My thoughts on recent Garda shooting in Dublin 15.
**UPDATE ON POST BELOW: It has been confirmed by Gardaí that Mr Nkencho has no previous convictions, and was suffering from mental health issues, contrary to lies spread by the far-right online.**
I don't think our focus should be on the silly behaviour of a few black teenagers (who have every right to be angry). I think it should be on the state and Gardaí who have allowed such situations to develop in our community. Not all the facts are available of course, but this event seems to be the result of failure upon failure by an establishment who prioritises greed and profit over the well-being of our communities.
Regardless of the character of George Nkencho - regardless of whether he was "good" or "bad" - the black community in Ireland have every right to be angry - just as white working class people do at our treatment in recent years. We've lost jobs, we've lost public services, we've lost mental health services, we've lost security of every kind. Black people feel this more acutely as they also face racism and discrimination to top it all off. The killing of George Nkencho was the straw that broke the camel's back for black working-class people in Dublin 15. As they face discrimination and racism everyday (and witness police brutality of blacks in the USA and other countries every week) many of them understandably weren't going to wait to see if it's justified before holding a peacefully organised protest outside Blanchardstown Garda station. The state and the Gardaí are very powerful and organized, poor teenagers aren't.
Also, regardless of how relatively "good" or "bad" the Gardaí are in Ireland regarding shootings - we don't support the death penalty, and there always needs to be investigation into such events, and pressure put on the establishment to ensure that such events can be avoided or made impossible in the future.
Divide and conquer seems to have worked on many people around this issue, because the racists have succeeded in convincing a lot of good people that our enemy are a bunch of black teenagers reacting against a system which treats them as second class citizens, instead of the system itself, which has made so many miserable in the last 12 months alone.
It seems to me that establishment politicians and commentators in the media would rather we blame each other as individuals for such issues (like the pandemic) instead of focussing on the system that causes or exacerbates such issues, because this it is a system that benefits them so much at everyone else's expense. They would rather instead that we turn on our neighbours and co-workers and black teenagers.
Does this mean that "Left-wing" progressives advocate the desperate and frustrated reaction of teenagers - hardly. The Left supports organized and democratic protests, but those racists who say "they support peaceful protests, but..." have shown no support for any such progressive movements. But if our focus is on blaming poor teenagers who have suffered so much especially in the past 12 months, what does that say about us as a society? - It says we blame our own children for a hateful society they have not caused. It also says we take our frustration out on the most easy target, as happens in an abusive relationship or by any bully. The powerful and wealthy are rightly to be held accountable - which is not always easy, especially as they are more or less faceless to us day-by-day.
