Violence is just violence

INTERVIEW/ Erinma Bell

“Violence is just violence, and we see it as just that,” said Carisma’s Erinma Bell, a community activist against gun violence and the negative stereotyping of young Black men in her community, Manchester’s Moss Side. “One thing we have realized is that no young person is born ‘bad’.”

Erinma Bell’s matter of fact approach and concern over gun violence has lead her along with her husband Raymond to found Carisma, Community Alliance for Renewal, Inner South Manchester with the motto “life chances for young people”. Over the past five years Carisma has lead yearly peace marches, held workshops at local schools and helped create partnership where there was distrust. “Distrust of the police meant that a lot of murders were going unsolved and negative stereotypes about the communities which they were supposed to be serving.” This has since changed, now they come by “even when there are no emergencies”.

Profiled in Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s book "Britain's Everyday Heroes", launched this July, Bell has also seen Carisma receive the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. But despite its laurels, its many sponsors and partnerships, despite its UK setting, peace activism at Carisma is voluntary, battles the lack of long-term funding. It is run by the grit of community members who keep going because, like Erinma, they have teenage children and in particular, boys. “We want to advocate to our own as well as others about the dangers and perils of becoming involved with gun violence,” Bell said, in an exclusive interview given to Comunidad Segura.

What is it like to live in a community affected by gun violence?

 

Really to tell you the truth, although we have an issue with gun violence, the majority of us go about our everyday lives in an orderly, safe manner.  We do care about the violence and have a degree of fear towards it, but I do not feel that one day it would be me, or my own, because we do not associate ourselves with such.  And by that I mean we do not idolize the gun nor do we see it as a fashion icon.

 What would you tell people who live in similar situations around the world
about your concerns in Manchester?

 

I would tell them that what they would need to realize is that it is normally a minority of people causing the problem.  The majority of people who live within a neighbourhood, community, or city are normally good people – law abiding.  But at the same time we have to remember Edmund Burke’s famous words: “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing.”

 
So what must people do to preserve their communities?

 

As good people we have to speak out against the gun violence and speak out about crime that they know of, even if it is their neighbour or good friend or family that has committed the crime.  As a people we have to encourage each other to speak up and talk about the gun crime, that it is wrong, and we will speak out about it.

Does this relate to the police?

 

Five years ago I was concerned at the lack of trust people had with the local police and the lack of a working partnership. There was no trust and or respect for the police.  The people did not trust the police and hence this resulted in non-communication with the police about serious crimes, which in turn meant that a lot of murders were going unsolved.

If the community did not like the police, how did the police see the community?

 

The police were afraid to come into our communities because of the gun violence, and they had formed negative stereotypes about the communities which they were supposed to be serving.  All this did concern me.

Is there a formal channel to bring the community closer to the police?

 

The government encouraged the police to formulate Independent Advisory Groups (IAGs).  Groups which would be set up made up of community members and police where the community members act as critical friends to the police about the policing of their own neighborhoods.  We as Carisma were very and still are very instrumental within these IAGs in encouraging community members to join them, and in turn, we have found that the relationships between the police and community have improved.  Police come and visit or are part of the community all the time and not just when there is an emergency.  This is nice.

Has your work at Carisma changed the way you see violence?

 

Violence is violence and we see it as just that.  It is an unjust act taken out by one person against another.  One thing we have realized is that no young person is born ‘bad’; no young person wakes up in the morning and decides he is going to ‘get himself a gun and go kill some one’.  It is the circumstances and the environment which surrounds these young people which lead them to commit violence.  Also it is adults who teach young people to be what they are.  We as adults are the number one role models for our young people; therefore they cannot be totally blamed for the crimes they commit.

What are the biggest difficulties in your work? And what keeps you  going?

The biggest difficulty in our work would be the lack of long-term funds, whether generated by ourselves via fundraising or long-term funding from the government or other public or private body.  Also another difficulty is in getting committed people to work for and with us. If we could pay people then maybe they would stay the course.  But the fact that I like most of our members has teenage children and in particularly boys, this keeps us going.  Because we want to advocate to our own as well as others about the dangers and perils of becoming involved with gun violence.

How important is it to see your work being recognized by the government, in the form of the book, and similar experiences?

 

Our biggest recognition this year was the fact that we received ‘The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service’.  This is important to us as this now means, to us, that we have the Queens seal of approval for the work we have been doing and will continue to do.

Also I was hailed by Gordon Brown (Prime Minister) as one of Britain’s Everyday Heroines (Heroes) and met with the PM in London during the actual book launch in July 2007.

What has being profiled in Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Everyday Heroes meant for you?

  

In the book, Mr Brown said: “What particularly struck me about Erinma was the way she has channelled her anger and her concerns about life in Moss Side, not in fear but into practical work, offering alternative visions to the young people around her of what their lives could be like.”

Adding more praise he said: “Erinma is a powerful role model in her community, and in many respects, the way she lives her life is as important in what she is trying to achieve as the many projects and campaigns she works on.”

What other organizations are you associated to? Is Carisma a faith based organization?

 

Though most of the people involved in running it are Christians it is not a Christian organisation as we want it to serve all of the community and be community-owned. We have quite a few organisations that are associated to us.  For example the Territorial Army have taken us on as their named charity for the next three years which means that any fundraising they do 30% of the funds come to Carisma as unrestricted funds. Also our Manchester City Council support everything we do along with Greater Manchester Police they too support us too and mostly of the time the support is financial.  Most recently we have had Granada Television, The Co-operation Foundation, John Lewis Superstore, Manchester University, Manchester Museum and the Black Health Agency have all agreed to work in association with us.  Also we work in association with Salford University.

And your work in the community building networks has reached other groups..

Notwithstanding the sponsors I just mentioned, we do work with many of our local grass roots groups for example: Mothers’ Against Violence, United Estates of Wythenshawe and the Manchester Street Pastors. We are also associated with key grass roots groups nationally based in Nottingham, Liverpool, Birmingham and Newcastle.

How do you see the future?

 

The future is promising.  I see the future of my neighbourhood and Manchester as a whole as a place where we respect each other and where young people love themselves for who they are and in turn love other people and young people.  A place where it is clearly each one teach one and therefore we all take responsibility for our actions and for what we expose our young people to.

From Comunidad Segura:

Life chances for young people

Read Further:

 

Ermina Bell was profiled in this article from the Daily Mail
My Every Day Heroes, by Gordon Brown.

Carisma, the Community Alliance for Renewal, Inner South Manchester Area.

 

Erinma takes part on a debate on gun violence, from Friction TV

The Guardian’s overview of gang violence in south Manchester:
Gangs want respect, so the innocent die