Owen Jones meets Akala | ‘The black-on-black violence narrative is rooted in empire’
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- Опубликовано: 17 мар 2019
- Akala's name is always near the top of the list when I ask for ideas for people to interview. I finally managed to catch up with him before the launch of his book Natives.
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We discussed the legacy of empire and the direct link to knife crime and the black-on-black violence narrative surrounding it. We also talked about whether increasing police numbers is a real solution to the problem and the hypocrisy of some politicians' outrage at everyday racism in the UK.
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"Nobody colonises another group of people because they love them and want them to have democracy" reality check
The EU
Bit like the moors
Andrew Strachan just shit the fuck up
Sir Wizalot yh because legal immigration and colonisation are the same...
Yep.
Akala the definition of living in the past racism will always exist with a mentality like his its imprinted on his brain he'll look for it anywhere its not
Intresting you say that in the age of a Pandemic disproportionately killing black people due to structural inequalities ignored and worsened for decades. As well as Police Brutality espically in the US, the rate of killings of unarmed black men. But I suppose its easier for you to go on and pretend systemic racism isnt just as dreadful as overt violent racist acts, what of Grenfell or Windrush.
@@zeinabadam958 check Thomas sowel
He can only look 'back on racism' if it had been eradicated in the present day and it hasn't. He is socially aware. That's not a bad thing.
@@user-xp4ov5od8t check dr henrik Clark
The Guardian not exactly building bridges are we.
I'm far more cynical than Akala. I think the establishment knows full well what solutions would work. How could they not? The scientific evidence showing the causal pathways between child abuse/neglect and neurobiological damage is crystal clear. The brain imaging data is not controversial, neither is the observation that almost without exception the most violent individuals themselves suffered serious physical and sexual abuse as children. Thankfully there are many exceptions going the other way.
We know which socioeconomic conditions foster abuse and neglect, we know the mechanisms by which abuse leads to neurobiological changes, we know how these neurobiological changes manifest in behavioural deficits that predispose people towards violence, and we think the solution is to create more prisons or employ more police? This is as stupid as understanding what causes tooth decay and then proposing that training more dentists will solve the problem.
The reason they don't want to acknowledge the etiology of violence is because mopping up after crime pays handsomely, it also guarantees that vast inequality persists. They need depth to society because the greater the gulf between the bottom and the top, the greater they feel. Vast inequality must persist for them to live the way they live. That's why they pretend they don't know the solutions.
Perhaps that's true, or perhaps the truth is even scarier: the people making the decisions are themselves neurobiologically damaged through boarding schools and neglectful workaholic parents. The violence they permit in society is a wilful projection of the terror they themselves felt as children. They are compelled to be complicit in its perpetuation in the same way child victims of severe abuse are compelled to project it onto others.
Well said, the powerful are also victims of trauma and act out their traumatic fear and rage on those they have power over. The victim becomes the victimizer.
My thoughts, pretty much exactly. Better than I would have put it.
I'm very much in agreement, but we all have the power to make decisions for our selves. And hell we vote them into power. You don't just become pm (bar our current) you have to be voted in.
Couldn't agree more. This is what iv been trying to tell people around me. But the ruling class having trauma wasn't a theory I had thought of, it is genius and I think you are very close to the reason. Boarding schools and parents expectations would render you burnt machines rather than humans.
With regards to your first two paragraphs, i couldn't agree more. However i feel you're jumping to conclusions and maybe have a chip on your shoulder about rich people. To say "the greater the gulf between the bottom and the top, the greater they feel." is to stereotype the "ruling class" (not a term i like) in the same way other groups are wrongly stereotyped. I firmly believe there are plenty of good people in politics and higher government who are in it for the right reasons. I also agree that there are of course plenty of them who think in the way that you have insinuated they all do. I just feel sweeping statements like that resonate well (in a bad way) with people because it breeds tribalism and we are all hardwired genetically to associate tribally - The "us against them" mentality. I think that's dangerous and if you were to target specific people with specific vested interests with keeping the system the way it is, the argument would be a lot stronger. Thanks for sharing your opinion on a subject which you are evidently well-read on.
Thank you to all of you who suggested Akala. Sorry it took so long to arrange! Hope you enjoy it.
He was always going to be worth your words. Bigger platform required.
Wish this was longer! Great interview, it's a completely different perspective from mine and I learn so much from him.
I know you don't normally do this, but can you PLEASE post the whole un-edited conversation? This man is one of the most interesting people I've ever listened to.
@@JimGardner akala did a talk a few moths back that expands on points that were touched on here
ruclips.net/video/U0iiybe5-nA/видео.html
Great interview. Always great to see Akala. Try and get an interview with Kareem Dennis (Lowkey)
Interview Douglas Murray, or is he the wrong type of Gay Owen?
I believe Owen Jones once wanted more gay people on a news platform to talk about the murder of gay people in an American nightclub.
Douglas Murray said "I'm gay...I could come on" and then Owen Jones didn't want to talk about it with him lol.
Douglas has said he'd discuss things with Owen on many occasions but Owen just wants to live in his bubble. The idea that a gay many might not see the world as Owen does would likely make his head explode (if he didn't storm off beforehand)
Jones only likes to talk in an liberal echo chamber. If there others present who he disagrees with, he throws his toys out of the pram. The man hasn't grown up yet and doesn't know how to have an adult conversation.
I’d love to see him interview Milo Yiannopolous. A gay Greek with a black husband but still not the right type of gay.
That interview was criminally short!
Denying the majority of knife victims and culprits are black is actually a disservice to the black community. Much like in the U.S. where people don't want to address gun violence in the black community because people like this guy scream racism. Meanwhile those communities don't get fixed because no one wants to admit the problem
Akala is good at lyrics and he can talk well, but he managed to go through the entire interview without making any single factually verifiable claim
That's his schtick
@@everyman1 it works for making music and tricking easily conned people
His book has plenty of data if that's what turns you on
@@will1603 probably misrepresented data.
@@will1603 Shame he forgot to use any facts in this conversation as well as most of the others he takes part in.
Great interview, but too short! Akala is someone I can listen too all day. Legend.
AlwaysWithMeaning it a bit old now but check out Akala’s interview with James O’Brien for Joe. 1hr 7mins of intellectual discussion. 👌👍
luckily there's a few videos. good book.
AlwaysWithMeaning right! I’m obsessed with him. I’ve watched every interview his got on RUclips. This is ridiculously short.
As great as he is, when it comes to solutions I think he's pretty rubbish. Example being, not having more police
This was not a great interview. Great guest. But not a great interview.
That line about it being easy for people to be outraged about the forms of racism engaged in by those with no power, but difficult to get people to see the racism of those with lots of power. Akala says stuff that just makes you feel like an idiot for not seeing it before. Like it's such an obvious thing, and your kind of subconsciously cognisant of it without it really clicking home what it actually means.
You want to believe him.
He says something you haven't thought of.
You still want to believe him.
You switch off all resistance and internal counter-arguments.
The thing he says gets no proper scrutiny.
You still want to believe him.
You call it genius and believe it.
The statement could be true or false.
You want to believe him so much that you do.
You feel like it has been a fair choice.
A new narrative has been created.
You are happy.
You want to believe him.
Frazer Duncan Scrutinise it then
@@frazerduncan356 confirmation bias is a very real thing and should be considered at all times. However in this instance Akala is simply correct.
@@frazerduncan356
Is this Alex Jones trolling us. Hahaha.
@@frazerduncan356 OMG thanks for pointing that out. Your so right, racism isn't real at all. Don't know how I could be so simple minded. There but for the grace of your over pompous comment, goes I.
Whats the British empire got to do with a black kid knifing another black kid through the heart in Peckham.
Nothing and I like akala but nah this argument is not relevant to blacls kids killing each other.
Educate yourself ffs🤦
@@theosworld941 constructive comment...
Owen, I am glad you said that you were fascinated because, there were times when your facial expressions looked like you were baffled.
There is an easy way to dispel the 'black-on-black violence narrative': the government and police should release more information on people convicted of murder including their ethnicity. I look forward to Akala demanding a new era of openness.
I think his point is that race isn't a common denominator when it comes to these crimes. There are several factors which highlight why using race as more then a visual descriptor perpetuates a myth and doesn't help to find a solution to a societal problem. Actually it doesn't serve the majority as they are going through the same issues but less focus is given to them
I don't think people can presume everyone with dark skin are the same or have the same culture. Some one from Ghana will be different from someone from Nigeria, and they are close countries. Africa is the biggest continent not to mention the wider diaspora so it just makes sense that wide variations exist. Because of this variation the term black can only be used as a visual descriptor and any other assumptions taken from are not accurate. The same way as using white to discern a person traits. Someone from Scotland is different from someone from Russia.
For this discussion let's just uses the wider terms of black and white.
If you look at the number of murders and the black population of London it is less then 1percent commit those crimes.
The black on black narrative I also find can be taken as a dog whistle for peoples predjudices. It's not black lawyers, mechanics, doctors etc commiting these crimes therefore the description is not helpful.
These crimes are committed in areas where the criminals live or amongst their peer groups therefore you find a crime committed by a black person in area with other black people living the victim probably will be black. The same for white criminals so interesting that the term white on white crime is never used.
I think Akala's point is that there are other factors which combine to give a higher possibility for a person to lead a lifestyle that can lead to those crimes. It's the reason. He analyses areas in Britain which had the same issue which to find commonalities and the solutions that have worked.
I believe they stopped recording the ethnicity of perpetrators of crime, unbelievable really
I'm just wondering why the ethnicity of a perpetrator matters and how could it help us find a solution to the problem?
@@ktagoe If the data showed that the murderers/attackers are not disproportionally from one or other ethnic group and the same for the victims, then it would disprove the narrative that the proliferation of stabbings in London is 'black-on-black violence'.
@@ktagoe You miss the point. I don't think race is the primary issue.
Akala was claiming that there is a particular narrative concerning knife crime in London. I disagree. In most of the MSM there is NO NARRATIVE. There is nothing more than the superficial reporting of new murders. This is due to a lack of information being supplied to journalists and the public, information that would allow people who are genuinely concerned with what is happened to understand why these murders are being committed. Into this vacuum of information and sound analysis inevitably flows speculation, including from people with nefarious ends.
I’d honestly love to see Akala go up against American conservatives such as Steven crowder and Ben Shapiro. It would be absolutely fascinating.
Akala would get destroyed and exposed
@@daleburrows2662 Is that sarcasm or are you so far gone that you can only form sentences with RUclipsr clickbait titles?
@@y3llom3llon hes right though ben shapiro would wipe the floor with him very quickly
daryl beardsworth lol look at akala the calmness in his voice, he is not where to “DESTROY “ but to educate I think that says a lot ! Ben is just a kid u grow up unliked with no friends and starting to speak racist things that racist people agree with and that was his meaning to life ! U can go listen to Ben and see if u will learn anything but numbers other than that the guy has no solution to anything course in his head he is seeing the wrong problems intentionally so course to do that is how he gets his bread and feels like he belongs somewhere course as a kid he never belonged anywhere just like Candace Owens
@@fogmist1946 ok bert
Yes we know bad bad whitey colonised half the world and that's why black people are in America and britian now and yes there is still racism but what's happening now it's nothing but culture as akala said it's nothing to do with skin colour everything to do with gang and drug war/culture
"The idea that groups were ranked hierarchically by inferiority and superiority really only arose in the 19th century and really only arose in Europe". This statement is an outright lie and Owen just lets it slip through like it's a fact because Akala said it and he sometimes has some good points on knife crime. Every human civilisation/empire/religion thinks it's superior to everyone else, from ancient Egypt to the Ottomans, including the British Empire.
Is there any history of what you are inferring written anywhere in or before the bible was written?
@angelo palmer
I need 100% facts.
@angelo palmer We built schools, hospitals, roads, railways,.
He said that? There were leaders and subordinates in Ancient Mesopotamia ten thousand years ago.
Douglas Murray vs. Akala. Now that would be an interesting one.
FULL INTERVIEW NOW!
Dave McShane 👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿
Why do peoples memory of empires only go back a few centuries? Most continents have taken part in empire building, but everyone seems to forget that. The Mongolian Empire, the Timurid empire and the Ottoman Empire to name three. Not forgetting that Britain has also been on the receiving end of empires expanding with the Romans, the Anglo-Saxons, the Vikings, the Normans and the Gaels.
Because only Britain and white people did the Empire building thing...…….Oh wait...…….
Everyone is aware that there have been numerous empires. But the British empire is not only one of the most recent empires, but one the most prominent empires in human history. The mark they left on the world will be evident for centuries, and a lot of it is negative. If we are talking about why the world is the way it is now, colonialism is an inescapable topic.
Mmm, you don't know much about the Ottomans, or Islamic conquest of India then!
@@fixthings2476 I think you need to fix247 your knowledge of history. None of the three empires I mentioned were 'white' and the Mongolian empire was huge, arguably bigger than the British empire. All three of those empires were genocidal and way more bloody than anything the British did. City after city were raped and massacred to the last. It's pretty dumb that you would cherry pick through history to reinforce the your "I hate whites" agenda and hope that nobody would notice. Maybe it's time to start living in 2019 and stop playing the victim.
@@reggiestockton8166 Not everyone is aware, the guilt trip that far left are trying to put all Europeans on, forgets to mention anything that doesn't support their narrative. I agree that the British empire is relatively recent, but is no more prominent than the Roman empire or the rise of the Islamic empires in the medieval periods. They only become more prominent to a person if they live in that time period and location. I'm sure the British empire wasn't built with all good deeds and 'negative' things did happen, but are there any ex-British colonies that are worse off 'today' for it? I don't say that with arrogance, I genuinely don't know and if you know of any, point them out and I'll look in to their histories. I would argue that in spite of the negatives of empire, the positives brought by it today are in a much greater abundance.
The interview should have been ten minutes longer. Akala was just getting started.
I got a taste and wanted more.
yea i agree, but its Owen Jones for the guardian... lucky we got 9 minuets....
Akala is a racist pseudo intellectual who blames everything on colonisation.
Yeah I can pretty much summarised everything he would have said:
“I carried a knife as a kid because everyone did and now my friends are in jail because white people colonised countries centuries ago and because of that the government made me poor and hates blacks”
Add a few big words to make him sound intelligent and that’s every Akala interview ever.
@@millwaterj white much?
Not heard your take on the muslims kicking off outside the school yet...wonder why?
Mu Fc complete mystery mate lol 😂
His brain will have short circuited at the sight of that headline.
Whataboutism
Should perhaps be mentioned that the British empire abolished the trans Atlantic slave trade and policed this. It was also British missionaries who helped to end the East African slave trade. Lots of huge failures Of The Empire but should also remember to successes.
The Britisth also played an integral role in starting and profiting from the transatlantic slave trade...
No, the Arabs ran the African Slave trade for centuries before Europe ever got a piece of it, and the Portuguese started the Trans-Atlantic branch! But nevermind facts.
Franklin Costa Douglas yes I agree that is one of the huge negatives I mentioned.
@@brother1ray True the Portuguese started it in the mid 1400s with raids against the Mauritania and Senegalese coasts and then with colonization of the Angolan Mbanza kingdoms, establishing trade and then all out warfare destroying cities and grabbing the survivors, they were the number one procurers, but the British Empire later colonized India Australia and much of Africa and did genocides on each territory so it doesn't matter if they ended slavery, should they be congratulated? That's like trying to congratulate Hitler if he decided to end the holocaust, its a ridiculous ego centered argument based on desperation to protect the ego.
Funny, that you give the Arabs a free pass, LMFAO!!!
The knife crime epidemic has nothing to do with race and everything to do with culture
Yes the black gangster culture
Drugs!
Vacant fathers, because black women are unbearable. ..tommy sotomayor
You are right, and it has its origins in American black gang culture.
@@discipleofwocca4267 American 'black' gang culture. Black gangs are an extreme minority. But keep being a media puppet and basing your opinions on rap music. 😂What a clown. Lol
OK, we can debate the benefits and detriments of Empire indefinitely, but it won't help tackle knife crime in present day Britain.
You could argue that brutal treatment of a colony has left a long lasting and damaging legacy on a significant portion of the population.
What has been shown more broadly is that offenders are much more likely to come from dysfunction families with a history of antisocial behaviour or criminality.
There should be proper research on how to break the cycle of destructive behaviours and attitudes with children growing up in these environments.
Education is important, but should encompass more than just academic aspirations.
This is certainly true, but I don't think either Akala or Owen would disagree.
Your statement is in reference to knife crime specifically, and you raise a good point around dysfunctional families. We certainly should be looking in those areas and investing in social programs to tackle this much earlier. I disagreed with their point on police investment, because social investment will go a long way to rehabilitating the problem (support for disadvantaged social groups that lead to unchallenged dysfunctional families), but doesn't curb the problem in the short term - which needs to happen.
That said, this video highlights how institutional racism (that we accept), is not only a worse problem, but is also the reason as to why we haven't enough political pressure to deliver what we know needs to happen (please see above).
David Evans
This video didn’t actually say anything profound or accurate about ‘institutionalised racism’.
It’s made nonsense. Name one law that puts minority groups at a disadvantage?
@@millwaterj I believe you replied to a different post than you intended. David Evans is a more recent comment.
inspectorcrud
Oh no sorry, I was replying to David’s comment about institutionalised racism as I agreed with your position
@@millwaterj No worries friend
I bet Owen lives in an all-white area.
Without question.
Beta Male Liberal with all white fwends
You'd lose your money. Maybe research before you bet!
He lives in Stockport. 1.16% black
@@SD-li9g he's from Stockport. He lives in London.
Why does Owen always sound like a thirteen year old on a kids tv news show 😂
😅
Because he’s a soy boy man child!
talkttalk2010
He does, and yes I'm going to surprised he didn't ask Akala what his favourite colour and food was
Trying to lure them in
Ginger Mcnob
Perfect description
Akala is the play thing of white middle-class liberals. They interview him because he says everything they want to hear
He is very intellectual but I don’t agree with the violence of black people in this country stems from the legacy of the empire. The communities that came from the Caribbean in the 50s and 60s were not violent and wanted to work hard. It’s the subsequent generations that have fallen into this perpetual cycle that education is not cool, but being a “gangster” is. I have black friends who are professionals but still like to portray that image. My wife is a teacher and she deals with a wide range of ethnic groups, and she says the black kids are one of the hardest to turn around. They themselves as a community need to stop blaming others and change it themselves. I do agree that they were the worst victims of colonisation. I am Asian and our lands were also stripped of our riches and Asian countries are just as brutal as African countries, but there is some difference in the values at home that has made the Asian communities generally more successful. I have worked in the Finance and IT sectors in London, and there is a real lack of Black employees. That is probably down to some type of institutional racism as well as the fact that there aren’t enough Black people who are wanting to go into white collar jobs. If the parents push their kids to get the right education when at school, things will change, but from what I have been told the parents are generally are not parenting in the right way.
this is a good point, if empire is to blame why are other non-white groups so successful? the complete breakdown of the black family unit and wrong role models/inspirations to the blame for current problems. i have had "gangsta" type friends and they all thought education was homosexual!
This conversation does nothing, the best way to help someone is by not helping them. They will help themselves.
Nonesense. So if someone is dying and is unable to take themself to hospital and you abandon them to simmer in their hurt will it miraculously make them better?! Please make it make sense! We are people and should help others as much as possible and whenever possible. Leaving someone who genuinely needs help doesnt actually "help them" >common sense. It simply further adds to their existing struggle. 🙄
@@fifimpia7372 "Do not give handouts to freeloading lazy homeless bums or aid the downtrodden, because then you are robbing them of the opportunity to better themselves and create capital" - Jesus, apparently, according to conservatives
@@toxendon ahhh! How kind, people who abuse the word of God to oppress those in need. We will all be held accountable for our sins after this life. Nobody can escape death, but what will become of our souls after this life is what really matters. We need to be careful how we live here. The way we treat others is how we too will be treated. Make better choices.
There is truth to this. There's a very clear correlation between the breakdown of the family and the welfare state. It did more harm than good, especially for black families. The soft bigotry of low expectations as they say.
@@everyman1 Show me any research paper giving credence to that claim
Please post the full interview!
No one is currently teaching young black boys to hate themselves. This guy thinks they’re reading up in the history books and then deciding to go out and kill each other? It’s always “im a victim” for the next 1000 years will these people have the same excuse?
It was fascinating. But why not longer???
Interviewees and interviewers can have discussions and debates which, quite frankly, goes over the my head sometimes, but this discussion with Akala I can fully understand everything he says. He gets us all thinking.
Average orators and writers use words to appear intelligent. Intelligent people use words to be understood.
Interesting video, Owen. But please post the full interview. There's no reason to cut things short on YT.
Mark Duggen had a white mother and a Black father the media reports him as Black Barak Obama, Lewis Hamilton had white mothers they become mixed despite the fact that on many occasions they call themselves Black, these discussions are rooted in Empire. And Akala is exactly right Japanese stopped being so inferior when they proved that they could master the technology and be as brutal while expanding as any European nations one African country that could have gone down the same route if factors like the desert and strong Muslim states like Sudan. Ethiopia they were an expansionist African power there was one point were imperial Japan were going to help Ethiopia industrialise, but Europe put a stop to it mostly because England harboured ambitions to attach Ethiopia to it's East African Empire. You can't get people who spent a good couple of hundred years owning other human beings to build a banking system, Industrialise to not have a population who will believe anything their betters tell them,the average Brit can't speak a foreign language and knows little about Europe outside going on holiday to Spain.
I've been very impressed with 'Natives', particularly as it highlights the falsehoods upon which some of my own right-of-centre sociopolitical beliefs have been [unconsciously] based. A well-researched work providing insight to the 'black' and more general 'minority struggle', Akala's book has been central to challenging the narrative of the UK as a post-colonial, post-racial paradise.
HAHAHA, who are you trying to kid?
I like Akala's hunger for information.
I will contribute this, though... The reason why the British Empire went into Nigeria was to shut down the slave trade, which was a national industry. It's complex and symbiotic.
I'm with Wole Soyinka: oppression can be done by anybody.
One of the most worrying aspects of the 20th century has been the growth of the P.R. industry. This has given a lot of people exposure to the American politics, which is not indicative of the complexities of international history.
Sadly racism and religion are standard ingredients of much of the old-world politics. Wars and empires. Temples and taxes. Leveraging organisational narcissism.
After a masters in African studies, I ran across a few interviews of Akala and learned more in 5 hours of interview clips uploaded to RUclips than 120 hours from a respected, 550 year old university in the heart of Europe. Akala, you’re sooo underrated! I wish you’d go on a tour of universities with departments of African/Africana Studies in America and Europe.
Where's the uncut interview?
Just remember Owen Jones is the name of a Nazi spy in the BBCs "Goodnight Sweetheart" from back in the 90's.... lol.
And?
By that title - in reality it is the Zulu Empire, old School Great Zimbabwe and olden Ethipoia among others
Hi Owen. Why don't you do an Owen meets Douglas Murray?
Ian Gibblet I was thinking more , like .... when Owen Jones meets his maker .
Did he just conflate policing and sentencing?
Akala go on russell brands podcast already?!
The two of them trying to get a word in against each other would rend the very space-time continuum. :)
Hierarchical prejudice didn't exist before the 19th century?
Tribes & different peoples around the world have been prejudiced against others going back to the Aztecs & beyond
white people are only capable of hierarchical oppression.
@@ViperWCUEYT yeah that's how Obama became president. White people oppressed him into it.
@@everyman1 obama was half white oppressor himself,
@@ViperWCUEYT lol well he was only half an oppressor right? The white half init.
Chattel slavery is strictly a western ideology. While indentured servitude has been around since the beginning of time this more brutal form of slavery chattel slavery is solely a European institution.
One of the most intelligent speakers I've ever come across (Akala, obviously). However, he is another who confuses racism with explanation. Somebody can argue that knife crime in London is a black problem without being racist. Yes, there are other factors involved, but facts are facts regardless of how you try to paint them.
If your explanation involves painting an entire race with a broad brush your confusing explanation with bias
I agree with many of things Akala says about prisons, socio-economic conditions, irresponsible foreign policy and so on. In the interest of discussion and debate I’m going to pick up on an opposing point though, the headline is ‘the black on black narrative is rooted in empire’. Ok, but China was part of the informal empire and India was part of the empire, I don’t hear a narrative about Chinese on Chinese violence or Indian on Indian violence? I agree that as I understand it a false sense of superiority was created with the empire, but it doesn’t in itself explain this particular issue. I agree difficult socio-economic conditions and austerity and so on create the negative conditions for a lot of issues to happen, but these conditions apply to many communities and are not racially specific.
The impression being created at the moment is that this kind of violence is a particular issue in black communities. Now I’m not saying that it is, the impression created by media and perceptions are not always aligned to reality. The answer to that question would be more in the statistics and I don’t know what the statistics are on this?
However if the statistics show that this type of violence is more common in black communities then you need to consider what other reason there could be. For example could it be the some types of music and famous black artists promote certain behaviours, a random example is 50 cent has an album called ‘get rich or die tryin’ , and I think ‘drill music’ has much worse lyrics?
Although I think Akala raises many excellent points and it’s good he has a platform, I feel that, perhaps naturally given the history, his default position is to never consider such community specific issues.
To be clear, I haven’t seen the statistics and I don’t know if the statistics support the perception of this issue. I also absolutely agree it is completely wrong to label a whole community because of the actions of a minority. I also agree that history, austerity, socio-economic conditions and so on are massive contributing factors to these issues. I am simply making the point that to really get to the root of a problem you need to honestly consider everything. There is a risk of anecdotally trying to fit everything to one particular narrative.
First Akala. We also need an interview with lowkey and Dave!
Santan Dave
We all need to be more educated on the past. It's from our past we build our future. We need to own past mistakes.
Nope we hold no guilt for the actions of previous generations.
@@coolyoutubechannel5891 no one is saying you should be guilty for the actions of those who are long dead, what he is saying is we should evaluate what happened in the past to both avoid it and remedy it in the future
@@LOLquendoTV I agree with you we should not repeat the mistakes of the past. But i don't think that is what op is saying
Pacmans Revenge I also hope you're not one of those white guys who claim the past successes of white men (inventions and civilisations), but something tells me you are... glory hunter ay?
@@justonetime6179 are you nuts?
Have you seen the BBC Storyville documentary ‘The House I live In’ ? Changed my world view. Amongst other brilliant documentaries. Full respect to your mission Owen, peace and love.
Where's the rest of the effing interview? 9 mins.
That's a joke
And I think most people except that locking more and more people up doesn't stop crime.
But what's the alternative for career criminals.
Politics
London is very very stabby stabby. It never used to be.
Such insight. Wow.
Where can we look at the data?
Brilliant mate! Your never to late to the party when akala be dropping them jewels!
Help his voice reach the platform it needs and maybe we can all get to see these changes in our life time!
Consuming this in the midst of BLM / George Floyd (RIP) protests. Thank you Akala, thank you Owen 🙏🏽
Mckinley Cougar
Who she cheats with and fantasies about is who gets her pussy wet and her sexual preference
👻: @omalone_1
For Black women character comes after arousal . Your smell talk walk gaze . We must understand her sexual strategy as the boyfriend/husband vibe is an insult
ruclips.net/video/56BpgrR0F3U/видео.html
Have that look that you will phuk the shyt out of them . Attraction is not desire
This guy just wonts to bring up anthing to blame the white man
you sound triggered. I wonder why😂😂😂😂😂
@@rbgcyedba1107 why?
@@rbgcyedba1107 Probably it was listening to the nonsense spouted by Akala
@@ruthbashford3176 truth just hurts guys like you who grew up privileged
"wonts" "anthing"
What a bright guy.
Almost no one thinks that genes are involved in any behavioural differences between races; and people's views on these matters are very clearly based on their own personal experience, not historical traditions of thought in the British Empire. Even if people did base their views on other groups on historical narratives (which they obviously don't), people have been educated for at least the past 10-15 years heavily to view empire in an almost exclusively negative light and to be set up to be ashamed of any identification with it whatsoever.
I'm with Akala on the idea that totally ignoring economic factors is not helpful. But its also not helpful to deny the statistical disparities and their obvious link to cultural differences. Clearly factors like hyper-masculinity, denial of mental health problems and inter-generational trauma are the main cause of the observed behavioural differences- externalising the blame by somehow linking it to historical narratives that bear basically no relation to how people think about these issues in the modern day is not helpful.
Freaking LOVE Akala. First came across him about 5 years ago and was absolutely blown away by his power as a speaker. Thanks for this Owen - is a full, unedited version on the cards?
listen to his fire in the booth rapping, it is insane.
I don't see anyone making the argument that the modern day Germans, or Japanese, should feel guilty for the invasions, war, oppression and extermination of people in the 1940's. Because those modern day Germans and Japanese have nothing to do with what happened 75+ years ago. And those actions were on an enormous scale back then! Yet there seems to be a campaign to make British people feel guilty and responsible for their country's actions 250 years ago... despite the fact that it has nothing to do with modern day British people. Therefore it can only be for the sake of gaining political ground that people like Akala & Dr Kehinde Andrews spout these views.
I am a fan of Akala, and nothing Akala said in this interview was controversial, so to speak. But it is obvious that it is part of this wider picture of making out that Britain is evil and that British people are oppressive and responsible for all of the world's problems (despite the fact we give the 2nd most aid to poor countries). But again, this kind of commentary is done to score political points and paint a particular race or type of people as inherently bad and guilty. And also to present another group of people (in this case blacks) as victims of oppression and stuff that occurred centuries ago. You have to remember that the people spouting these views aren't historians, they are political commentators with an agenda to pursue. If you spoke to a black historian, I think you will find they have very different views about modern day stuff as they do not work for the sake of political gain.
In regards to the black-on-black violence, we also see the exact same thing happening in African & Caribbean countries. So it is not surprising that when a large proportion of black people migrate to London, that we start seeing those same problems there. This problem that is plaguing London is linked to gangs, rap music and cultural issues that promote this kind of behaviour. A lot of black kids think it is cool to carry knives, or guns, and to be in a gang and to go around terrorising or killing people. That is a fact. At the same time there are lots of white kids who are also in that same position, but due to the large scale migration of blacks into London, it is hardly surprising that black-on-black crime is now the main issue. So stop spouting off BS about it being due to colonialism, racism, or the fault of British people. We see all this black-on-black crime because there has been an enormous scale of black migration into London. And that is the sole reason.
If London was pretty much just white, we would be having problems with white-on-white crime. Although not at the same levels, as it is the gangs, rap/drill music, cultural differences and impoverished backgrounds that have helped create the chaos we are currently seeing on the streets of London in regards to black-on-black crime. A large proportion of people in Africa are also poor due to their corrupt governments stealing the money and not distributing it evenly, or providing infrastructure in their countries. So trying to blame modern day issues on colonialism and stuff that happened 250 years ago is not only pathetic, but a pretty desperate attempt to gain political ground. They try to make an argument that simply does not exist anymore.
Over Christmas, I got in the car with my dad who is sixty and he was listening to Akalas first album. Which I actually had before he became a political commentator.
You cannot put this any other way. ''This is about 2 knob jockeys,having a conversation about white guilt''.
You are the true knob jockey
El Ingles
Very well put
What's your point? Guilt should be a normal feeling to anyone with an ounce bit of humanity after using and abusing people for so long and continuing to do so by with holding certain truths to depict themselves as the "saviour" of those whom they themselves have helped bring down in the 1st place. Yes such people should be ashamed and feel guilty for being so evil. 🙄
Yep was gonna say pretty much the same thing, OJ is gagging for Akala here
I remember Owen Jones saying he empathises with Rosa Parks “I know what it’s like not to have a seat on a bus”, he is such a joke!
Akala needs a larger platform, this guy should be giving talks around the globe.
No thank you.
Akala has had no debates with intellectuals, hes only been able to say what he thinks with no one saying what he thinks is wrong or just to counter him. Id love to see him debate a ben shapiro or a tim pool, hell a YT debate with AIU would be amazing.
Akala has never talked numbers when talking about this racism, only that white people do far worse in the UK compared to black people but hes never mentioned the % of black people living in the UK and if any of that matters.
Until he gets challenged and comes out on top with good facts can he be taken seriously, until then hes just saying a bunch of colourful things, so no he doesnt need a bigger platform, not until he proves himself.
He's got the internet, book stores, music channels, he's out there already
He’ll never get that because he tends to stick to echo chambers. He only seems to go where people will agree with his every word and a lot of what he says is pretty empty, a broad sweeping statement with no actual meaning or backing.
If he debates the likes of Shapiro and actually makes any good arguments then he’d probably grow.
@@millwaterj Grow or fall apart, who knows. And i have to agree that hes closed himself off, i mean hes famous and smart enough that he should be taking part in loads of debates by now but i cant think of 1, maybe question time where he just said some board statements and everyone clapped. meh
Laws are made in order to conspire against certain minorities, and to give jobs to middle class people who work as psychologists and prison wardens? This sounds like conspiracy theory nonsense. I'd like to hear some examples to back this up
brilliant inteview
What have the Romans done for us?
Hahaha
MemoFromEssex ✌️
Geniune question or sarcasm?
@@tahmimmiah963 a mixture of both. To paraphrase Bakunin, "It doesn't matter if its a British cudgel or African cudgel, its still a cudgel". People forget in many cases British rule was welcomed, especially when chaos or a more brutal local potentate was raiding the tribesmen territory. Remember Shaka may have fought the British, but he also enslaved and murdered hundreds of fellow Africans. And remember who put the end of the slave trade in Africa, who setup the West African Squadrons, who fought battles and wars to surpress the slave trade. At the same time we probably shouldn't be there! I suggest you also watch Empire of Dust and read actual postcolonial history to get a better understanding on how quality of life declined for decades after (like Post Roman Britain) until really the 90s. Good British rule was/is better than local misrule.
@@tahmimmiah963 Sorry to add to my point - if we view it in exclusively economic terms - there were places where we were net benefactors (India, Ireland, etc.), and where we were net contributors (Africa). This is largely related to the level of economic and political development that was there before. As for the political side of things, we didn't replace idyllic forms of local government with despotism, we largely replaced like with like, usually (if we could) let the locals continue to rule as they were before. As for the racist element of British rule, it largely grew out of a superiority complex grown over time from a dominance of a large part of the Earth's surface - imagine being a piddling little country in the late 17th century and 200 years later ruling over 1/4 the world's population, a 1/3 world's landmass, having a primacy over the world's ocean and sea - imagine how that would affect the psychology of a people. Its happened before with empire builders.
3:03 - 3:11, you can tell by the vigorous flower wobble Akala's speaking some truths.
Bashir should speak up
But, what did the Romans do for us?
Encourage various territories to join their empire through force or diplomacy?
@@saugustin9029 Theres a difference between nuance and shovelling negatives to drown out positives. I dont recognise the empire akala seems to imply people have grown up knowing about, its the same as with that politician from india who brought up that they should teach british imperial atrocities in india in school here in the uk because people bring up the railroads when he argues with them.
People's view of the empire is overwhelmingly bad, they dont know specifics but know its bad, we didnt need old files to be brought into the open to know that britain was a dick in kenya. People bring up the positives in an attempt to add nuance, normally to the ridiculous discussions that seek to put the empire on par with nazi germany or the soviet union.
I've never met anyone who had a rosey view for the british empire, i would genuinely love to see someone point to something produced in the last 30 years that genuinely permeates our culture deeply that talks of the empire like it was a good thing.
As much as I respect both Owen and Akala, it’s the same old narrative - when young black men are killing young men black, it’s colonialism that’s to blame. It’s not. I live in an extremely deprived area of the London, and its no where near as bad as they’re reporting in the media. And it’s bad.
No one blamed anyone, you are strawmanining his argument because you don't like a narrative that reveals the hypocrisy of demonizing blacks for crime when there have been many times and most times in history where white crime was vastly higher and then talking about the societal causes of BOTH. The egocentric self absorbed selfish defensiveness of white identity extremism just knows no end, its to the point where you make up an accusation of blame that was never even made.
When young white men are killed hundreds of millions of other young white men during WW1 and 2 no one has ever since racialized this horrendous act of self destruction the white race did to itself out of complete mass stupidity, even though its the perfect opportunity, whites can create hell one earth and no one says a peep about race but if one black person say's one little thing that's slightly out of line you white identity extremists wage war on the whole black race and blame shame and try to punish all blacks based on one person's actions no matter if they are petty, and this is because you are programmed to enact this monumentally insane level of monstrously absurd mass hypocrisy since at age 4 alone psychologists have proven that we see a black doll and associate it with negativity, ugliness, moral badness wile we see a white doll which is exactly the same doll but colored white with good qualities and these children being tested cannot explain why they feel this way and even comment on how ridiculous it is but cannot explain where their feelings come from. There are subliminal messages in the media that are making everyone hate dark skin and immediately get racially conscious whenever we see a dark skin person. This is partly why its so easy for you to immediately think about race whenever you see a black person do the same thing a white person does or far less and never think about race when a white person does it only the individual gets blamed and shamed. We are actually programmed subliminally to be hypocrites this even has the same effect on blacks, blacks never racially judge whites when they see whites killing each other, but always racially judge themselves and develop self hate and for even petty things. Study the doll test on race to see the devastating effect of this.
Police are very much important and anyone that thinks there not in my opinion is useless. Secondly the best way to stop racism is to include everyone. Instead of constantly separating each other
I might not agree with your political views but full respect for not disabling comments on this. Really interesting interview.
Blaming black on black crime on the empire?
Will there be less stabbings once we have pulled down every statue of Cecil Rhodes?
Watch his interview on good morning Britain he explains everything
Akala is very well spoken he is intelligent and speaks a lot of truth but his message is to promote racism and a devide rather then expose it,
Learnt more on this video than I did in my history lesson in school
And he is saying that governments are locking people up costing the tax payer £30k a year per prisoner just to create jobs really...
Really, go research private prisons. It's not new
@@frankmatthews8030 My girlfriends brother in law is an ex governor and part of a consortium that has won the contracts to privatise a number of prisons.His attitude has always been and still is the only thing that works is reform and not locking them up.
@@simongb7897 yet jail's are full and now private companies make money from it.
He will directly benefit
@@frankmatthews8030He will not in any way benefit.Any more than a builder benefits from you using the extension he's built on your house.
As part of the consortium he was there to advise the government and present there ideas along with 3 other companies bidding.
He has always been of the opinion and so are the government that locking people up doesn't work it costs a fortune and achieves nothing.
Fantastic. Thanks for uploading Owen!
Was that a materialist critique of racism?
why was there a cut at like 1:13? probably just someone sneezing but it made me lose concentration
The only criticism I have of these videos is that they're always too short. Long form discussion would be much better! :-)
he just needs to get back on podcasting
Akala is always debating an imaginary straw man. I'd like to see someone actually test his ideas and give him a run for his money
He's just distracting away from the issue that, unfortunately, it is mainly black youths stabbing other black youths. This is just as unhelpful as claiming that the stabbing is due to a lack of youth centres. We need harsher consequences for being found in possession of a knife.
@@transamination it's not like that in glasgow, that's mainly white youths stabbing other white youths.
Pat Bateman erm he was on oxford union not so long ago?
transamination what about manchester, liverpool, glasgow
@@transamination Brixton Feb 22 2019. Glendon Spence stabbed to death in .....a youth club.
Quality editing. :S
Tell it like it is. But we shouldn't point these things out. We should just be glad we have a "higher" standard of living than most of the world.
Of course, knife crime is the fault of empire. It has to be, because the reality is just too painful to admit.
It's all the white middle class fault,damn them all for telling people to stab each other.
There have been other empires, for example the Roman one.
Many countries have had longer & bloodier Empires than Britain but the self-loathing white Brits & those minorities who ignore their own country's Empires only point the finger at UK.
Envy really is a sin.
@@citizen1163 But, did the Roman empire incur such racial division as what we have these days or since the Empire? No, I don;t think so.
@@riboid Yes they did. Check Greco-Roman history for starters.
@@citizen1163 Are you trying to make the UK empire was fine just because "they did it too" ? Unbelievable.
@@cutesyjam I didn't even suggest that.
Please read comments carefully so you won't make more ill informed judgements.
I could honestly listen to Akala speak for hours
I wonder when people will stop blaming the past for their actions?
Post the whole interview please!
I like Akala but he focuses too much on the victim portion. He always blames the establishment. There are many poor people out there for don't kill others
How interesting or wide ranging would a discussion on indivual responsibility be? Acknowledging it is enough. He chooses not to focus on the racism of people with no power for the same reason and i bet you understood his logic in that case so what's the difference? How does discussing the personal moral short-commings of a teenage gang member get us anywhere useful?
KB87 he is not blaming establishment wrongly. They are facts of atrocities caused by your ancestors.
I wish we had someone as intellectual and well informed as him in the US talking about issues people of color are dealing with. that relies and fact and analysis and not constantly throwing buzzwords like "white supremacy" "white privilege" "...phobic" "...ist" to prove a point.
I totally agree. These buzzwords are often so nebulous and poorly defined that they in themselves cause even more confusion to the point of serving as a distraction from the real issues. The right-wing does this as well, evidenced by the "critical race theory" talking point doing the rounds.
Flippin' brilliant. Could have watched an hour of this.
And his other talks
Not heard too much of Akala's stuff but from this limited snippet he is both right and wrong on these issues. Many aren't arguing that bobbys on the beat should lead to more criminalisation of crimes, Peter Hitchens for instance wants them to be a preventative measure of community engagement, allowing communities to feel secure because of their very presence. He even argues that they shouldn't be partnered, increasing their engagement by stopping them only chatting with each other but of course demolishing their ability to criminally convict people because you generally need corroboration for convictions. Hitchens is more right wing than the Tories.
In this 10 min video Jones is perpetuating the Left wing trope that the right are racist and hasn't allowed Akala to talk about what he thinks the actual problem is. It perpetuates the modern polarising Identity Politics Narrative which is nothing but divisive and damaging. I think the issue in the black community isn't about an genetic or cultural inferiority but about a myriad of issues traditional Lefties and Cons can agree on and do care about, poverty, joblessness, lack of education, the drug war, lack of family structure.
If the left is going to speak properly across the political divide then they have to be inclusive of other perspectives and come up with solutions aren't just "don't be racist" because as far as I can see the overwhelming majority of 21st century problems are not directly linked to racism but instead have unintended consequences which disproportionally affect underrepresented people in society.
so essentially he's saying all black violence is the government's fault and that of the empire. Okey dokey. So nobody taking any personal responsibility then? Judge: Why did you go into a shopping centre with a machete and repeatedly stab another young male at 1pm on a Saturday afternoon? Youth: The historical legacy of the Empire made me do it!!!!
No. You've completely ignored everything. What about white on white violence? The biggest wars of human history? The genocides. The school shootings. The stabbings. The robbing. The looting. It has a root. But whites aren't seen as inherently violent and blood thirsty.
5:09 - What's the name of the doctor he mentioned who did a PHD on prison systems?
Baz Dreisinger
We really need to be making a push to teach about the British empire in schools and teach about it honestly with no redactions or subverting to a right wing pro-empire narrative.
That was amazing. Please upload the full interview.
I've only just discovered Akala, saw him speak about the knife crime crisis on Good Morning Britain and man am I glad I did. He's so intelligent, has so many good points you can't help but agree with everything he says and learn something aswell😅 We need more people like him.
💜💜💜 Definitely guna read his book!
RitaSparita * listen to Akala - Fire in the Booth pt1
I have so much respect for Akala but I do have a question. Why doesn't he speak about absent fathers and the damage this create to the children he leaves behind. Akala didn't grow up with a father so I'd like to know what he thinks because for me, if fathers were more involved in their children's lives, there would be less problems with boys in particular.
Don't get it twisted his father was always involved in his life so I will not describe him as"an absent"father
Women make poor choices for fathers ie the 'sexy' guys who won't stick around, Chad and Tyrone. Nice guys are boring and corny and don't get to be fathers.
I feel lucky to be alive when Akala is alive. He's so beautiful and insightful.
Funny,I was just pondering how such a massive twat gets wheeled out every time so whinging lefty idiot wants to shriek about ....... fill in the blank