London
The startled reaction to a string of youth homicides in south London suggests that Great Britain may be edging into a national debate about the deepest causes of social breakdown. That’s the good news. The debate, after all, is long overdue. The bad news is that, based on the BBC’s coverage of this story, it’s anybody’s guess which voices will shape the outcome of this national soul-searching.
The facts are gruesome enough. Three teenagers were shot dead in separate spasms of violence over a two-week period: Michael Dosunmu, 15, in his bedroom in Peckham; James Andre Smartt-Ford, 16, at an ice rink in Streatham; and Billy Cox, 15, in his home in Clapham. The last victim, shot in the chest, was found bleeding to death by his 12-year-old sister. At a church service for Billy over the weekend, Rev. Sue Peake lamented “the hideous pressure on youngsters growing up in our inner cities.”
