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You're going to make me start crying now. I'm trying not to cry. | 0:00:02 | 0:00:04 | |
I'm trying my best not to cry, yeah? | 0:00:04 | 0:00:07 | |
But these people are going to make me cry. | 0:00:07 | 0:00:09 | |
SOBBING | 0:00:11 | 0:00:13 | |
INDISTINCT VOICES | 0:00:15 | 0:00:17 | |
This programme contains very strong language. | 0:00:17 | 0:00:23 | |
I think so... Oh, no, I made that one. | 0:00:37 | 0:00:40 | |
-Oh, Leon, have you seen the handbag? -Yeah, all this...everything here is what's going tomorrow. | 0:00:51 | 0:00:55 | |
-And on the floor? -Freedom Pass. | 0:00:55 | 0:00:57 | |
-See the handbags? -Her sewing machine, her handbag. | 0:00:57 | 0:01:01 | |
This is the most devastating time in my life. | 0:01:02 | 0:01:05 | |
I thought when I lost my son I could never feel this way again, | 0:01:05 | 0:01:10 | |
but this, in a different way, is even worse. | 0:01:10 | 0:01:13 | |
This is the woman that brought me here, | 0:01:13 | 0:01:17 | |
this is the woman that I've known for 55 years of my life. | 0:01:17 | 0:01:20 | |
Nothing compares. | 0:01:20 | 0:01:23 | |
I don't know what I'm going to do without you, Mama, | 0:01:23 | 0:01:25 | |
but I love you so much, from your son. | 0:01:25 | 0:01:28 | |
This is a film that started with a funeral... | 0:01:33 | 0:01:35 | |
-Morning, morning, morning, morning. -Hi, Pat. -Morning. | 0:01:35 | 0:01:38 | |
..the funeral of Pauline Celestine Martin... | 0:01:38 | 0:01:42 | |
Big ladies, boy! | 0:01:42 | 0:01:44 | |
..whose favourite colour was red. | 0:01:44 | 0:01:45 | |
She'd come from Jamaica in 1962 and died here in south London, | 0:01:49 | 0:01:54 | |
leaving her grandchildren and children behind. | 0:01:54 | 0:01:58 | |
Her eldest son, Steve, also known as Blacker, | 0:01:58 | 0:02:01 | |
was someone I'd featured in a | 0:02:01 | 0:02:03 | |
student documentary when we were both 19. | 0:02:03 | 0:02:07 | |
-Morning. -Good morning. Hello, Molly. -Hello. -Good morning, Miss Molly. | 0:02:07 | 0:02:11 | |
-Good morning. -How are you this morning? -All right. | 0:02:11 | 0:02:14 | |
He'd asked me to film his mother's funeral, but what neither of | 0:02:14 | 0:02:18 | |
us realised then was that a series of dramatic events in Blacker's life | 0:02:18 | 0:02:23 | |
would keep me filming with him for the next three years. | 0:02:23 | 0:02:26 | |
Everybody goes to the church. | 0:02:26 | 0:02:29 | |
If... Can everybody get in a car or something? | 0:02:29 | 0:02:32 | |
We're all hanging around and we need to get in the buses and coach and | 0:02:33 | 0:02:37 | |
everywhere, so we can move. | 0:02:37 | 0:02:39 | |
I feel like I'm... I feel like I'm at roller skating, cos it's like this | 0:02:39 | 0:02:41 | |
big disco ball. | 0:02:41 | 0:02:43 | |
MUSIC: Amazing Grace | 0:02:43 | 0:02:45 | |
# I shall forever lift my eyes to Calvary... # | 0:02:45 | 0:02:50 | |
The cortege travelled past | 0:02:55 | 0:02:57 | |
significant places in the family's life, | 0:02:57 | 0:03:01 | |
including the iconic record shop | 0:03:01 | 0:03:04 | |
Blacker had had in Brixton for 21 years. | 0:03:04 | 0:03:06 | |
TRUMPET PLAYS | 0:03:10 | 0:03:13 | |
Blacker's mother had come to England alone, but she died leaving behind | 0:03:21 | 0:03:24 | |
94 grandchildren and great-grandchildren who clearly | 0:03:24 | 0:03:28 | |
loved her, as did the community. | 0:03:28 | 0:03:32 | |
Over 700 came to celebrate her life, | 0:03:32 | 0:03:35 | |
led by Blacker's sisters and brother. | 0:03:35 | 0:03:37 | |
# I wanna shake my hand with the elder | 0:03:37 | 0:03:39 | |
# I wanna tell all the people, "Good morning"... # | 0:03:42 | 0:03:47 | |
Relatives had even come from the family home - | 0:03:47 | 0:03:51 | |
St Thomas, Jamaica - to pay their respects. | 0:03:51 | 0:03:54 | |
# When I view the last sunset | 0:03:54 | 0:03:58 | |
# And I cross over that sea | 0:03:58 | 0:04:02 | |
# I know sunrise will be waiting for me. # | 0:04:02 | 0:04:08 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:04:08 | 0:04:10 | |
SOUL MUSIC PLAYS | 0:04:10 | 0:04:14 | |
For three and a half hours, there were performances, hymns, | 0:04:21 | 0:04:25 | |
prayers and tributes. | 0:04:25 | 0:04:27 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:04:27 | 0:04:29 | |
But it was a story told by a local pastor in his tribute that made me | 0:04:40 | 0:04:42 | |
realise what had been happening in this community, | 0:04:42 | 0:04:46 | |
and how influential a figure Blacker had become. | 0:04:46 | 0:04:49 | |
I want to tell you something, and the reason I'm here today | 0:04:49 | 0:04:52 | |
because Steven, known as Blacker, | 0:04:52 | 0:04:55 | |
he's been a great inspiration to me in my life and I'd | 0:04:55 | 0:04:58 | |
do anything for him. | 0:04:58 | 0:05:01 | |
We don't talk a lot, but there's one thing that he did for me when I just | 0:05:01 | 0:05:04 | |
came out of jail, and those of you | 0:05:04 | 0:05:08 | |
who know John Wayne and the policeman, he had this thing for me, | 0:05:08 | 0:05:14 | |
and I was unlicensed and I got nicked. | 0:05:14 | 0:05:17 | |
And Blacker held on to my hand when all the police were looking at me, | 0:05:17 | 0:05:20 | |
trying to grab me and put me in the van, and Blacker said, "You're not, you can't take him." | 0:05:20 | 0:05:26 | |
They couldn't touch me. | 0:05:26 | 0:05:28 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:05:28 | 0:05:30 | |
I'm saying this to say that, where did he get that courage from? | 0:05:33 | 0:05:38 | |
Where did he get this conviction from? | 0:05:38 | 0:05:41 | |
It was from his mother. | 0:05:41 | 0:05:44 | |
And I want to say to all the Martin families that are here, | 0:05:44 | 0:05:47 | |
please hear these words, | 0:05:47 | 0:05:49 | |
do not look at yourself as someone that's of insignificance. | 0:05:49 | 0:05:55 | |
Know who you are - you are leaders in this community. | 0:05:56 | 0:06:00 | |
May you walk in peace and unity with each other. | 0:06:00 | 0:06:03 | |
May you walk through a community with your head lifted up high. | 0:06:03 | 0:06:07 | |
JAMAICAN MUSIC PLAYS | 0:06:07 | 0:06:10 | |
-Thank you. -Mind your heads, mind your heads. | 0:06:31 | 0:06:34 | |
That's cool. | 0:06:45 | 0:06:46 | |
REGGAE MUSIC PLAYS | 0:07:01 | 0:07:04 | |
I got a lift to the graveyard from an old friend of Blacker's, | 0:07:05 | 0:07:08 | |
Naptarli, who'd been put in charge of clearing the roads | 0:07:08 | 0:07:11 | |
for the cortege. | 0:07:11 | 0:07:13 | |
HORN HONKS | 0:07:14 | 0:07:17 | |
-You'd be a great getaway driver, Naptarli. -I was. -You were? HE LAUGHS | 0:07:17 | 0:07:23 | |
-Life story, let him tell you his life story. -She knows my life story. | 0:07:23 | 0:07:27 | |
-Not in such detail. You were a getaway driver? -You will know it, | 0:07:27 | 0:07:31 | |
you will know it, you will know all of it. | 0:07:31 | 0:07:33 | |
Tell me about when you were a getaway driver. | 0:07:33 | 0:07:36 | |
Um, that's when I used to do armed robbery, I used to be an armed | 0:07:36 | 0:07:39 | |
robber, many, many years ago. I used to be an armed robber. | 0:07:39 | 0:07:43 | |
Banks and post offices and building societies, and that's... | 0:07:43 | 0:07:47 | |
But I was driving from when I was 13 years of age. | 0:07:47 | 0:07:50 | |
-In this country? -In this country, yeah. | 0:07:50 | 0:07:53 | |
You know, and I just got the knack of driving and | 0:07:53 | 0:07:56 | |
just this "don't care" attitude that I've got. | 0:07:56 | 0:08:00 | |
It gets me into trouble but that was just how I was, you know? | 0:08:00 | 0:08:04 | |
That was just how I was. | 0:08:04 | 0:08:06 | |
HORN BLARES | 0:08:16 | 0:08:19 | |
Naptarli was obviously an appropriate choice as the escort. | 0:08:19 | 0:08:23 | |
The procession travelled unhindered through the rush-hour traffic. | 0:08:23 | 0:08:26 | |
HORNS BLARE | 0:08:26 | 0:08:29 | |
You could blow a little more. | 0:08:32 | 0:08:33 | |
SIREN | 0:08:33 | 0:08:35 | |
Keep it clear, please. Go out of the way, please. | 0:08:41 | 0:08:44 | |
Let us bow our heads in prayer, please. | 0:08:48 | 0:08:50 | |
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the life of this great woman. | 0:08:50 | 0:08:55 | |
We thank you, Lord, also for the family that was able to share | 0:08:55 | 0:08:59 | |
the blessings of her life. And we will say amen. | 0:08:59 | 0:09:04 | |
-ALL: -Amen. | 0:09:04 | 0:09:07 | |
A few weeks later, I went around to see Blacker. | 0:09:07 | 0:09:10 | |
He dug out some old family photographs. | 0:09:10 | 0:09:14 | |
I'll see if the bag has any goodies in it. | 0:09:14 | 0:09:16 | |
-Yay! -The bag of goodies. | 0:09:16 | 0:09:18 | |
These are Mummy's archives. | 0:09:18 | 0:09:22 | |
So let's see what Mummy saved up over all these donkeys of years. | 0:09:22 | 0:09:27 | |
This car here, Miss Molly, see this car here? | 0:09:30 | 0:09:34 | |
-Yeah. -2290 UR... | 0:09:34 | 0:09:35 | |
..that's the only car number plate I have remembered all my life. | 0:09:37 | 0:09:41 | |
This is the car that picked me up when I came to England. | 0:09:41 | 0:09:44 | |
Austin Cambridge, Daddy's car. | 0:09:44 | 0:09:47 | |
2290 UR, and I remember that. | 0:09:47 | 0:09:48 | |
Do you remember that feeling of him picking you up? | 0:09:51 | 0:09:54 | |
Yes, I'll always remember that feeling. | 0:09:54 | 0:09:57 | |
I didn't... It was so cold, because I came to England in some little short | 0:09:57 | 0:10:03 | |
clothes, some little short clothes and no jacket or nothing, and it was | 0:10:03 | 0:10:07 | |
cold, and I'm saying, "Why did we come to this place here?" | 0:10:07 | 0:10:11 | |
And I think I said to my sister on that day, | 0:10:11 | 0:10:14 | |
"Sis, I want to go home, and I will go home and I have to go home. | 0:10:14 | 0:10:20 | |
"I'm not staying here. I don't want to be here." | 0:10:20 | 0:10:23 | |
I didn't know my mum, I didn't know my dad. | 0:10:23 | 0:10:26 | |
Dad left Jamaica when I was about two and a half, | 0:10:26 | 0:10:28 | |
and Mum must've left me when I was | 0:10:28 | 0:10:30 | |
about eight, nine months old, cos Mum came first and Dad came after. | 0:10:30 | 0:10:36 | |
And there was this horrible moment, | 0:10:36 | 0:10:39 | |
very horrible, I don't want to say this on camera, but there was this | 0:10:39 | 0:10:43 | |
horrible moment in the car, | 0:10:43 | 0:10:46 | |
and I remember saying to my sister, | 0:10:46 | 0:10:51 | |
"Who is this, who is this woman?" | 0:10:51 | 0:10:54 | |
Cos I was just so mad, I was like a little terror. "Who is this woman?" | 0:10:54 | 0:10:59 | |
And she said, "That's your mum." I said, "That's not my mum. I don't know her." | 0:10:59 | 0:11:03 | |
And my mum, I think my mum cried. | 0:11:03 | 0:11:05 | |
She was so upset, and maybe that's why I ended up loving her so much, | 0:11:07 | 0:11:12 | |
cos that's always stuck with me forever, that I didn't know Mummy | 0:11:12 | 0:11:16 | |
when I came to England. I never knew her. | 0:11:16 | 0:11:19 | |
Never, ever knew her. | 0:11:19 | 0:11:21 | |
Back in the 1980s when I first met Blacker, | 0:11:24 | 0:11:28 | |
I was making a film about the underground network of Jamaican | 0:11:28 | 0:11:31 | |
sound systems playing around the UK. | 0:11:31 | 0:11:33 | |
DUB MUSIC PLAYS | 0:11:33 | 0:11:36 | |
In halls all over the country, teams would arrive, | 0:11:43 | 0:11:45 | |
string up vast speaker boxes and play exclusive reggae music to | 0:11:45 | 0:11:50 | |
packed audiences. | 0:11:50 | 0:11:53 | |
At the time, Blacker was a rising star in that world. | 0:11:53 | 0:11:58 | |
The sound business is funny. | 0:11:58 | 0:12:00 | |
It's not, it's not who's carrying the swing on the die, really, that's | 0:12:00 | 0:12:03 | |
the best sound, it's who can keep it up. | 0:12:03 | 0:12:06 | |
Blacker went on to become a hugely successful reggae producer with his | 0:12:08 | 0:12:13 | |
-own label, Blacker Dread Music. -I'm on my way over to you. | 0:12:13 | 0:12:17 | |
30 years later, | 0:12:17 | 0:12:19 | |
he was still producing music, and I went with him to deliver his latest | 0:12:19 | 0:12:23 | |
track to radio DJ Seani B. | 0:12:23 | 0:12:25 | |
-What are you saying? -Blessings, blessings. -Yeah. -Hello. | 0:12:25 | 0:12:28 | |
-Hello, who's this? -This is Molly. -Hi, Molly. | 0:12:28 | 0:12:31 | |
-Filming a documentary. -Oh, you're filming a documentary? -Yeah, yeah. -Well, go on. | 0:12:31 | 0:12:35 | |
-Welcome to the team. -About Blacker Dread. -Blacker Dread? -Yeah. -The boss, this is, you know. | 0:12:35 | 0:12:41 | |
When you look at emcees like Stormzy, Wiley, Chip, | 0:12:41 | 0:12:45 | |
all these kind of emcees in grime music, | 0:12:45 | 0:12:47 | |
it started out with a man like this. | 0:12:47 | 0:12:50 | |
Where everything has to have a seed, you understand what I'm saying? | 0:12:50 | 0:12:54 | |
And even though it may have flowered and grown in a different manner, | 0:12:54 | 0:12:58 | |
you know where the seed comes from, | 0:12:58 | 0:13:00 | |
and the seed comes from Jamaican sound system culture, | 0:13:00 | 0:13:04 | |
and one of the spearheads, columns in the UK of this culture | 0:13:04 | 0:13:07 | |
is this man right here. | 0:13:07 | 0:13:10 | |
DUB MUSIC PLAYS | 0:13:10 | 0:13:13 | |
With the success of his label, | 0:13:22 | 0:13:24 | |
Blacker then set up his record shop in Coldharbour Lane, Brixton. | 0:13:24 | 0:13:28 | |
I dropped into Blacker's shop in 2012, during the Olympics, | 0:13:28 | 0:13:32 | |
when Jamaica was dominating the headlines. | 0:13:32 | 0:13:34 | |
CHEERING | 0:13:34 | 0:13:36 | |
World record! World record! | 0:13:38 | 0:13:41 | |
The shop had become a focal point in Brixton, and Blacker had | 0:13:52 | 0:13:56 | |
become a leading figure in his community. | 0:13:56 | 0:14:00 | |
He went on to work with the authorities, helping create huge | 0:14:00 | 0:14:05 | |
local events like Brixton Splash, | 0:14:05 | 0:14:07 | |
where up to 40,000 people came every year. | 0:14:07 | 0:14:10 | |
Blacker still has his shop, and we arranged to meet down there with his | 0:14:13 | 0:14:17 | |
old friend Naptarli, who'd driven me at the funeral. | 0:14:17 | 0:14:21 | |
-This is Brian Alfonso Rancus. -No, that's a spurious name he's calling me by, Mo. | 0:14:21 | 0:14:25 | |
-That's a very spurious name. -Brian Alfonso Rancus, yeah. -LAUGHTER | 0:14:25 | 0:14:28 | |
My name is Naptarli, Brian Bedford, but Naptarli is my street name. | 0:14:28 | 0:14:33 | |
This is a name that he's just conjured out of his brain. | 0:14:33 | 0:14:36 | |
-Are you an Englishman? -Am I an Englishman? -Yeah. -No. | 0:14:36 | 0:14:40 | |
So what are you talking like an Englishman for? | 0:14:40 | 0:14:42 | |
Because sometimes I do, because I'm able to do that, I sometimes feel... | 0:14:42 | 0:14:47 | |
..I feel comfortable doing it, cos I've been doing it for many years. | 0:14:47 | 0:14:51 | |
-Not chatting like me, chat like you. -I can chat like me! -You do say... You drift in and out. | 0:14:55 | 0:14:58 | |
-Ah, you see? You're a drifter. -But I'm talking for you, I'm not talking... -You're a hybrid. | 0:14:58 | 0:15:04 | |
Well, that's it, I'm talking for her. | 0:15:04 | 0:15:06 | |
For her or whoever is the audience behind the camera. | 0:15:06 | 0:15:09 | |
-All right, I hear you, mate. -You understand? -He's a John now, isn't he? | 0:15:09 | 0:15:13 | |
-He's not like me, innit? He's not Brian any more, he's John. -LAUGHTER | 0:15:13 | 0:15:17 | |
-You need your glasses, mate. -John, I don't know what he's talking about. | 0:15:17 | 0:15:21 | |
-Need a glasses to be a Brian, mate. -Glasses to be a Brian. | 0:15:21 | 0:15:25 | |
-Did you lock your car? -No, we don't lock car out here. -We don't lock our cars around here. | 0:15:25 | 0:15:30 | |
-I don't lock my car around here. -Not around here. -Can I be here 21 years and still lock my car? | 0:15:30 | 0:15:33 | |
-No, there's no point. -What about parking tickets? | 0:15:33 | 0:15:36 | |
-We don't worry about that. -We don't get... | 0:15:36 | 0:15:38 | |
Parking wardens, they don't give us any problems. | 0:15:38 | 0:15:41 | |
We've got a man that's in there with a garage. | 0:15:41 | 0:15:44 | |
-There's a man about a dog there. -He's a man about... Yeah. -LAUGHTER | 0:15:44 | 0:15:47 | |
REGGAE MUSIC PLAYS When I got to the shop, | 0:15:47 | 0:15:50 | |
Blacker's older sister June was helping out. | 0:15:50 | 0:15:55 | |
Yeah. It might look like it's closed, but it's not, all right? | 0:15:55 | 0:15:59 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:15:59 | 0:16:01 | |
What no-one had actually told me was the shop was being packed up and was closing down. | 0:16:01 | 0:16:07 | |
-OK. -Seriously, Blacker, you're going for real? -It's a lot of spending money here. -You're joking! | 0:16:07 | 0:16:13 | |
-So what do you need to do? -Where's the human chain, then? | 0:16:13 | 0:16:16 | |
-Right here. -He can't...he can't go. | 0:16:21 | 0:16:24 | |
-Why is he going? -I don't know. | 0:16:26 | 0:16:30 | |
No, man. What good if I come here today? | 0:16:30 | 0:16:35 | |
-Molly... -Why does it matter to you so much? | 0:16:35 | 0:16:38 | |
Because Blacker Dread's shop is part of the community. | 0:16:38 | 0:16:41 | |
Very much so. | 0:16:41 | 0:16:43 | |
People would want to help, man, seriously. | 0:16:43 | 0:16:47 | |
What wasn't clear was why the shop | 0:16:47 | 0:16:50 | |
was closing and where Blacker was going. | 0:16:50 | 0:16:53 | |
One way of finding out was to go and mind his car. | 0:16:53 | 0:16:57 | |
-Car-sitting. -How was it? -Yeah, yeah, everything is great. | 0:16:57 | 0:17:02 | |
-Car-sitting. -Car-sitting. | 0:17:02 | 0:17:04 | |
-It's not a good job for a lady of your status, ma'am. -LAUGHTER | 0:17:04 | 0:17:08 | |
Blacker, where are you going? | 0:17:08 | 0:17:12 | |
-My suspicion is you're not going on a yoga camp. -Yeah. | 0:17:12 | 0:17:15 | |
-And you're not going to Jamaica. -No. | 0:17:15 | 0:17:18 | |
But you're going away somewhere, which is requiring a lot of | 0:17:18 | 0:17:21 | |
-preparation of life. -Yep. That's right. | 0:17:21 | 0:17:26 | |
That is perfectly true. | 0:17:26 | 0:17:29 | |
-What a nightmare. -Yeah, a nightmare. | 0:17:29 | 0:17:32 | |
I've allowed some things to happen in my life that I should not have | 0:17:32 | 0:17:36 | |
allowed, and it's come up on top. | 0:17:36 | 0:17:40 | |
Made some people do some things that | 0:17:40 | 0:17:44 | |
should've known better, | 0:17:44 | 0:17:46 | |
but they fucked me over. | 0:17:46 | 0:17:49 | |
-Oh, God. -Because they fucked me over. You know what I mean? | 0:17:49 | 0:17:54 | |
-Is it serious? -Yeah. Serious. | 0:17:54 | 0:17:57 | |
Seriously, Blacker? | 0:17:57 | 0:17:59 | |
Yep. Serious, serious shit. | 0:17:59 | 0:18:03 | |
Serious shit. | 0:18:03 | 0:18:06 | |
Can I ask what or not? | 0:18:06 | 0:18:08 | |
Somebody's led me into a predicament, and now I have to face | 0:18:08 | 0:18:12 | |
the consequences of that predicament. | 0:18:12 | 0:18:15 | |
I'm just one of those people that just gets on with my life. | 0:18:15 | 0:18:18 | |
You know what I mean? I'm just one of them youths that, I've never done | 0:18:18 | 0:18:22 | |
-anything, I don't do anything, I don't do... -What do you mean? -I don't do anything. | 0:18:22 | 0:18:26 | |
-I don't do anything. -What do you mean, you don't do anything? You mean bad stuff? | 0:18:26 | 0:18:30 | |
Yeah, I don't do anything, I'm the type of person that don't do | 0:18:30 | 0:18:33 | |
anything. I'm always the one trying to encourage people not to do shit. | 0:18:33 | 0:18:38 | |
-That's what I've always done. -Yeah, well, I heard that at the funeral. | 0:18:38 | 0:18:42 | |
And giving people advice. But I'm just a human being and I make | 0:18:42 | 0:18:47 | |
mistakes, and if I make a big one then it affects me, and it's going | 0:18:47 | 0:18:52 | |
to affect everyone else, so I have to just stand up and face my | 0:18:52 | 0:18:57 | |
judgment. And on Friday I will go to face my judgment, | 0:18:57 | 0:19:03 | |
and when I face that, I will start | 0:19:03 | 0:19:07 | |
my countdown from that moment, | 0:19:07 | 0:19:09 | |
whatever happens in my life, but it will change everything. | 0:19:09 | 0:19:13 | |
Blacker had been found guilty of money laundering. | 0:19:16 | 0:19:20 | |
He'd allowed large amounts of money, stolen by someone else, to be hidden | 0:19:20 | 0:19:24 | |
in his bank account. | 0:19:24 | 0:19:26 | |
He was due to be sentenced at the end of the week. SIREN | 0:19:26 | 0:19:29 | |
-Still there? -Yeah, just doing some work. | 0:19:36 | 0:19:39 | |
People just use this as an iconic place for them. They don't know | 0:19:39 | 0:19:43 | |
the business of what it takes to keep it going. | 0:19:43 | 0:19:46 | |
They're not bothered about what makes it, what keeps it going, | 0:19:46 | 0:19:51 | |
they just want to know that they've got a little place that they can | 0:19:51 | 0:19:54 | |
say, "This is Brixton, still." | 0:19:54 | 0:19:57 | |
It's sad he's going, isn't it? | 0:19:57 | 0:20:00 | |
Yeah, it's very sad, it's like a cornerstone, you know? | 0:20:00 | 0:20:03 | |
-Not like a cornerstone... -Matter of fact, he's not like a cornerstone, he IS a cornerstone. | 0:20:03 | 0:20:07 | |
From he's gone there now, | 0:20:07 | 0:20:09 | |
we usually come to Brixton and you say, "Blacker Dread", and you come | 0:20:09 | 0:20:11 | |
to Blacker Dread, you say, "Go and link Blacker Dread." | 0:20:11 | 0:20:14 | |
You know exactly where to go. | 0:20:14 | 0:20:16 | |
Everybody wants a bit of him. | 0:20:16 | 0:20:19 | |
So what's going to happen when they can't have him? | 0:20:19 | 0:20:23 | |
It's going to be like you've lost a great aunt or a great uncle... | 0:20:23 | 0:20:28 | |
..cos everyone, all the children, it's "Uncle". | 0:20:28 | 0:20:32 | |
-Yeah. -Whether they belong to us or not. It's "Uncle". | 0:20:32 | 0:20:35 | |
So what's going to happen now that he's not going to be around | 0:20:35 | 0:20:38 | |
-for a while? -And he's a figurehead. -Exactly, so... | 0:20:38 | 0:20:42 | |
And will they know why he's not around? | 0:20:42 | 0:20:45 | |
Um, the majority of them won't, | 0:20:45 | 0:20:47 | |
cos it's not something you're going to advertise, is it, really? | 0:20:47 | 0:20:50 | |
I replied to him and said, "Well, you know..." | 0:20:50 | 0:20:54 | |
It would be Blacker's first prison sentence. | 0:20:54 | 0:20:58 | |
Martin and his shopping. | 0:20:58 | 0:21:00 | |
What happens about your locks inside? | 0:21:00 | 0:21:03 | |
-Nothing. Mine is mine. -You're just allowed to keep them? | 0:21:03 | 0:21:07 | |
It's mine. Of course, they're mine. | 0:21:07 | 0:21:09 | |
When did you last cut your hair? | 0:21:09 | 0:21:13 | |
From the moment I was free of the shackles and the chains, | 0:21:13 | 0:21:17 | |
and I didn't have to have parental fuss-pottery. | 0:21:17 | 0:21:22 | |
So I've never had a haircut since I was 14. | 0:21:22 | 0:21:26 | |
-You don't let it out much, do you? I noticed... -No, no, no, in England I | 0:21:26 | 0:21:29 | |
don't let it out, because people get kind of, "Oh, my gosh, it's so | 0:21:29 | 0:21:34 | |
"long! I've never seen anything like that before, can I touch it?" | 0:21:34 | 0:21:38 | |
"No, you can't." "Please, can I touch it?" "No, you cannot. | 0:21:38 | 0:21:42 | |
"Ma'am, you cannot touch my hair. OK, let's make a deal, | 0:21:42 | 0:21:46 | |
"I allow you to touch my hair if you allow me to touch your breast. | 0:21:46 | 0:21:50 | |
"Is that a good compromise?" "No, no, no, no, no!" | 0:21:50 | 0:21:53 | |
-I think that's a slightly strange one. -But that's what I'm trying to say... -Yeah. | 0:21:53 | 0:21:58 | |
..your breast is personal to you, | 0:21:58 | 0:22:00 | |
as a woman, and you hold it as a private part of your life. | 0:22:00 | 0:22:04 | |
-Can I see how long now? -Can YOU see? -Yeah. | 0:22:04 | 0:22:08 | |
I don't want to touch, I just want to see. | 0:22:08 | 0:22:10 | |
OK, now that's maybe a different request, then. | 0:22:10 | 0:22:13 | |
Yeah, I wouldn't dream of saying, "Can I touch?" | 0:22:13 | 0:22:16 | |
Especially not under the circs of what you've just said. HE LAUGHS | 0:22:16 | 0:22:20 | |
See, it works every time. | 0:22:20 | 0:22:23 | |
I don't mind my locks being shown, cos it's mine, and I have no | 0:22:23 | 0:22:28 | |
problems with showing my locks, because it is a part of me. | 0:22:28 | 0:22:32 | |
And some of them have been there for 40 years, cos these are the original | 0:22:32 | 0:22:36 | |
ones from day one. | 0:22:36 | 0:22:39 | |
Yeah. This is original from day one. | 0:22:39 | 0:22:42 | |
Do you wear them out in Jamaica? You say you don't wear them... | 0:22:51 | 0:22:54 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:23:16 | 0:23:19 | |
It's just to get the chicks going, that's why you do that. | 0:23:19 | 0:23:21 | |
No, man, no chicks are around there, man. And then, when you flash them and flash them, the water just | 0:23:21 | 0:23:26 | |
flies, and then I take them and I spin them. Like this. | 0:23:26 | 0:23:30 | |
And by about one hour, they're dry, and I get some olive | 0:23:30 | 0:23:34 | |
oil and put it in it, you know? So that's all I do. | 0:23:34 | 0:23:39 | |
That's it. That's why, you know, | 0:23:39 | 0:23:42 | |
any time when I have them out, I just do this | 0:23:42 | 0:23:45 | |
and put them in my pocket. | 0:23:45 | 0:23:47 | |
While I was at Blacker's, | 0:23:50 | 0:23:52 | |
Naptarli turned up to show him the new car he's managed to lease. | 0:23:52 | 0:23:56 | |
He wants to start a legitimate career as a chauffeur. | 0:23:58 | 0:24:01 | |
-Looking at all the hits on the car. -What hits? -Look! | 0:24:01 | 0:24:04 | |
That's the accident that they hit me. I'm waiting for my insurance. | 0:24:04 | 0:24:07 | |
-I don't care! And this tyre... -This is all one accident. -And this up here as well is another accident, | 0:24:07 | 0:24:12 | |
-yeah? -What? There's no accident there. That's chipped. -What's this? | 0:24:12 | 0:24:14 | |
-That's not an accident, brother. -What's this? | 0:24:14 | 0:24:16 | |
-So what is this, then? -That's where somebody grazed me. | 0:24:16 | 0:24:19 | |
-No, man. I'm not accepting that, man. -What's wrong with this brother? | 0:24:19 | 0:24:22 | |
The first time you were inebriated, you broke that. | 0:24:22 | 0:24:25 | |
Broke what? No, that's nothing to do with that, Steve. That isn't inebriation. | 0:24:25 | 0:24:28 | |
Let me tell you what that is. That's parking on the kerb, too close to the kerb. | 0:24:28 | 0:24:32 | |
Could it be something to do with your glasses? | 0:24:32 | 0:24:34 | |
-Yeah, we need to buy you a pair of glasses. -No, Mo. No, Mo. -Why you driving with them? | 0:24:34 | 0:24:39 | |
-Because they allow me to, they say I can drive with them. -No, no, no, no, no, reading glasses are reading | 0:24:39 | 0:24:43 | |
-glasses, my brother. -Here's why they're reading. This part here is for the reading. -Yeah. | 0:24:43 | 0:24:47 | |
-This part here is for seeing. -Yeah, but you're always looking out that part, down the bottom. | 0:24:47 | 0:24:51 | |
-I'm looking down to see over the top of the glasses. -You need...you just need a proper glasses, bruv. | 0:24:51 | 0:24:55 | |
-It is a proper glass! -LAUGHTER | 0:24:55 | 0:24:58 | |
And then you've got the bloody hat on, that's covering your eyes as well. | 0:24:58 | 0:25:02 | |
-LAUGHTER -If it's not the hat, it's the towel. | 0:25:02 | 0:25:04 | |
Naptarli and Blacker have been close friends since they were 13, | 0:25:06 | 0:25:11 | |
but they've led very different lives. | 0:25:11 | 0:25:13 | |
-When did that happen? -You forget? -I forgot, tell me. | 0:25:13 | 0:25:17 | |
December '88, when I got shot by the police. | 0:25:17 | 0:25:19 | |
Excuse the holes in my vest, it's a work vest. | 0:25:26 | 0:25:29 | |
Across there... | 0:25:32 | 0:25:35 | |
..and over here. | 0:25:35 | 0:25:36 | |
That's quite a serious one. | 0:25:39 | 0:25:41 | |
It would be, it's a gunshot. They're all gunshot wounds. | 0:25:41 | 0:25:44 | |
What, it went straight through the arm and out the other side? | 0:25:44 | 0:25:48 | |
Yeah, and along there. | 0:25:48 | 0:25:51 | |
Tell us the story, Naptarli. | 0:25:51 | 0:25:53 | |
It's a simple story. | 0:25:53 | 0:25:55 | |
-Yeah? -Armed robbery, I used to be an armed robber, | 0:25:55 | 0:26:00 | |
and on our last escapade we went in and demanded money, | 0:26:00 | 0:26:05 | |
and we came running out and the Barnes police, | 0:26:05 | 0:26:08 | |
Barnes robbery squad was there, waiting for us. | 0:26:08 | 0:26:12 | |
And a gun battle ensued between us and the police, | 0:26:12 | 0:26:17 | |
and two police officers got shot and three of us got shot. | 0:26:17 | 0:26:21 | |
And I'm here to tell the tale. | 0:26:26 | 0:26:28 | |
But does it not make you feel a bit of a shit, scaring someone? | 0:26:30 | 0:26:33 | |
No, not really, not... | 0:26:33 | 0:26:36 | |
Not then. In those days I was...I didn't really care less. I just was | 0:26:36 | 0:26:40 | |
looking out for me and myself. | 0:26:40 | 0:26:42 | |
-Oh. -You know, and... | 0:26:42 | 0:26:46 | |
-You feel different now? -Yeah, we used to smoke cocaine in those | 0:26:46 | 0:26:48 | |
days, so we used to, | 0:26:48 | 0:26:51 | |
we were high up on cocaine, as in fearless. | 0:26:51 | 0:26:55 | |
So, because we were fearless, | 0:26:55 | 0:26:58 | |
anything comes, anything goes. | 0:26:58 | 0:27:01 | |
Didn't really worry about it. | 0:27:01 | 0:27:03 | |
What's the price you've paid, though? | 0:27:05 | 0:27:08 | |
Spending time away from my... | 0:27:08 | 0:27:12 | |
..loved ones, and missed out on the growing up of my children. | 0:27:12 | 0:27:19 | |
Missed growing up with them. | 0:27:19 | 0:27:22 | |
-Grandfather, what are you doing? -Yeah, I'm running from the camera. | 0:27:22 | 0:27:25 | |
More of Blacker's old friends have turned up to help dismantle the shop. | 0:27:25 | 0:27:30 | |
The camera there, see one there, see one there. | 0:27:30 | 0:27:32 | |
They're all around. You can't hide. | 0:27:32 | 0:27:35 | |
-This is Grandfather. -My agent told me I have to cover up. | 0:27:35 | 0:27:38 | |
-These are your agents. -LAUGHTER | 0:27:38 | 0:27:41 | |
REGGAE MUSIC PLAYS | 0:27:41 | 0:27:44 | |
How long have you known them, as a family? | 0:27:47 | 0:27:50 | |
I've known them 40-odd. | 0:27:50 | 0:27:53 | |
He's really caught up at the moment. | 0:27:55 | 0:27:59 | |
You know? And trying to come to terms with the loss. | 0:27:59 | 0:28:03 | |
In time he will get there, but at the moment he's...you know? | 0:28:03 | 0:28:06 | |
Yeah, yeah, yeah. | 0:28:06 | 0:28:09 | |
But it's a sad thing, you know? | 0:28:09 | 0:28:12 | |
Especially when we are saying how you're close to that individual, | 0:28:12 | 0:28:16 | |
you know? Cos he's just getting over his son... | 0:28:16 | 0:28:21 | |
His son also died as well. | 0:28:21 | 0:28:24 | |
You know, and he's getting over that, and then his mum here now, | 0:28:24 | 0:28:27 | |
-so it's a double for him, you know? -What's going on, my soldier? | 0:28:27 | 0:28:30 | |
-You good? -Yeah. -Yeah? You're getting big, man. Yeah, man. | 0:28:30 | 0:28:36 | |
How did he lose his son? | 0:28:36 | 0:28:38 | |
Some street battle. | 0:28:38 | 0:28:42 | |
Street, you know? | 0:28:42 | 0:28:44 | |
Oh, let's see that. | 0:28:47 | 0:28:49 | |
And he walks with me, wherever I go. | 0:28:53 | 0:28:57 | |
-You see what I'm saying? -That's a fantastic shirt. | 0:28:57 | 0:29:02 | |
It's like a war wound, you understand? | 0:29:02 | 0:29:06 | |
You go to the war and it's there, you know? | 0:29:06 | 0:29:11 | |
-This bag is yours? -Yeah, you can manage this as well, at the same time? | 0:29:11 | 0:29:16 | |
Now wasn't the right time to ask Blacker about Solomon. | 0:29:16 | 0:29:20 | |
I knew he'd been killed violently on the streets, but I wondered why | 0:29:20 | 0:29:23 | |
Blacker had called it a war wound. | 0:29:23 | 0:29:27 | |
What it is, right, I was on a building site, yeah? | 0:29:27 | 0:29:31 | |
We're not getting racial, right, but I was on a building site and a white | 0:29:31 | 0:29:35 | |
man said to me that, "The other day I took up a magazine, and I read the | 0:29:35 | 0:29:40 | |
"magazine and it was an article with the National Front, | 0:29:40 | 0:29:44 | |
"and you know what the National Front said?" | 0:29:44 | 0:29:46 | |
He said, "Thank God for the Yardies." | 0:29:46 | 0:29:48 | |
So I'm thinking, "Why would he say that?" | 0:29:48 | 0:29:51 | |
"Because we don't have to do black people anything no more, | 0:29:51 | 0:29:54 | |
"they're doing themselves harm. | 0:29:54 | 0:29:57 | |
"We don't have to be killing black people or going and burning down | 0:29:57 | 0:30:00 | |
"their houses or offending black people." | 0:30:00 | 0:30:02 | |
It's a black-on-black thing, what's happening now. | 0:30:02 | 0:30:05 | |
The black youths don't respect their culture or their skin. They need | 0:30:07 | 0:30:10 | |
to start going into their culture and get to know their culture. | 0:30:10 | 0:30:14 | |
You get me? They need to start learning about their culture. | 0:30:14 | 0:30:17 | |
They know nothing about their culture. | 0:30:17 | 0:30:19 | |
They know nothing about Africa, they know nothing about the West Indies. | 0:30:19 | 0:30:23 | |
They need to know where their parents came from and the struggle they went through. | 0:30:23 | 0:30:27 | |
I wanted to ask June about Solomon but an old friend of her mother's was | 0:30:30 | 0:30:34 | |
passing by. | 0:30:34 | 0:30:36 | |
I thought it was June that was your girlfriend. | 0:30:36 | 0:30:38 | |
What's your profession? | 0:30:38 | 0:30:39 | |
-What do you do? -He's retired, he's an OAP, darling. | 0:30:39 | 0:30:42 | |
My profession? | 0:30:42 | 0:30:43 | |
-Yeah, but what was it? -He used to... | 0:30:43 | 0:30:45 | |
Engineering, engineer, Post Office. | 0:30:45 | 0:30:47 | |
British Telecom, stop it. | 0:30:47 | 0:30:50 | |
-Eh? -British Telecom. | 0:30:50 | 0:30:51 | |
I had the best time with Post Office, Government. | 0:30:51 | 0:30:56 | |
I'm living happy. | 0:30:56 | 0:30:58 | |
When we came here, England was England. | 0:31:00 | 0:31:03 | |
Third and fourth generation, no love at all, no love. | 0:31:08 | 0:31:12 | |
They're not like we. We would pass and say good morning, good evening. | 0:31:12 | 0:31:17 | |
They're not like we. | 0:31:17 | 0:31:19 | |
Will you tell me about Solomon, what he was like? | 0:31:24 | 0:31:26 | |
-She can tell you. -As a person? | 0:31:26 | 0:31:28 | |
-No, no. -Oh, go on. -It's too emotional for me. -It is very emotional for you, though. | 0:31:28 | 0:31:33 | |
-Yeah, yeah. -You were very close to him? -Yeah. -She was. | 0:31:33 | 0:31:35 | |
And although it's been...it's ten years this year... | 0:31:35 | 0:31:38 | |
..it's... Yeah. | 0:31:39 | 0:31:42 | |
I know, cos Steve's still got the DVD and he's never watched it. | 0:31:42 | 0:31:46 | |
-Yeah, I've never watched it either. -I've never watched it either. | 0:31:46 | 0:31:49 | |
-The DVD? -Of his funeral. And I've never, ever watched it. | 0:31:49 | 0:31:52 | |
How was he killed? | 0:31:53 | 0:31:54 | |
-They shot him. -He was shot in his head. | 0:31:54 | 0:31:58 | |
-In the head. -Did they ever find out who did it? | 0:31:58 | 0:32:03 | |
-Nope. -Serious? | 0:32:03 | 0:32:05 | |
Up until today, it's an unsolved case. | 0:32:05 | 0:32:09 | |
Is anyone trying to solve it? | 0:32:09 | 0:32:11 | |
Hm. | 0:32:11 | 0:32:12 | |
I borrowed the DVD from Blacker and found that his mother had delivered | 0:32:19 | 0:32:24 | |
the graveside eulogy. | 0:32:24 | 0:32:26 | |
We just want to thank you for Solomon's life. | 0:32:27 | 0:32:30 | |
We know we can't do nothing for him now. | 0:32:30 | 0:32:32 | |
You said there's no repentance in the grave or pardon offering to the dead | 0:32:32 | 0:32:36 | |
so we have got to pray for the ones that are left behind. | 0:32:36 | 0:32:39 | |
Lord, my family is very, very large and you know, I know, | 0:32:39 | 0:32:43 | |
and everybody knows, and I pray God for them, especially for the young men. | 0:32:43 | 0:32:48 | |
Lord, I pray that you'll take them off the streets. | 0:32:48 | 0:32:51 | |
I pray God that you'll let them be at home where they belong. | 0:32:51 | 0:32:56 | |
I pray, Heavenly Father, that you'll touch their hearts, | 0:32:56 | 0:32:58 | |
touch their lives, Lord, and turn things around. | 0:32:58 | 0:33:02 | |
And I ask you, Heavenly Father, that you will take full control of their | 0:33:02 | 0:33:06 | |
lives. We don't want to see any more young men like this. | 0:33:06 | 0:33:11 | |
-ALL: -Amen. | 0:33:11 | 0:33:13 | |
I see. Everybody's in one | 0:33:17 | 0:33:20 | |
grave, then? Everyone's in one grave, then? | 0:33:20 | 0:33:24 | |
With Mummy? Yeah. We've got Daddy, he was number one. | 0:33:24 | 0:33:28 | |
Solomon's on top of him. And then Mummy's on top of them. | 0:33:28 | 0:33:32 | |
They're all down there together. | 0:33:33 | 0:33:36 | |
Mama... | 0:33:38 | 0:33:39 | |
..brother Martin... | 0:33:42 | 0:33:44 | |
..father Martin and son Martin. | 0:33:46 | 0:33:49 | |
-When's Solomon's anniversary? -31st of December, it will be ten years to the day. | 0:33:50 | 0:33:56 | |
Ten years to the day. | 0:33:58 | 0:34:00 | |
I think the longer it is, just the worse it gets. | 0:34:03 | 0:34:05 | |
They shoot him. Drive-by killing. | 0:34:08 | 0:34:12 | |
They set him up and shoot him. | 0:34:14 | 0:34:16 | |
But the law don't care. | 0:34:16 | 0:34:18 | |
You know what I mean? I've never had a conversation with the police in charge of the case. | 0:34:18 | 0:34:25 | |
What did he do, Solomon? What was his thing? | 0:34:26 | 0:34:30 | |
Solomon was a street youth. He'd been away, | 0:34:31 | 0:34:35 | |
done a robbery, got some time for it. | 0:34:35 | 0:34:38 | |
He came out in December and died in December, so it's not like he had a chance | 0:34:38 | 0:34:44 | |
to even change his life if he wanted to. | 0:34:44 | 0:34:48 | |
He didn't get the opportunity to wake up one morning and feel the spirit | 0:34:48 | 0:34:52 | |
of the Almighty hold him and say, "Come, son, I'll take you home." | 0:34:52 | 0:35:00 | |
24, I didn't know what I wanted to do. I never took any exams at school. | 0:35:02 | 0:35:06 | |
-Why? -My knowledge is of the street. | 0:35:06 | 0:35:09 | |
I don't know if I'm academically wise. I know I'm streetwise and I learned | 0:35:11 | 0:35:17 | |
my education from the ghetto college of education, further education. | 0:35:17 | 0:35:23 | |
It's called ghetto-ology. | 0:35:25 | 0:35:27 | |
And do you think there's a freedom in that or a price to pay? | 0:35:27 | 0:35:32 | |
You pay the price of probably missing out on the opportunities of | 0:35:32 | 0:35:37 | |
being a part of the so-called society. | 0:35:37 | 0:35:43 | |
I grew up in the '70s and '80s, you know. | 0:35:47 | 0:35:49 | |
There was no opportunity for us. | 0:35:49 | 0:35:52 | |
It was token black time, when token blacks were given token jobs. | 0:35:52 | 0:35:57 | |
-You don't think it's different now? -No. | 0:35:57 | 0:36:00 | |
-Really, no? -You ask all the youths in the community around Brixton if it's any different now. | 0:36:00 | 0:36:07 | |
Don't ask me. I had my chance and I did what I did. | 0:36:09 | 0:36:12 | |
But you ask the youths, because when they grow up and they're telling their story like I am, | 0:36:12 | 0:36:18 | |
they're going to say the 2000s, | 0:36:18 | 0:36:22 | |
2010 to 2020 were the hardest times in the history of England. | 0:36:22 | 0:36:28 | |
How much youths were dying, how much youths were in jail, how much youths couldn't get jobs. | 0:36:30 | 0:36:36 | |
Do you want a hug? Do you want a hug? | 0:36:47 | 0:36:49 | |
Where are you? Upstairs? | 0:37:06 | 0:37:08 | |
Yes. I'm downstairs eating my breakfast. | 0:37:08 | 0:37:11 | |
OK, you make your own breakfast now? | 0:37:11 | 0:37:14 | |
Blacker's youngest son, JJ, goes to school in Jamaica, where he lives with his mother, Maureen. | 0:37:14 | 0:37:20 | |
Sorry, excuse me, sir. | 0:37:20 | 0:37:22 | |
You see me make my breakfast every morning. There's no difference to this morning, is there, Daddy? | 0:37:23 | 0:37:28 | |
No. No, son. | 0:37:28 | 0:37:30 | |
No, son. | 0:37:30 | 0:37:32 | |
SIREN | 0:37:32 | 0:37:34 | |
That's the sound of Brixton. | 0:37:35 | 0:37:37 | |
-And how often do you talk to them? -Every day. | 0:37:39 | 0:37:42 | |
Every single day. | 0:37:44 | 0:37:45 | |
-Every day. -Why does he...? | 0:37:47 | 0:37:49 | |
Why have you got a son who goes to school in Jamaica? | 0:37:49 | 0:37:52 | |
Because of England. England has messed up a couple of my other children, | 0:37:52 | 0:37:56 | |
they end up in prison now, whatever, but the system, their oppression, | 0:37:56 | 0:38:01 | |
all kind of crap, saying he's a bad child, he's this, he's that, | 0:38:01 | 0:38:06 | |
he's the other. | 0:38:06 | 0:38:07 | |
And now he's in Jamaica, he's an A student. | 0:38:07 | 0:38:10 | |
So what does that tell me as a father? | 0:38:10 | 0:38:13 | |
They had actually told us... The school in | 0:38:13 | 0:38:16 | |
the UK told us that Jahmel does not belong in a mainstream school. | 0:38:16 | 0:38:19 | |
They said that you have some children that cannot deal with mainstream | 0:38:19 | 0:38:24 | |
schools and Jahmel is one of them. | 0:38:24 | 0:38:28 | |
-Whoa. -So, you know, what do you do? So if my child stayed in the UK, | 0:38:28 | 0:38:33 | |
he would have ended up in a pupil referral unit full-time. | 0:38:33 | 0:38:37 | |
When I was 13, I was... | 0:38:40 | 0:38:42 | |
..I got involved with some wayward people at school that were... | 0:38:42 | 0:38:47 | |
-They were unruly like myself. -Yeah. -And we just did silly things and I never got a chance to finish | 0:38:47 | 0:38:53 | |
school because of my waywardness at school and so I ended up in the | 0:38:53 | 0:38:58 | |
children's home and... | 0:38:58 | 0:39:00 | |
-Why? Where were your parents? -Well, they were here, they did their best. But you know when you buck up | 0:39:00 | 0:39:05 | |
with some people and then you don't want to listen to what Mum is saying | 0:39:05 | 0:39:09 | |
any more, you know, and before you realise it is too late. | 0:39:09 | 0:39:14 | |
-Then what happened to you? -Approved school. | 0:39:16 | 0:39:19 | |
Borstal. | 0:39:19 | 0:39:20 | |
Children's home. Detention centre. | 0:39:20 | 0:39:23 | |
To prison. Ten years in prison then two years in prison in France. | 0:39:23 | 0:39:30 | |
-So if you've only been out for three years...? -Yes. | 0:39:33 | 0:39:37 | |
But before that you were in for how long? | 0:39:38 | 0:39:40 | |
-For two years. -Oh, OK. -And then before that for ten years. | 0:39:40 | 0:39:44 | |
-Too naughty. -Too naughty. | 0:39:47 | 0:39:50 | |
-He was knighted? -No, naughty. | 0:39:50 | 0:39:53 | |
Knighted? Yes, that would be nice! | 0:39:53 | 0:39:55 | |
He was a naughty boy. He was a bad boy. | 0:39:55 | 0:39:59 | |
All right, all right, all right. | 0:39:59 | 0:40:01 | |
Tomorrow morning, Blacker goes for sentencing. | 0:40:01 | 0:40:05 | |
Word's got out. | 0:40:05 | 0:40:07 | |
-I saw you. -Yeah. -Love you to the max. | 0:40:07 | 0:40:09 | |
-All right? Sorry about that. -Yeah, man, respect. | 0:40:09 | 0:40:11 | |
-Everything OK? -Yeah, man. -Family well? -Yeah. -God bless you. | 0:40:11 | 0:40:15 | |
-I'm going to come look for you, all right? -All right. | 0:40:15 | 0:40:17 | |
Can you take me in the morning? | 0:40:17 | 0:40:19 | |
Yeah, you going to come to my house? | 0:40:19 | 0:40:20 | |
No, cos I've got no transport. | 0:40:20 | 0:40:22 | |
-I won't have no transport. -Get you from where? | 0:40:23 | 0:40:25 | |
-The Vale. It's on the way. -It's not on the way. | 0:40:25 | 0:40:30 | |
-It is! -Are you going as well? | 0:40:30 | 0:40:33 | |
-Of course I'm going. -Why do so many of you go? | 0:40:33 | 0:40:36 | |
Because... | 0:40:36 | 0:40:37 | |
-..we go. -Because you've got a family and you've got a support system and | 0:40:37 | 0:40:41 | |
those kinds of things, you know what I mean? | 0:40:41 | 0:40:43 | |
Like, a lot of people, when they are facing these things, they don't have anyone. | 0:40:43 | 0:40:46 | |
It's just them. | 0:40:46 | 0:40:48 | |
One and God. But he's got family and people that care, innit? | 0:40:48 | 0:40:50 | |
Hello. | 0:40:54 | 0:40:55 | |
Some of the family have come round to be with Blacker on his last night at home. | 0:40:56 | 0:41:00 | |
Hello. | 0:41:02 | 0:41:04 | |
Five, six, seven, eight, nine pairs of socks. | 0:41:04 | 0:41:09 | |
-June, why are you doing all of this? -Hmm? -Why are you doing all this? | 0:41:09 | 0:41:14 | |
I'm listing so he knows what's in there. | 0:41:14 | 0:41:16 | |
They're packed to go, | 0:41:16 | 0:41:18 | |
like you're packing on a holiday and that. It's not holiday, you know? | 0:41:18 | 0:41:23 | |
Yeah, and you're forced to go to a place where you don't want to go. | 0:41:23 | 0:41:27 | |
Have you ever been in one of those places? | 0:41:27 | 0:41:29 | |
More than I would like to count. | 0:41:29 | 0:41:31 | |
Really? | 0:41:31 | 0:41:33 | |
-I ironed my underpants and my vest. -Proper perfectionist. | 0:41:33 | 0:41:38 | |
No, his mother does these things. | 0:41:38 | 0:41:41 | |
Look in my drawer, I ironed my underpants, I ironed everything. | 0:41:41 | 0:41:46 | |
I ironed my sheets, | 0:41:46 | 0:41:48 | |
I ironed my pillowcases and my towel, if you don't watch it, as well. | 0:41:48 | 0:41:52 | |
Daddy's got OCD. | 0:41:52 | 0:41:55 | |
Why, Blacker? | 0:41:55 | 0:41:56 | |
Why? I don't know, it's just what I do. | 0:41:56 | 0:41:59 | |
I didn't think of... Is it not normal? | 0:41:59 | 0:42:03 | |
I don't know what normal is, Dad, but... | 0:42:03 | 0:42:06 | |
I don't know nobody else that iron... | 0:42:06 | 0:42:08 | |
-So, you don't iron your underpants? -No! What for? | 0:42:08 | 0:42:10 | |
People don't iron socks. | 0:42:10 | 0:42:12 | |
You take your socks out, you put them down like this, | 0:42:12 | 0:42:15 | |
and you go like that and you roll them and you sit them down. | 0:42:15 | 0:42:19 | |
My baby brother, sometimes I have to love you cos you iron your socks. | 0:42:19 | 0:42:23 | |
Oh, my God, my brother irons his socks! Oh, God! | 0:42:23 | 0:42:26 | |
You never seen it? | 0:42:26 | 0:42:28 | |
-Yo, sis, put down that bag. -Come on, baby, get in. | 0:42:46 | 0:42:50 | |
-I'm driving. -No, me. -Hold this. | 0:42:55 | 0:42:59 | |
PHONE RINGS | 0:42:59 | 0:43:00 | |
REGGAE MUSIC PLAYS | 0:43:00 | 0:43:03 | |
-How are you? -Tony. -No, I'm all right. | 0:43:37 | 0:43:39 | |
Who were you talking to, Blacker? | 0:43:39 | 0:43:40 | |
And what did he say to you? | 0:43:45 | 0:43:48 | |
So, it's a shock. | 0:43:56 | 0:43:57 | |
So he said tears are coming down his face. | 0:43:58 | 0:44:01 | |
She's getting married in Jamaica, and Daddy's not going to be there to give her away. | 0:44:06 | 0:44:10 | |
It's Corinne who's about to get married. | 0:44:14 | 0:44:16 | |
She's one of Blacker's elder daughters and a probation officer. | 0:44:16 | 0:44:19 | |
-Good morning. -Morning. | 0:44:22 | 0:44:24 | |
Ebony is another of his daughters. | 0:44:26 | 0:44:27 | |
In fact, quite a few of Blacker's children have come. | 0:44:27 | 0:44:30 | |
Remember, her mum said that we mustn't come in, innit. | 0:44:32 | 0:44:34 | |
The judge sentenced Blacker to two and a half years | 0:44:49 | 0:44:52 | |
and in his summing-up dismissed him as a failure. | 0:44:52 | 0:44:55 | |
You've failed, you've failed and you've failed again. | 0:44:55 | 0:44:59 | |
You know what, he needs to not take in those words. | 0:44:59 | 0:45:01 | |
No, he hasn't failed, that's his opinion. | 0:45:01 | 0:45:04 | |
He doesn't know him from nowhere. | 0:45:04 | 0:45:05 | |
No, but listen, someone so stupid that the fact they think Dad was the instigator. | 0:45:05 | 0:45:08 | |
Do you know how stupid that sounds? | 0:45:08 | 0:45:10 | |
I don't think that word "failure"... | 0:45:10 | 0:45:11 | |
-I don't think he's failed. -..should penetrate. That's what I'm saying. | 0:45:11 | 0:45:14 | |
He'll be out next week. Next year, June. | 0:45:14 | 0:45:17 | |
See, look at that. Fuck me, | 0:45:17 | 0:45:20 | |
-that's all right. -Well, that's it, isn't it? | 0:45:20 | 0:45:22 | |
-It is what it is. -Yeah. -It is what it is. | 0:45:22 | 0:45:23 | |
So he only has to look after his ass for a couple of months, a year. | 0:45:23 | 0:45:26 | |
For a year. For a couple of months. Look after himself. | 0:45:26 | 0:45:29 | |
Are you crying? Stop it. Please, stop it. | 0:45:29 | 0:45:32 | |
There's times when I'm at home and I think about him, and my mind goes to | 0:45:36 | 0:45:40 | |
him, and I think, "Fucking hell, Steve." | 0:45:40 | 0:45:42 | |
You know, what he's going through in there now, where he is. | 0:45:42 | 0:45:45 | |
Because I've been in the same place many a time, so I know that part of it. | 0:45:45 | 0:45:50 | |
I feel that pain. | 0:45:50 | 0:45:52 | |
There's times when I know even as a man he will sit down, | 0:45:52 | 0:45:55 | |
and because he's there he will sit down and cry. | 0:45:55 | 0:45:58 | |
He will cry. To himself, when there's no-one around. | 0:45:58 | 0:46:01 | |
For Naptarli, it's now life on the outside that's the struggle. | 0:46:05 | 0:46:09 | |
I only washing up. | 0:46:09 | 0:46:10 | |
And he waits for me to come home from work at half past six to cook, sometimes seven. | 0:46:10 | 0:46:15 | |
Cos she does it so nice. | 0:46:15 | 0:46:17 | |
It turns out he can't get a licence to be a chauffeur because of his criminal record. | 0:46:17 | 0:46:22 | |
As the man I have to help provide, | 0:46:23 | 0:46:26 | |
and not providing how I should be providing. | 0:46:26 | 0:46:29 | |
And it hurts me to... | 0:46:29 | 0:46:32 | |
I'm...frustrated. | 0:46:32 | 0:46:34 | |
Because I feel inadequate. | 0:46:36 | 0:46:37 | |
Is this just, as it were, sort of just deserts, | 0:46:39 | 0:46:43 | |
that you sit here thinking, "Shit, now what?"? | 0:46:43 | 0:46:46 | |
What would you say to that? | 0:46:47 | 0:46:48 | |
I know you will have something to say. | 0:46:50 | 0:46:51 | |
Life is not fair, is it? Life ain't fair. | 0:46:51 | 0:46:54 | |
Life is not fair. I did what I did. | 0:46:55 | 0:46:57 | |
I paid for what I did. | 0:46:58 | 0:47:00 | |
I paid for what I did. | 0:47:01 | 0:47:03 | |
I was incarcerated for many years. | 0:47:03 | 0:47:05 | |
And that's my just deserts. | 0:47:06 | 0:47:09 | |
So, now, I'm still a human being and I'm still alive, | 0:47:09 | 0:47:13 | |
so what are you going to do with me? | 0:47:13 | 0:47:16 | |
Are you going to make me live and be dependent on you? | 0:47:16 | 0:47:19 | |
No. | 0:47:19 | 0:47:21 | |
Fend for yourself. | 0:47:21 | 0:47:23 | |
But because of your situation, we've taken away your liberty | 0:47:23 | 0:47:28 | |
from you and we just dropped you in... | 0:47:28 | 0:47:31 | |
..in a pond, now, for want of a better word. | 0:47:31 | 0:47:35 | |
You need assistance to get going and be straight like everyone else. | 0:47:35 | 0:47:41 | |
Cos if you don't straighten up like everyone else, then you just end up back where you was. | 0:47:42 | 0:47:45 | |
I miss him. | 0:47:56 | 0:47:58 | |
And, like, here, | 0:47:58 | 0:48:00 | |
I'm in his home looking after his bits and pieces. | 0:48:00 | 0:48:04 | |
Every time I turn around there's Mum and my dad sitting on one wall, | 0:48:04 | 0:48:07 | |
there's Solomon on the other wall, and there's Steve sitting up there, | 0:48:07 | 0:48:10 | |
and they're all smiling at me and I'm not in a very smiley mood. | 0:48:10 | 0:48:13 | |
Were you this involved with Blacker before all this began? | 0:48:13 | 0:48:17 | |
Were you around and helping him? | 0:48:17 | 0:48:18 | |
Do you know, he was my baby. | 0:48:18 | 0:48:21 | |
And I was there. | 0:48:21 | 0:48:23 | |
I was there from the beginning, and he was our baby brother. | 0:48:23 | 0:48:27 | |
Jean and my baby brother. | 0:48:27 | 0:48:28 | |
He would have been ten... | 0:48:31 | 0:48:32 | |
I think he'd only be about eight when he got here, and his dream was to go home. | 0:48:32 | 0:48:37 | |
It's always to go back to Jamaica and live in Jamaica. | 0:48:37 | 0:48:40 | |
Not stay here indefinitely, | 0:48:40 | 0:48:43 | |
die here or anything like that. | 0:48:43 | 0:48:45 | |
And the only reason why Steve did not go was because of Mummy. | 0:48:45 | 0:48:50 | |
His heart was never in England. | 0:48:52 | 0:48:54 | |
He left his heart in Jamaica when he was a child and came here. | 0:48:55 | 0:48:59 | |
Cos he had no choice. | 0:49:00 | 0:49:02 | |
Is the house that your mum lived in still there? | 0:49:04 | 0:49:07 | |
Yes, cos my sister... Oh, my sister made me laugh. | 0:49:07 | 0:49:11 | |
She said... Cos when we were little | 0:49:11 | 0:49:13 | |
this house was like a huge, phenomenal thing to us as little ones. | 0:49:13 | 0:49:18 | |
And my sister said to me, she said, "You know what? Mum's house that we thought was so grand | 0:49:18 | 0:49:24 | |
"is just like a shack." | 0:49:24 | 0:49:25 | |
My grandfather's house, which was like... | 0:49:25 | 0:49:27 | |
..huge to me when I was little, she said, "It's a shack." | 0:49:28 | 0:49:31 | |
The home they left behind all those years ago is here in the parish of | 0:49:34 | 0:49:38 | |
Saint Thomas, Jamaica. | 0:49:38 | 0:49:40 | |
So, this is all the family plot? | 0:49:40 | 0:49:42 | |
That, there. | 0:49:42 | 0:49:44 | |
Is Blacker's mum's, Pauline's old house? | 0:49:48 | 0:49:51 | |
No, it's where my great-grandmother used to live. | 0:49:51 | 0:49:55 | |
Some of the family still live here now. | 0:49:55 | 0:49:57 | |
In fact, June's son Nicky is living here at the moment and he's brought me out here. | 0:49:57 | 0:50:03 | |
That's Anne Marie. | 0:50:03 | 0:50:06 | |
So, this is... Whose place is this, then? | 0:50:06 | 0:50:09 | |
Mine. | 0:50:09 | 0:50:10 | |
And down there is Steve Martin. | 0:50:11 | 0:50:14 | |
That's what he left. Who lives there now? | 0:50:14 | 0:50:16 | |
I've got a cousin staying in there. | 0:50:16 | 0:50:19 | |
The main reason I'd come out to Jamaica | 0:50:19 | 0:50:21 | |
was to meet Blacker's son JJ, who I'd only met on Skype. | 0:50:21 | 0:50:25 | |
Don't worry, I'll play another one, hopefully I'll win that. | 0:50:29 | 0:50:32 | |
Is this going to go on BBC News? | 0:50:33 | 0:50:35 | |
Well, I think it'll probably go on prime-time television. | 0:50:35 | 0:50:38 | |
-Yeah, you playing your game. -OK. | 0:50:38 | 0:50:40 | |
-I think so. -What, like, everybody in the world's going to see it? | 0:50:40 | 0:50:43 | |
What are you going to do when you grow, do you think? | 0:50:48 | 0:50:49 | |
-What would you like to do? -I would want to be a wrestler. | 0:50:49 | 0:50:52 | |
-Do you? -Yeah. | 0:50:52 | 0:50:54 | |
I would want to be a wrestler. | 0:50:56 | 0:50:57 | |
My other profession would be a footballer, | 0:50:59 | 0:51:02 | |
if I don't get to do that. | 0:51:02 | 0:51:04 | |
You don't want to follow your academic work? | 0:51:04 | 0:51:07 | |
Well, if I had to, I will. | 0:51:07 | 0:51:09 | |
-You're so clever. -I know. Thank you. | 0:51:10 | 0:51:13 | |
JJ lives in Kingston, which is two hours from the family plot. | 0:51:18 | 0:51:22 | |
Some people get a ride on the back or front of the car. | 0:51:22 | 0:51:25 | |
They don't want to pay you, though. | 0:51:25 | 0:51:26 | |
LOUD REGGAE MUSIC PLAYS | 0:51:31 | 0:51:34 | |
-30 for them? -Yeah, 60 you get two. -Come on, man, 20 for them. | 0:51:37 | 0:51:41 | |
You want bagjuice? 20 for bagjuice? | 0:51:50 | 0:51:54 | |
In two days' time, JJ has to sit entrance exams for secondary school. | 0:51:59 | 0:52:04 | |
And when you get those good grades that you're proud of and you turn | 0:52:04 | 0:52:08 | |
around and say you didn't think that you could do it but you did, | 0:52:08 | 0:52:10 | |
just remember that feeling. | 0:52:10 | 0:52:13 | |
I didn't say I didn't think I could do it. | 0:52:13 | 0:52:15 | |
Remember the feeling you had when we looked at your report card the other day? | 0:52:15 | 0:52:19 | |
-Yeah? -And you got what? | 0:52:19 | 0:52:20 | |
91.2, I know I could do it. | 0:52:20 | 0:52:23 | |
-Absolutely. -What did you get? -91.2. | 0:52:23 | 0:52:26 | |
But I wasn't surprised, because I knew I could do that, but I know I can do better. | 0:52:26 | 0:52:31 | |
-That's right. -Yeah. -You can do better. | 0:52:31 | 0:52:33 | |
I can get 100% if I focus more. | 0:52:33 | 0:52:36 | |
So, I don't think you're going to be a wrestler. | 0:52:36 | 0:52:39 | |
Well, I could be, cos you have to use your brain to be a wrestler. | 0:52:39 | 0:52:42 | |
You have to know what moves, when to do it. | 0:52:42 | 0:52:44 | |
So, everything you have to use your brain | 0:52:44 | 0:52:48 | |
when you're doing it, like how to pour a bag of sugar into a pot, | 0:52:48 | 0:52:52 | |
you have to put the exact amount. | 0:52:52 | 0:52:54 | |
THEY LAUGH | 0:52:54 | 0:52:56 | |
That's where I put my science book. | 0:52:59 | 0:53:00 | |
You know the work that you've done in those extra books that she gave you, | 0:53:00 | 0:53:03 | |
-and you need to bring back those books. -I have to do extra work. | 0:53:03 | 0:53:07 | |
Extra work pays off! | 0:53:07 | 0:53:09 | |
How long has he been at school out here? | 0:53:09 | 0:53:11 | |
-Four years. -Four years. -Yes. | 0:53:11 | 0:53:16 | |
This month makes four years. | 0:53:16 | 0:53:17 | |
One thing that Jamaica has taught him is that | 0:53:19 | 0:53:24 | |
he's not different. | 0:53:24 | 0:53:26 | |
He's not different. He is a normal boy that has lots of energy. | 0:53:26 | 0:53:32 | |
That's like a lot of the boys out here. | 0:53:32 | 0:53:35 | |
In the UK... | 0:53:35 | 0:53:36 | |
..he was being taught that he's not normal. | 0:53:38 | 0:53:40 | |
They thought he had ADHD, they thought he was autistic, | 0:53:40 | 0:53:44 | |
they thought he was this, that... He was just rude. | 0:53:44 | 0:53:47 | |
He was just rude, rude, rude, rude, rude. | 0:53:47 | 0:53:53 | |
-But I had brains. -And... Yes, | 0:53:53 | 0:53:55 | |
he's always had a brain, because he knew how to wind the teachers up. | 0:53:55 | 0:54:00 | |
-This is in England? -Yes. Yes. | 0:54:00 | 0:54:02 | |
And because the teachers are powerless to do anything | 0:54:02 | 0:54:06 | |
because your government over there has made them powerless to do things, | 0:54:06 | 0:54:09 | |
so they can't even touch a child, | 0:54:09 | 0:54:11 | |
cos if they touch a child then they're frightened of losing their job, | 0:54:11 | 0:54:15 | |
then of course the children are going to run wild. | 0:54:15 | 0:54:17 | |
That's what he done, he ran wild. | 0:54:17 | 0:54:19 | |
I kicked a teacher. | 0:54:19 | 0:54:20 | |
-Did you? -Yeah, I remember that. | 0:54:20 | 0:54:22 | |
And I got... It's like in an article, and Daddy had to come for me. | 0:54:22 | 0:54:24 | |
He was cursing all the way home. | 0:54:24 | 0:54:27 | |
When he was going to mainstream school, | 0:54:27 | 0:54:29 | |
practically every day apart from maybe one or two days a week... | 0:54:29 | 0:54:34 | |
..they called us in to come and pick him up. | 0:54:35 | 0:54:38 | |
Do you feel here, too, do you feel the teachers are more interested in you here? | 0:54:38 | 0:54:43 | |
Well, yeah. Like, they might be hard on you, but they're more interested of you helping... | 0:54:43 | 0:54:49 | |
They want to help you get somewhere. | 0:54:49 | 0:54:53 | |
So, if they want you to help get somewhere, | 0:54:53 | 0:54:55 | |
as well as teaching you the work, they want you to have, like... | 0:54:55 | 0:54:59 | |
They want you to have behaviour so when you grow up you know your manners | 0:54:59 | 0:55:03 | |
and respect for elder people, so you can say please and thank you and hello and good morning. | 0:55:03 | 0:55:07 | |
So they teach you discipline at the same time as they teach you the work. | 0:55:07 | 0:55:11 | |
So it's a good thing. | 0:55:11 | 0:55:13 | |
But England, they didn't teach me that. | 0:55:13 | 0:55:15 | |
All they taught me was my behaviour, I wasn't anything good. | 0:55:15 | 0:55:20 | |
And I was believing it, but when I came to Jamaica I realised that what they were saying was not true. | 0:55:20 | 0:55:26 | |
-And who is this? -My sister, Colleen, Dad's daughter. | 0:55:32 | 0:55:37 | |
Whoa. | 0:55:37 | 0:55:38 | |
This is just your morning costume? | 0:55:39 | 0:55:41 | |
-Yeah, basically. -You look fab. | 0:55:43 | 0:55:44 | |
Oh, gosh! Good morning. | 0:55:44 | 0:55:47 | |
Good morning! | 0:55:47 | 0:55:48 | |
Good morning! Good morning! | 0:55:48 | 0:55:53 | |
-Jahmel? -Yes? -What are you doing, baby? | 0:55:56 | 0:55:59 | |
-I'm waiting on you. -Are you going to come? -Yes. | 0:55:59 | 0:56:02 | |
You got your bag, you got everything? | 0:56:02 | 0:56:04 | |
No. Not got everything. | 0:56:04 | 0:56:07 | |
I haven't got everything. | 0:56:07 | 0:56:09 | |
You were sitting in there on the phone | 0:56:09 | 0:56:10 | |
and you haven't even done your wallet, you haven't put on your watch. | 0:56:10 | 0:56:13 | |
So, you are not ready, and I'm ready to go through the door. | 0:56:13 | 0:56:15 | |
-Yeah. -You were sitting on your phone, Jahmel. | 0:56:15 | 0:56:18 | |
That's why I'll take the phone away from you. | 0:56:18 | 0:56:21 | |
Because if you don't know when to put down the phone and look about | 0:56:21 | 0:56:23 | |
getting yourself ready, I will take the phone away from you. | 0:56:23 | 0:56:26 | |
All right? This is what I keep on saying. | 0:56:27 | 0:56:30 | |
It's a distraction, and until you know how to use it responsibly, I won't let you have it. | 0:56:30 | 0:56:35 | |
That's fair enough, right? | 0:56:38 | 0:56:39 | |
Bye. | 0:56:41 | 0:56:43 | |
Bye, Jahmel, see you at school. | 0:56:43 | 0:56:44 | |
What about Jahmel? At the moment, does he know or not? | 0:56:56 | 0:56:59 | |
No. No, no, no, he doesn't. | 0:56:59 | 0:57:02 | |
And he's not going to until his father is ready to tell him. | 0:57:02 | 0:57:07 | |
We've discussed it and we've said, | 0:57:07 | 0:57:10 | |
yes, he does need to know, but he doesn't need to know now. | 0:57:10 | 0:57:14 | |
-Yeah. -And it's going to be a conversation that him and his father will have, | 0:57:14 | 0:57:19 | |
because his father is going to have to explain to him | 0:57:19 | 0:57:22 | |
what he'd done, what he'd done wrong. | 0:57:22 | 0:57:24 | |
You know, why it was wrong, and this is what happened to him | 0:57:24 | 0:57:27 | |
because of the wrong that he done. But then for Jahmel to process that, | 0:57:27 | 0:57:31 | |
he's going to be seeing his father in the flesh. | 0:57:31 | 0:57:33 | |
Maureen, how is it for you? | 0:57:35 | 0:57:37 | |
Yeah, for me, put it this way. I think I can talk for... | 0:57:37 | 0:57:40 | |
It's not just me, it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter what background you are, | 0:57:40 | 0:57:44 | |
I don't think anybody sets out to end up in jail. | 0:57:44 | 0:57:49 | |
I don't think anybody does. | 0:57:49 | 0:57:51 | |
When you think about life and the things we've done in life, | 0:57:51 | 0:57:54 | |
you know, even if it's to do with the taxman, you're fiddling a bit of tax. | 0:57:54 | 0:57:58 | |
Now, I know people have got their business, | 0:57:58 | 0:58:00 | |
you know, it's about getting a good accountant. | 0:58:00 | 0:58:02 | |
When you've got a good accountant | 0:58:02 | 0:58:04 | |
then you're trying to pay the least amount of tax as possible. | 0:58:04 | 0:58:07 | |
Technically, that's illegal, if you think about it, but we all do it. | 0:58:07 | 0:58:12 | |
Because it's about surviving. It's about surviving. | 0:58:12 | 0:58:16 | |
Because life is hard, so, sometimes things come your way, | 0:58:16 | 0:58:21 | |
an opportunity comes your way and... | 0:58:21 | 0:58:24 | |
..you think about it... | 0:58:26 | 0:58:27 | |
..for a split second, and you just probably think about the glory side of it | 0:58:29 | 0:58:33 | |
but you're not really thinking about "what if..." | 0:58:33 | 0:58:36 | |
And it's that split second that you say, "All right, gonna try a ting." | 0:58:36 | 0:58:41 | |
And you try that ting and you're going to say, "Yeah, if it work, it go nice." | 0:58:41 | 0:58:46 | |
And, you know, if it works, it's going to be nice and nobody's going to be none the wiser. | 0:58:46 | 0:58:50 | |
But if it doesn't work... | 0:58:50 | 0:58:51 | |
..your whole world can be blown apart. | 0:58:52 | 0:58:55 | |
And that's what it is. | 0:58:56 | 0:58:57 | |
It's the difference between, "Yes, I'm going to do it," "No, I'm not." Simple. | 0:58:57 | 0:59:03 | |
And it was a yes or no decision. He went with a yes. | 0:59:03 | 0:59:06 | |
And that's it. And then your whole world gets turned upside down | 0:59:08 | 0:59:12 | |
just because you said yes. | 0:59:12 | 0:59:14 | |
And that's what life is about, life is about choices. | 0:59:14 | 0:59:16 | |
Back in London, Naptarli has managed to get a job driving a van for an agency. | 0:59:24 | 0:59:29 | |
At the moment he's delivering to charity shops. | 0:59:30 | 0:59:33 | |
-My name is Brian. -Brian? -Yeah. | 0:59:35 | 0:59:38 | |
Thank you, Brian. Very helpful. | 0:59:39 | 0:59:41 | |
-Now, where's the bloody key? -Why do you enjoy it? | 0:59:51 | 0:59:54 | |
I'm giving back. I feel like I'm, you know, helping out... | 0:59:55 | 0:59:59 | |
..from society, so to speak, | 1:00:01 | 1:00:04 | |
as a man who spent a portion of his life taking. | 1:00:04 | 1:00:09 | |
It's all in a day's work. | 1:00:11 | 1:00:12 | |
PHONE RINGS | 1:00:19 | 1:00:22 | |
-Hello! -Hi, is this the right time that I can talk to you? | 1:00:22 | 1:00:27 | |
Well, you can, in a way, yes, you can, but... | 1:00:27 | 1:00:30 | |
-Good clothes! -Good clothes! -THEY LAUGH | 1:00:33 | 1:00:36 | |
Yes, hello? | 1:00:38 | 1:00:41 | |
Yes. You do remember the conversation that we had... | 1:00:41 | 1:00:46 | |
-I don't. -..regarding... ..regarding the arrears. | 1:00:46 | 1:00:50 | |
Right, OK, yes. | 1:00:50 | 1:00:52 | |
So, as of now, as of today the arrears are £3,352.49. | 1:00:52 | 1:01:00 | |
Yep, I'm hearing this. Jesus. | 1:01:00 | 1:01:02 | |
OK. So, we want you to | 1:01:02 | 1:01:07 | |
come to some kind of payment plan where you can actually start paying more. | 1:01:07 | 1:01:12 | |
Obviously, yes. Yeah, I would imagine that, yeah. | 1:01:12 | 1:01:15 | |
What do you work as? | 1:01:17 | 1:01:19 | |
I'm a driver. | 1:01:19 | 1:01:21 | |
OK, and how many hours do you work? | 1:01:21 | 1:01:24 | |
It depends. That's the thing, I don't work every day of the week. | 1:01:24 | 1:01:29 | |
Sometimes, because it's an agency, I might not have work tomorrow. | 1:01:29 | 1:01:36 | |
And how much do you get paid? | 1:01:36 | 1:01:38 | |
For me to tell you a set wage weekly, I can't. | 1:01:38 | 1:01:42 | |
It doesn't work like that. | 1:01:42 | 1:01:44 | |
The sooner you come and sort this out, the better to... | 1:01:44 | 1:01:47 | |
Obviously, yes, yes, yes. | 1:01:47 | 1:01:49 | |
OK. We will see you next Thursday, then, yeah? | 1:01:49 | 1:01:52 | |
-Yes, madam. Yes, bye-bye. -Bye-bye. -Bye. | 1:01:52 | 1:01:55 | |
Isn't it? That's the world I live in, Molly. | 1:01:58 | 1:02:02 | |
I don't get the break that I want. | 1:02:02 | 1:02:05 | |
Cos the world is not a nice place. | 1:02:05 | 1:02:08 | |
-It doesn't forgive. -Well, it's just that you are... | 1:02:10 | 1:02:13 | |
-Doesn't forgive. -It doesn't really forgive. | 1:02:14 | 1:02:16 | |
It's just you started on your straight journey so late. | 1:02:19 | 1:02:22 | |
Yes, that's the problem. | 1:02:22 | 1:02:25 | |
The world is awash with money. | 1:02:27 | 1:02:30 | |
It's awash with fucking money but... | 1:02:30 | 1:02:34 | |
..people who need what they need to get by and be comfortable | 1:02:35 | 1:02:40 | |
can't get nothing, they get swindled out of it. | 1:02:40 | 1:02:44 | |
You must just put up with your lot, so to speak, | 1:02:44 | 1:02:49 | |
but the big guy, or big guys, | 1:02:49 | 1:02:53 | |
can get around it anyhow they can and get around it and it's OK. | 1:02:53 | 1:02:59 | |
And it's just total bollocks. | 1:02:59 | 1:03:03 | |
It does make someone like me who is of the other side of the track, | 1:03:03 | 1:03:07 | |
or who has been on the other side of the track, | 1:03:07 | 1:03:10 | |
say to yourself, "Fuck me, man, | 1:03:10 | 1:03:12 | |
"I just want to do criminality all the time." | 1:03:12 | 1:03:15 | |
Cos, you know, | 1:03:15 | 1:03:16 | |
if that's what you know to get yours | 1:03:16 | 1:03:19 | |
then you want to do it when you see these other shit. | 1:03:19 | 1:03:21 | |
But conscience, you know, you have a thing called conscience. | 1:03:24 | 1:03:29 | |
-Also you have a thing called prison. -Yes. | 1:03:29 | 1:03:32 | |
And these guys in front of you! | 1:03:35 | 1:03:37 | |
HE LAUGHS | 1:03:37 | 1:03:38 | |
After 15 months in prison, | 1:03:45 | 1:03:49 | |
Blacker has been released, and JJ and Maureen have come from Jamaica. | 1:03:49 | 1:03:54 | |
HE SHOUTS AND LAUGHS | 1:03:54 | 1:03:55 | |
-Comfortable now? -No, no! | 1:03:57 | 1:04:00 | |
Now we can do the interview. | 1:04:00 | 1:04:02 | |
This is, yeah... This is called child crutality. | 1:04:02 | 1:04:06 | |
-This is child crutality. -You can't do that, that's horrible! | 1:04:06 | 1:04:10 | |
-No! -That's horrible! | 1:04:10 | 1:04:12 | |
That is not nice! | 1:04:12 | 1:04:14 | |
Hang on to the rope already! Hang on to the rope... Aagh! | 1:04:14 | 1:04:17 | |
Oh, excuse me. | 1:04:17 | 1:04:19 | |
All right... | 1:04:19 | 1:04:21 | |
-Daddy loves you so much. -I can't get up, man! | 1:04:21 | 1:04:24 | |
How long since you two have been together fighting? | 1:04:24 | 1:04:26 | |
I've not beaten him up for 17, let me see, 12... | 1:04:26 | 1:04:31 | |
..19 months, I haven't been able to beat him up. | 1:04:31 | 1:04:35 | |
Blacker, what did you tell JJ? | 1:04:39 | 1:04:42 | |
I just sat him down | 1:04:42 | 1:04:43 | |
and I told him the whole "shangbangdiddlybangsking". | 1:04:43 | 1:04:47 | |
Everything. | 1:04:47 | 1:04:48 | |
And he was very receptive to it and he sat down and he listened intently | 1:04:49 | 1:04:56 | |
and he was like... Could see he was shocked, could see he was shocked | 1:04:56 | 1:05:00 | |
because nobody had told him anything, which was brilliant, | 1:05:00 | 1:05:03 | |
and I explained to him, I said, | 1:05:03 | 1:05:05 | |
"Listen, your family and your friends have done what I asked. | 1:05:05 | 1:05:08 | |
"So don't have anything against them, | 1:05:08 | 1:05:10 | |
"don't think anybody was keeping a secret from you, it was my request." | 1:05:10 | 1:05:14 | |
Tell me what you got. | 1:05:17 | 1:05:18 | |
-What, my average? -Yeah. | 1:05:18 | 1:05:20 | |
Well, when I did the actual exam it was easy to me | 1:05:24 | 1:05:28 | |
and when I got my results... | 1:05:28 | 1:05:29 | |
..I wasn't surprised. | 1:05:31 | 1:05:32 | |
Mummy wasn't surprised either | 1:05:32 | 1:05:34 | |
because we knew I was going to cut it. | 1:05:34 | 1:05:36 | |
Most of my grades were 95. | 1:05:36 | 1:05:38 | |
-Yeah. -Which you were one of the top ten. | 1:05:38 | 1:05:41 | |
No, the top six. | 1:05:41 | 1:05:42 | |
-He was in the top six. -Yeah. -Wow. | 1:05:42 | 1:05:45 | |
Top six, top of the class, ain't he? | 1:05:47 | 1:05:50 | |
-Yeah. -OK. | 1:05:50 | 1:05:52 | |
What was it like in there, Blacker? | 1:05:56 | 1:05:58 | |
That... It's crazy. It's rubbish. | 1:05:58 | 1:06:01 | |
What are they doing, they throw you behind the door and the judges, | 1:06:01 | 1:06:07 | |
the politicians, they don't care, you're behind the door, | 1:06:07 | 1:06:11 | |
that's it, another one off the road. | 1:06:11 | 1:06:13 | |
It's crazy. For the amount of black people that's in prison | 1:06:13 | 1:06:16 | |
in a country that's allegedly only got 5 million of us or 6 million, | 1:06:16 | 1:06:22 | |
whatever the amount, that total of us is terrible. | 1:06:22 | 1:06:26 | |
That means somebody's failing somewhere | 1:06:26 | 1:06:29 | |
so it's either coming from when you're a child at home, | 1:06:29 | 1:06:33 | |
your parents have failed you, | 1:06:33 | 1:06:35 | |
then the society has failed you in school | 1:06:35 | 1:06:37 | |
because as you're a young black boy, if you are militant, you're trouble. | 1:06:37 | 1:06:42 | |
And I'm not going to be bothered with trouble so we put you in that little naughty corner, | 1:06:42 | 1:06:46 | |
or send you out to the headmaster's office or something like that | 1:06:46 | 1:06:50 | |
and that's it. And then you grow up feeling left out, | 1:06:50 | 1:06:53 | |
you grow up feeling that you're not a part of what's going on, | 1:06:53 | 1:06:56 | |
so then when you get on the street | 1:06:56 | 1:06:58 | |
you're still not a part of what's going on so you become | 1:06:58 | 1:07:01 | |
what you would never have been if somebody had taken that five minutes | 1:07:01 | 1:07:05 | |
just to put you aside and give you a good talking-to. | 1:07:05 | 1:07:08 | |
So tell me what happened to you at school. | 1:07:09 | 1:07:12 | |
I took my 11 plus. | 1:07:12 | 1:07:13 | |
I got a very good mark but I was told to take the 11 plus again. | 1:07:13 | 1:07:17 | |
I just knew they didn't believe that I could just come to England | 1:07:17 | 1:07:22 | |
and be able to take that 11 plus. | 1:07:22 | 1:07:25 | |
I got good results and I went to grammar school in Penge. | 1:07:26 | 1:07:30 | |
It was only, like, four or five black boys in the school, yeah, | 1:07:30 | 1:07:34 | |
so Mr Jenkins used to pick me up | 1:07:34 | 1:07:37 | |
and drive me up the road, | 1:07:37 | 1:07:39 | |
far away from where the boys used to stand up and wait for you | 1:07:39 | 1:07:43 | |
cos they'd wait by the gate. So you jump over the back fence | 1:07:43 | 1:07:47 | |
and make a run for it, | 1:07:47 | 1:07:48 | |
you see the bus coming, you know the bus is coming, | 1:07:48 | 1:07:51 | |
you know you can run so you'd, like, wait until they thought you couldn't get the bus | 1:07:51 | 1:07:55 | |
and you make a run. Boom. | 1:07:55 | 1:07:57 | |
And just run and jump the bus, | 1:07:57 | 1:07:59 | |
and it was like a cat-and-mouse thing with me and them for years, | 1:07:59 | 1:08:03 | |
so it was a godsend when I had to move school. | 1:08:03 | 1:08:07 | |
Did your parents know what was happening? | 1:08:08 | 1:08:11 | |
Mum never knew because | 1:08:11 | 1:08:12 | |
you couldn't tell her, I say I get beat up, | 1:08:12 | 1:08:15 | |
you couldn't tell her that people beat you up, yeah? | 1:08:15 | 1:08:18 | |
And you can't tell her | 1:08:18 | 1:08:20 | |
that you're running from people | 1:08:20 | 1:08:22 | |
because she never bring us come England to be scared of anybody, | 1:08:22 | 1:08:25 | |
she bring us come England for want of a better life. | 1:08:25 | 1:08:28 | |
My daughter's getting married. | 1:08:34 | 1:08:35 | |
So I'm supposed to... I signed the paper two nights ago, | 1:08:35 | 1:08:40 | |
the man came and gave me a paper to sign to say that | 1:08:40 | 1:08:44 | |
it's one second before midnight. | 1:08:44 | 1:08:46 | |
Blacker's daughter Corinne had changed her wedding plans | 1:08:46 | 1:08:50 | |
so her father could give her away, but he's out on tag. | 1:08:50 | 1:08:54 | |
Could you tell that to my wife? | 1:08:54 | 1:08:55 | |
I didn't get a letter from Corinne or anything like that | 1:08:55 | 1:08:58 | |
so she's worried that I'm making it up. Thank you. | 1:08:58 | 1:09:02 | |
Hello, good evening. | 1:09:04 | 1:09:05 | |
-OK. -What's it look like? | 1:09:08 | 1:09:11 | |
-It's a little thing. -Oh, it's tiny. | 1:09:12 | 1:09:14 | |
-I see. -See it? | 1:09:17 | 1:09:19 | |
Thank you very much. | 1:09:19 | 1:09:21 | |
OK, all the best. Thank you, bye-bye. | 1:09:21 | 1:09:23 | |
Here we go, you got permission. | 1:09:28 | 1:09:30 | |
-See? -Make sure you get your backside in the house long before 12 o'clock, | 1:09:30 | 1:09:34 | |
otherwise I'm going to beat you. | 1:09:34 | 1:09:36 | |
I'm so happy! | 1:09:36 | 1:09:38 | |
Thank you for your gifts, yeah, thank you very much for your gifts. | 1:09:52 | 1:09:56 | |
Yeah, see you. | 1:09:56 | 1:09:57 | |
-Oh. -Come on, Daddy. -Oh, baby. | 1:09:57 | 1:10:00 | |
Let me hold you. | 1:10:00 | 1:10:01 | |
Oh, my word. | 1:10:04 | 1:10:06 | |
Nice. I want your dress. | 1:10:07 | 1:10:09 | |
-Lovely day as well. -But you knew you were going to get this day. | 1:10:09 | 1:10:11 | |
Listen, remember we were going to Jamaica? Jamaica came to us. | 1:10:11 | 1:10:14 | |
Remember I said that to you, because you've changed it. | 1:10:14 | 1:10:17 | |
-You remember what I said? -Yeah. | 1:10:17 | 1:10:19 | |
Cos you've changed it, you're going to get the best day of the year. | 1:10:19 | 1:10:22 | |
MUSIC: Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran | 1:10:24 | 1:10:27 | |
# Darling, I will be loving you till we're 70... # | 1:10:27 | 1:10:31 | |
Wicked, wicked! | 1:10:36 | 1:10:38 | |
# And, baby, my heart could still fall as hard at 23 | 1:10:38 | 1:10:43 | |
# And I'm thinking 'bout how | 1:10:46 | 1:10:48 | |
# People fall in love in mysterious ways | 1:10:48 | 1:10:54 | |
# Maybe just the touch of a hand... # | 1:10:54 | 1:10:59 | |
You all right? | 1:11:02 | 1:11:04 | |
You all right, bruv? Thank you. | 1:11:04 | 1:11:06 | |
-You look beautiful. -Congratulations. -Wonderful, super. | 1:11:06 | 1:11:09 | |
Thank you, thanks. | 1:11:11 | 1:11:13 | |
-Beautiful. -Thank you. -It was really nice, though, you know? | 1:11:13 | 1:11:16 | |
-Was it? -Yeah, yeah, yeah. | 1:11:16 | 1:11:17 | |
-It just went by so quick. -Yeah, yeah. -Really quick. | 1:11:17 | 1:11:20 | |
And so is the rest of the day. | 1:11:20 | 1:11:21 | |
I'm so glad that you're here to see. | 1:11:21 | 1:11:23 | |
Yeah, man, what do you mean? This is, like, my world. | 1:11:23 | 1:11:26 | |
If I wasn't here I would be so upset. | 1:11:26 | 1:11:28 | |
I don't think... I would have been mad today. | 1:11:28 | 1:11:30 | |
-Yeah. -I think I would have been crazy. Yeah. | 1:11:30 | 1:11:33 | |
And I've always wanted | 1:11:36 | 1:11:38 | |
to walk one of my children down the aisle, | 1:11:38 | 1:11:41 | |
one of my daughters, cos I have about six of them, right? | 1:11:41 | 1:11:44 | |
And so, Corinne, | 1:11:44 | 1:11:47 | |
I thank you so much for today. | 1:11:47 | 1:11:50 | |
After all the sadness and all the sad things that we go through, | 1:11:50 | 1:11:55 | |
you know, today is a day with bare joy, bare love, | 1:11:55 | 1:11:59 | |
bare happiness, bare smiling. | 1:11:59 | 1:12:02 | |
And, Dwayne, respect, my brother. | 1:12:02 | 1:12:05 | |
I'm glad to say you turned my daughter into a wife, yeah? | 1:12:05 | 1:12:08 | |
LAUGHTER | 1:12:08 | 1:12:10 | |
Yeah, give me a kiss, babes, I need it. | 1:12:10 | 1:12:13 | |
-Thanks, Dad. -Blessed. | 1:12:13 | 1:12:15 | |
APPLAUSE | 1:12:15 | 1:12:16 | |
MUSIC PLAYS | 1:12:23 | 1:12:25 | |
Where's the best man? Where's the best man? | 1:12:25 | 1:12:27 | |
Just as the party's getting started, Blacker has to leave. | 1:12:40 | 1:12:44 | |
He has to be home in time for his curfew. | 1:12:45 | 1:12:48 | |
-Bye, stranger! -See you, baby. -You all right? See you soon. | 1:12:58 | 1:13:01 | |
Thanks for a nice day, Miss Molly. | 1:13:08 | 1:13:10 | |
-Thank you. -I know I got up your nose two times for the day. | 1:13:10 | 1:13:14 | |
Bye! | 1:13:17 | 1:13:18 | |
Tomorrow, Maureen and JJ are going home to Jamaica. | 1:13:23 | 1:13:26 | |
And in six weeks, as soon as his tag is off, | 1:13:27 | 1:13:31 | |
Blacker will be free to follow. | 1:13:31 | 1:13:33 | |
# I do my own whatsit | 1:13:34 | 1:13:36 | |
# You know what a whatsit? | 1:13:36 | 1:13:39 | |
# Some people don't know what a whatsit, they can't do a whatsit. # | 1:13:39 | 1:13:43 | |
Hoover thieved my locks. | 1:13:45 | 1:13:47 | |
Hoover tried to thieve my locks. | 1:13:51 | 1:13:53 | |
# ..judgment, murderer! | 1:13:57 | 1:13:59 | |
# Blood is on your shoulder. # | 1:13:59 | 1:14:01 | |
I'm listening to some Buju Banton. | 1:14:01 | 1:14:03 | |
Blacker's shop was leased to someone else while he was away. | 1:14:06 | 1:14:09 | |
And it's now a dress shop. | 1:14:09 | 1:14:11 | |
The whole of Brixton is changing as well as Blacker's life. | 1:14:13 | 1:14:16 | |
On the house. | 1:14:18 | 1:14:20 | |
We are what? We're opening soon, on the house. | 1:14:20 | 1:14:24 | |
So what is that they're opening there? | 1:14:24 | 1:14:26 | |
It's an estate agent. | 1:14:26 | 1:14:28 | |
Oh, bloody hell, yes. | 1:14:28 | 1:14:31 | |
That's about right, innit? | 1:14:31 | 1:14:33 | |
Another one here. | 1:14:35 | 1:14:36 | |
There's another one there. | 1:14:37 | 1:14:39 | |
That's why they wanted to get me out, you see - "We get Blacker out, | 1:14:40 | 1:14:43 | |
"we can do what we want. | 1:14:43 | 1:14:44 | |
"When Blacker's here, everyone's coming to Brixton to see Blacker, | 1:14:44 | 1:14:48 | |
"we can't afford to do anything while he's here. | 1:14:48 | 1:14:51 | |
"Get that bugger out. Have to get him out of Brixton, mate." | 1:14:51 | 1:14:55 | |
Who's that? The great silver wonder? | 1:14:55 | 1:14:57 | |
Yeah! | 1:14:57 | 1:14:59 | |
-It's the great silvey. -Silver wonder in person. | 1:15:00 | 1:15:02 | |
Mr Martin. | 1:15:02 | 1:15:04 | |
-Rasta. -You good? -Yeah, man. | 1:15:04 | 1:15:06 | |
-Brethren! -Who's that? My sister. | 1:15:06 | 1:15:09 | |
I'm good, I'm good, I'm good. | 1:15:09 | 1:15:12 | |
-Irie? -Yeah, I do. | 1:15:12 | 1:15:14 | |
Blacker. | 1:15:15 | 1:15:16 | |
-Oh, Lorna. This is my cousin Lorna from America. -Greetings. | 1:15:16 | 1:15:19 | |
-Hello, Lorna from America. -And this is my sister Joanne. | 1:15:19 | 1:15:21 | |
-Hi, Joanne. -This is Blacker Dread. | 1:15:21 | 1:15:23 | |
-Greetings. -Blacker Dread is one of the characters of Brixton. Trust me. | 1:15:23 | 1:15:27 | |
-I remember you. -Do you? | 1:15:27 | 1:15:28 | |
You were so upset the shop was shutting. | 1:15:28 | 1:15:30 | |
I was. And I was going to point out his shop to you and show you. | 1:15:30 | 1:15:34 | |
This is one of our famous Brixton landmarks. | 1:15:34 | 1:15:37 | |
-OK. -And then I see him. That's good. -Yeah, you see. | 1:15:37 | 1:15:40 | |
I'm not making what happened to my mum and dad happen to me. | 1:15:47 | 1:15:50 | |
I'm sure when they left Jamaica it wasn't forever... | 1:15:50 | 1:15:53 | |
Has England been good to you? | 1:16:09 | 1:16:11 | |
No, sir. | 1:16:11 | 1:16:13 | |
No? | 1:16:13 | 1:16:14 | |
England good to me in terms of the education in learning, life. | 1:16:14 | 1:16:19 | |
I can't film you against the window, cos you're so dark, | 1:16:19 | 1:16:21 | |
you're going to have to sit down. I'm so sorry! | 1:16:21 | 1:16:24 | |
-But you go silhouetted. -You're being racist now, | 1:16:26 | 1:16:28 | |
you're being racist now, Molly, man. | 1:16:28 | 1:16:30 | |
It's not, it's about video exposure. | 1:16:30 | 1:16:32 | |
OK. So I'm going to sit down here all day. | 1:16:32 | 1:16:34 | |
What did you mean, learning about life? | 1:16:34 | 1:16:36 | |
I mean there were so many things happening and your brain, | 1:16:36 | 1:16:39 | |
as a little youth, you don't even think. | 1:16:39 | 1:16:41 | |
Describe the sort of things. | 1:16:41 | 1:16:43 | |
When I'm working at Crystal Palace | 1:16:43 | 1:16:45 | |
and all these big footballers used to be there | 1:16:45 | 1:16:47 | |
and you can't believe these are the guys you're seeing | 1:16:47 | 1:16:50 | |
on your black-and-white TV. | 1:16:50 | 1:16:52 | |
Match Of The Day. And these are the same guys you're walking past, | 1:16:52 | 1:16:55 | |
I was allowed to walk through the place because I was staff. | 1:16:55 | 1:17:00 | |
I used to sell programmes walking around the pitch. | 1:17:00 | 1:17:02 | |
They used to curse me, "Oi, nigger, come sell me a programme." | 1:17:02 | 1:17:06 | |
"Hey, you little black cunt, come here." Things like that. | 1:17:06 | 1:17:10 | |
I used to get abused like nobody's business, but I love football | 1:17:10 | 1:17:14 | |
so I didn't care about the abuse, because I'm getting abused when I'm walking on the road, | 1:17:14 | 1:17:18 | |
I'm getting abuse when I'm on the bus, I'm getting abused when I'm going shopping, | 1:17:18 | 1:17:22 | |
I'm getting abuse when I go to school, | 1:17:22 | 1:17:23 | |
so if I get abused at football matches it's just the next abuse. | 1:17:23 | 1:17:26 | |
It doesn't really matter to me. | 1:17:26 | 1:17:28 | |
What do you mean by abuse - what kind of things? | 1:17:28 | 1:17:30 | |
I mean racial abuse, when people are cursing you and telling you to | 1:17:30 | 1:17:34 | |
go back on the jam jar, you little gollywog, you know what I mean? | 1:17:34 | 1:17:37 | |
"Black bastard" and... | 1:17:37 | 1:17:39 | |
What, because they say that it's better? | 1:17:45 | 1:17:48 | |
You got the people that believe that it's better, let's just be real. | 1:17:48 | 1:17:52 | |
Forget all that hype about diversity - diversity is a word. | 1:17:52 | 1:17:56 | |
It's a word, it doesn't walk, it doesn't live, it doesn't breathe, | 1:17:56 | 1:18:00 | |
it's not like a piece of grass or a tree leaf that comes from the ground | 1:18:00 | 1:18:04 | |
that's grown. It's a word that people, all right... | 1:18:04 | 1:18:07 | |
A black child... | 1:18:09 | 1:18:10 | |
..a child that's born in a mixed relationship, yeah? | 1:18:12 | 1:18:16 | |
We used to call them half caste, now you can't call them half caste, | 1:18:16 | 1:18:20 | |
why not? Cos it's not politically correct. | 1:18:20 | 1:18:24 | |
So all these new words, | 1:18:24 | 1:18:26 | |
all they've done is swept it under the carpet, | 1:18:26 | 1:18:30 | |
so when you go under the carpet, | 1:18:30 | 1:18:31 | |
all the dust and the mites and everything is living under there | 1:18:31 | 1:18:35 | |
now, there's a world under that carpet that you're not seeing. | 1:18:35 | 1:18:38 | |
You don't even know that it's there but it's there and when anything | 1:18:38 | 1:18:42 | |
happens, you're going to see who is who, yeah? | 1:18:42 | 1:18:45 | |
You will see who is who. | 1:18:45 | 1:18:47 | |
I ain't no racist person, you know? | 1:18:47 | 1:18:49 | |
But I'm on the side of reality, yeah? | 1:18:49 | 1:18:51 | |
And what I like, when I go to Jamaica, black Prime Minister, | 1:18:51 | 1:18:56 | |
black finance minister, black police, black people, | 1:18:56 | 1:19:02 | |
and that's what I see. When I was a kid in Jamaica, you know, | 1:19:02 | 1:19:05 | |
I used to see white people and we used to say, "Look at the white man there," | 1:19:05 | 1:19:10 | |
but we never, ever thought of hating that white person. | 1:19:10 | 1:19:14 | |
It was... | 1:19:14 | 1:19:15 | |
You love them, you bring them in because they look so different, | 1:19:15 | 1:19:19 | |
so you just want to be around them to see what is this person, | 1:19:19 | 1:19:22 | |
why is this person's skin different? Why is their hair different? | 1:19:22 | 1:19:25 | |
Why do they talk like that? Why do they do the things they do? | 1:19:25 | 1:19:28 | |
When you come to England, it's a complete different thing. | 1:19:28 | 1:19:31 | |
You land in their country, they don't want you here! | 1:19:31 | 1:19:34 | |
Oi! | 1:19:40 | 1:19:41 | |
Hello! | 1:19:43 | 1:19:44 | |
Mr Man! | 1:19:46 | 1:19:47 | |
What are we going to do? | 1:19:48 | 1:19:50 | |
-We're going over to north-west London. -Yes, I know that much. | 1:19:50 | 1:19:53 | |
And we're going to a gathering. | 1:19:53 | 1:19:56 | |
-Yes? -And it starts at two, finishes at four | 1:19:56 | 1:19:59 | |
and it's just a solidarity thing to do with the family of... | 1:19:59 | 1:20:03 | |
-Sylvia's family? -Yes. | 1:20:03 | 1:20:04 | |
-NW10. -Do you like my posh sat nav? | 1:20:06 | 1:20:09 | |
-Posh, isn't it? -Cos you have one in the car ain't working | 1:20:09 | 1:20:12 | |
cos there's no point in putting in crap sat nav like that, | 1:20:12 | 1:20:15 | |
-those days are over. -Yeah, mate. | 1:20:15 | 1:20:18 | |
Turn right, A23 Brixton Road... | 1:20:18 | 1:20:21 | |
I know what I'm doing, I'm not exactly going to follow this. | 1:20:21 | 1:20:24 | |
-I won't be following him. -OK. | 1:20:24 | 1:20:26 | |
Turn left, then sharp right. | 1:20:28 | 1:20:31 | |
Shut up, man, we know where we're going. | 1:20:31 | 1:20:33 | |
Sharp right means your immediate bloody right, | 1:20:33 | 1:20:36 | |
that's what a sharp right means. | 1:20:36 | 1:20:37 | |
Yeah, and it also means driving with due care and attention. | 1:20:37 | 1:20:40 | |
No, no, no! | 1:20:40 | 1:20:41 | |
Actually, you can use this lane - what am I doing? | 1:20:41 | 1:20:43 | |
-You sure? -Yes, yes! | 1:20:43 | 1:20:45 | |
-There's no-one else there. -No, you're allowed to use the lane. | 1:20:45 | 1:20:48 | |
I remember the other day. | 1:20:48 | 1:20:50 | |
I came down here and look, see, look. | 1:20:50 | 1:20:52 | |
If I'm turning left I can use this lane. | 1:20:52 | 1:20:54 | |
Turn left, A3213 Drummond Gate, | 1:20:54 | 1:20:58 | |
then take the second right. | 1:20:58 | 1:21:01 | |
REGGAE MUSIC PLAYS | 1:21:01 | 1:21:05 | |
-THEY SING ALONG: -# ..to the edge of the boom, hey! # | 1:21:10 | 1:21:13 | |
Turn left, Doyle Gardens, then you've reached your destination. | 1:21:13 | 1:21:17 | |
Yeah, left. | 1:21:19 | 1:21:21 | |
OK, I can see crowds already. | 1:21:24 | 1:21:26 | |
Where can I park? | 1:21:30 | 1:21:31 | |
Can I park on the corner? | 1:21:32 | 1:21:34 | |
Yeah, we can park on the corner. | 1:21:34 | 1:21:35 | |
We're going to park on the bloody corner. | 1:21:35 | 1:21:37 | |
So this is the school? | 1:21:42 | 1:21:44 | |
Yeah, must be there, innit? | 1:21:44 | 1:21:45 | |
Fucking hell. | 1:21:47 | 1:21:49 | |
The gathering we've come to is a vigil. | 1:21:51 | 1:21:53 | |
The child of a friend of Blacker's | 1:21:53 | 1:21:56 | |
was murdered outside his school last week by another boy. | 1:21:56 | 1:22:00 | |
..killing a child, and that is not OK on our streets, in our community, | 1:22:00 | 1:22:05 | |
that is not OK! | 1:22:05 | 1:22:07 | |
Yep, that's right. | 1:22:07 | 1:22:09 | |
Me and Quamari been brethrens for so very long | 1:22:09 | 1:22:12 | |
and I was fortunate enough to talk to him on the day that he died. | 1:22:12 | 1:22:18 | |
Quamari was one of the realest people I ever met | 1:22:18 | 1:22:23 | |
and it just saddens me, | 1:22:23 | 1:22:24 | |
when I did find out the news, my body went numb. | 1:22:24 | 1:22:28 | |
-Yeah. -I told my mum, | 1:22:28 | 1:22:31 | |
I was Instagram | 1:22:31 | 1:22:32 | |
and had to find out that one of my good, good friends is passed. | 1:22:32 | 1:22:36 | |
And I couldn't even walk down the stairs, | 1:22:36 | 1:22:39 | |
I'm walking on the street and I'm seeing someone and I'm thinking | 1:22:39 | 1:22:43 | |
it's Quamari and I know that I can't even call his number | 1:22:43 | 1:22:46 | |
because the phone won't ring or something like that. | 1:22:46 | 1:22:49 | |
And it really saddens me. | 1:22:49 | 1:22:51 | |
I know I don't shed no tears yet, but this really affects me. | 1:22:51 | 1:22:55 | |
And I just want, as black people, | 1:22:55 | 1:22:57 | |
cos I am black and that's all I know, | 1:22:57 | 1:23:00 | |
and I want us all to be together. | 1:23:00 | 1:23:02 | |
How come every other single culture can be together but we can't? | 1:23:02 | 1:23:06 | |
Talk the thing! Talk the thing! | 1:23:06 | 1:23:08 | |
-Yes, talk the things. -Black people are always fighting over nothing. | 1:23:08 | 1:23:13 | |
As a black youth myself, I think that... | 1:23:13 | 1:23:15 | |
..us black boys especially, we don't value our other people. | 1:23:17 | 1:23:25 | |
But we'd rather go and fight people, go and stab and shoot people, | 1:23:27 | 1:23:31 | |
-and it's just for what? -Talk it, son. | 1:23:31 | 1:23:35 | |
Because you're going to go and stab and shoot people and end up in prison. | 1:23:35 | 1:23:39 | |
There's no use in prison, you can't do nothing in prison. | 1:23:39 | 1:23:43 | |
We have to really realise that a lot of us black people, | 1:23:43 | 1:23:46 | |
we don't know the value of this colour. | 1:23:46 | 1:23:48 | |
We want to walk and go and lighten our skin to go and get a job. | 1:23:48 | 1:23:53 | |
APPLAUSE | 1:23:53 | 1:23:55 | |
So we need to understand, we've got something important and valuable. | 1:23:55 | 1:24:00 | |
That's all I have to say, but we all love Quamari | 1:24:00 | 1:24:03 | |
and I'm happy on behalf of him that we've all come out. | 1:24:03 | 1:24:07 | |
Yes! | 1:24:07 | 1:24:08 | |
# Old pirates, yes, they rob I | 1:24:13 | 1:24:17 | |
# Sold I to the merchant ships | 1:24:17 | 1:24:21 | |
# Minutes after they took I | 1:24:22 | 1:24:26 | |
# From the bottomless pit | 1:24:26 | 1:24:29 | |
# But my hand was made strong | 1:24:29 | 1:24:35 | |
# By the hand of the Almighty | 1:24:35 | 1:24:39 | |
# We forward in this generation | 1:24:39 | 1:24:44 | |
# Triumphantly | 1:24:44 | 1:24:48 | |
# Won't you help to sing these songs of freedom? | 1:24:48 | 1:24:56 | |
# It's all I ever have | 1:24:56 | 1:25:00 | |
# Redemption songs | 1:25:00 | 1:25:04 | |
# Redemption songs. # | 1:25:04 | 1:25:08 | |
Beautiful flowers you got there. | 1:25:14 | 1:25:16 | |
Yeah, my sister bought them for me. She's always buying me flowers, | 1:25:16 | 1:25:19 | |
cos she knows I love flowers. | 1:25:19 | 1:25:21 | |
-Gene. -Really? | 1:25:21 | 1:25:23 | |
Yeah, she's a darling, she's always buying me flowers. | 1:25:23 | 1:25:26 | |
Today would have been Solomon's birthday. | 1:25:26 | 1:25:29 | |
They're going to open up now and go... | 1:25:29 | 1:25:32 | |
I keep telling you, you're killing them. | 1:25:36 | 1:25:38 | |
You need to stop putting them in this. | 1:25:38 | 1:25:40 | |
That's why I need a couple of those, I can't help it, | 1:25:40 | 1:25:42 | |
I like to see the things up, babes. | 1:25:42 | 1:25:44 | |
-Right? -But every time he puts them in there I take them out, | 1:25:44 | 1:25:46 | |
you know, because they're just going to die. | 1:25:46 | 1:25:49 | |
Which one's he putting in? | 1:25:49 | 1:25:50 | |
No, what he does, he puts them just in the ground | 1:25:50 | 1:25:52 | |
and then what happens is that they all just die after a day | 1:25:52 | 1:25:55 | |
-and they need water. -Blacker just sticks those? | 1:25:55 | 1:25:57 | |
He just, yes, he just sticks them in the ground. | 1:25:57 | 1:25:59 | |
-Like that. -It looks like it belongs there. | 1:25:59 | 1:26:01 | |
But it's going to die. | 1:26:01 | 1:26:03 | |
-Cos it can't... -Yeah, but the point is that when I come, | 1:26:03 | 1:26:05 | |
I like to see the beauty of the flowers, | 1:26:05 | 1:26:08 | |
-that's why I don't bother with the plant. -And we want longevity. | 1:26:08 | 1:26:10 | |
Come here, sweetheart. | 1:26:12 | 1:26:14 | |
Solomon's older sister Serita arrives. | 1:26:14 | 1:26:17 | |
You're taking liberties, you know? | 1:26:17 | 1:26:18 | |
Followed closely by one of Blacker's sisters, Kim. | 1:26:18 | 1:26:22 | |
-We've been waiting! -Hi, people. | 1:26:26 | 1:26:29 | |
Hi, people. | 1:26:29 | 1:26:30 | |
Bit by bit, the whole family start to arrive | 1:26:30 | 1:26:33 | |
because it's also the anniversary of Blacker's mother's death. | 1:26:33 | 1:26:37 | |
Look, we've got them here! | 1:26:37 | 1:26:39 | |
Come, we brought all our knives, we got rid of our knives. | 1:26:39 | 1:26:43 | |
I have not seen you since the West was won. | 1:26:44 | 1:26:47 | |
-Since the West was won. -I haven't seen you since the West was won. | 1:26:47 | 1:26:51 | |
-This is for Mummy. -That music? | 1:26:54 | 1:26:57 | |
Yeah, that music is for her, it's all her church songs. | 1:26:57 | 1:27:00 | |
And she likes it. | 1:27:00 | 1:27:02 | |
We've been coming up here from we was little children for my dad | 1:27:02 | 1:27:05 | |
over 30 years. And it's just a place to, like, remember | 1:27:05 | 1:27:09 | |
and just gather, and my mum likes her flowers and we can put | 1:27:09 | 1:27:12 | |
a really wicked display on for her. You know what I mean? | 1:27:12 | 1:27:16 | |
And we're all in one, everyone... | 1:27:16 | 1:27:19 | |
You know what I mean? We've all got the same feelings. | 1:27:19 | 1:27:21 | |
Everybody went to Mum for everything and anything. | 1:27:24 | 1:27:28 | |
She was like the backbone. | 1:27:31 | 1:27:32 | |
People call their beloved ones rock but she was the backbone, literally. | 1:27:33 | 1:27:38 | |
It was Blacker's mother who brought him here. | 1:27:41 | 1:27:44 | |
She was the reason he never went home to Jamaica. | 1:27:44 | 1:27:47 | |
Now that she's gone, he's free to go. | 1:27:50 | 1:27:53 | |
It means leaving behind his father, mother, and son at the cemetery, | 1:27:53 | 1:27:57 | |
and the rest of his family. | 1:27:57 | 1:27:59 | |
-He's coming, look, he just... -Driver! | 1:28:02 | 1:28:04 | |
One-stop! Put on the brakes! | 1:28:04 | 1:28:07 | |
Look, they sent a helicopter for us. | 1:28:07 | 1:28:09 | |
But being with Blacker has made me understand why Britain has | 1:28:09 | 1:28:13 | |
never really felt like his home. | 1:28:13 | 1:28:15 | |
What? The snow is falling, | 1:28:21 | 1:28:23 | |
England snow, you see this? | 1:28:23 | 1:28:25 | |
A snow scraper off a window, you know that? | 1:28:25 | 1:28:28 | |
-What's going on? -God bless. | 1:28:28 | 1:28:31 | |
MUSIC: Praise Him by Sanchez | 1:28:32 | 1:28:36 | |
Long time since I seen snow like this. | 1:28:45 | 1:28:48 | |
# Hey! Hey! It cold! | 1:28:51 | 1:28:54 | |
# England pretty but it cold, I said England's pretty but it cold | 1:28:54 | 1:28:58 | |
# I want to go to Jamaica, where the sun shines bright | 1:28:58 | 1:29:01 | |
# England's pretty but it's cold. # | 1:29:01 | 1:29:03 | |
-# Hallelujah -Praise his name | 1:29:03 | 1:29:06 | |
-# Hallelujah -Highest praise | 1:29:06 | 1:29:09 | |
-# Hallelujah -Every night and day | 1:29:09 | 1:29:12 | |
# Hallelujah | 1:29:12 | 1:29:15 | |
# Oh, when I am down and low | 1:29:17 | 1:29:20 | |
# And the heathen, dem a throw dem glow... # | 1:29:20 | 1:29:23 |