been a rash of knife and gun crime in the large city, and instead of taking any sort of political responsibility, the Prime Minister blamed black culture.

“The violence will not stop by pretending it is not young black kids doing it. We need to stop thinking of this as a society that has gone wrong – it has not – but of specific groups that for specific reasons have gone outside of the proper lines of respect and good conduct towards others and need specific measures to be brought back into the fold.”

What Blair called “total frankness” is actually more like disrespect and irresponsibility. How can a man who is the head of an entire nation blame a small group for the city’s most controversial tragedies? Blacks in London are not the majority minority, yet when it comes time to point the finger, guess who gets condemned. One outraged black community leader stated, “Nobody in the black community is denying there is a problem. But there is an entire catalogue of reasons for this violence and an entire catalogue of solutions. And Tony Blair, in the spirit and tone of his remarks, is completely ignoring the fact that his government has all but abandoned the community workers who are trying so hard to turn things around.”

Of course there are statistics that politicians and even other black people will use to defend the validity of statements like Blair’s. Black gangs are prevalent in many countries….blacks are killing each other…blacks make up the majority of the prison population. So who is to blame for the violence throughout black history and culture? Well for starters, blaming anyone doesn’t result in a solution. Blaming is something that guilty people do when they have nothing else to say for themselves. Tony Blair can’t handle the responsibility of helping his city and communities so he decided to just blame blacks and be done with it. Instead of prioritizing drugs and gang activity as the government’s crime-reduction targets, he decided that this was our fault and our problem. Instead of using some of the ridiculous amount of money (9 billion GBP) allocated for the 2012 Olympics towards more police, security, and outreach in small communities, he waves his hands of the situation. What a coward.

Tony Blair is a tactless disgrace and now I fully understand why the above picture was hanging in a London art gallery. When Obama gets into office I hope he tells Tony Blair to…

Viewing 9 Comments

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    ....kiss my ass.
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    Does he not have some validity in asking the black community to take responsibility on this matter? One of the realities is that we don't have a cohesive black community in London anymore. We just don't. The elements of respect that were prevalent in my youth and ealry twenties has diminished. We are as diverse and separate as we have ever been and if it is black kids shooting and stabbing black kids (or being reported on it) shouldn't he make the same comment as he would were it any other racial group?

    Thoughts!
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    I think you make a valid point, but from my understanding, there are black community groups who are trying to help the situation. But if they are without police help and other security resources, there is only so much they can do. I understand the reality that it is black kids who are committing crimes, but it's unfair to point out the obvious when he hasn't used his government resources to help. Has the line already been drawn in London and blacks are to fix their own problems? He said its not the society's fault, it's the black community's so he has essentially isolated the black community as if they are not apart of society. Has it really gotten that bad that blacks are now exiled from any assistance?
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    I agree that with you. I suppose my focus was that it was sad that it ended up with him having to make the statement because no one else would stand up and make that statement within our community.

    In retrospect his isolation of one section could be read that way, and one would hope that this not what he was saying.
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    i think what is being missed in comments like these from world leaders is the inherent ignorance that race, in general, is somehow remotely related to behavior.

    people have it so backwards. whether white, brown, black, tan, beige, or mauve, the obsession of the homosapien to visual difference has created institutionalized environments that result in poverty, apathy, and crime.

    it is not race that causes crime.

    blacks are not prone to violence because they are black.

    black communities are more likely to be under the poverty line because white people, who make the money and the laws, have been taught their superiority is in their skin.

    poverty and desperation predicate lawlessness and demoralization. not race.

    we expect our world leaders to know this. the fact that tony blair, despite all of his exposure and 'education', would make such a statement is what is most shocking.

    what is most frightening is that tony blair actually believes that the plight of blacks in his country is somehow not his responsibility.
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    "poverty and desperation predicate lawlessness and demoralization. not race.

    we expect our world leaders to know this. the fact that tony blair, despite all of his exposure and ‘education’, would make such a statement is what is most shocking."

    My sentiments exactly!
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    Ah, Tony Blair--typical white man with his typical comments, when all around him is falling apart. Blame it on the Black man and young black youths.

    I wish that I could say, that this was surprising to me, but it's not. It's just the way to get the heat off of them.

    I'm so tired of hearing it's the African American communities fault. Our community is the reason for all the crisis going on in this world.

    If by chance we should awake tomorrow morning and a study had revealed that the reason for the global warming with all of its problems was due to Broken Toes, rest assure many studies would reveal that the African American community has more Broken Toes than other. Rendering us once again the reason for the global warming crisis.

    And, what is even sadder our African American community, along with our black leaders would follow suit in this ridiculous garbage.

    Why? 'Cause the white man said it and he conducted his studies which came to these findings.

    Poppy Cock White Man!
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    Well I guess Tony is leaving the PMs job now. While his comments have marginalized opinion on this board, overall he is not a bad bloke as he actually wants to stop people getting killed. Don't we all ?
    Kimberley, I think you have jumped very quickly to condemn him and have made conclusions that in the long run may prove to be incorrect.
    Miss Vicki, we don't have African Americans in Britain, we have English Welsh and Scottish and are all equal under the law, with masses of legislation protecting this equality.
    Now to everyone else who posted and sort of all held the same views, mine is just a differing opinion.
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    However I do think Tony did lose the plot when he agreed to head into Iraq with your bloke George W. Please elect someone as your next Presi who is going to get us out of that nightmare
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