How can young people stand up to excessive police use of stop and search?
For anyone who bothered to listen to young people involved in the 2011 London riots, the police’s use of stop and search was one of the biggest causes of the anger that boiled over and left the city in flames.
Stop and search (or stop and frisk, as it’s known in the US) continues to be one of the most controversial police tactics, largely because ethnic minorities are disproportionately targeted. In London, figures have decreased after huge public pressure but black people are still 12 times more likely to be targeted than whites.
“Stop and search is not just the invasion into young people’s lives and privacy, but also the invasion into our psyche” says Jay Spinks, a youth member of the stop and search campaign group StopWatch. “As a result of being stopped and searched so much, the trauma left behind always has me worrying when I see police cars, always having to prepare a reason for being in the location I’m in because not having an answer ready could lead to more questions and allegations”
Activism group Release have released the Y Stop film as part of a wider campaign which aims to teach young people how to exercise their rights and hold police to account. It’s shot by Fully Focused Productions, a youth-led media organisation who made Riot from Wrong, the multi award-winning documentary about the 2011 riots.
Find out more about Release’s Y Stop campaign and watch the second part of the video here.
You might like
In the pit at one of the UK’s last stock car & banger speedways
Stock Car Racing Isn’t Dead — Photographer Liam McCarthy spent time in and around the Arlington Raceway’s circuit, capturing the diehard community that keeps the sport alive.
Written by: Isaac Muk
Tender portraits of women serving life sentences in America
Looking Inside — While working as a public defender attorney in New York State, Sara Bennett found dilapidated prisons and forgotten people. Her new photobook harnesses the power of images and shines a humanising light on those imprisoned for serious crimes and their reintegration into society, while asking questions of the USA’s incarceration system.
Written by: Miss Rosen
Activists replace Union Jacks with ‘Tax The Rich’ flags in Farage’s Clacton
Take Back Power — It comes after the Reform UK leader resigned as an MP and triggered a by-election in the constituency, following scrutiny over a £5 million donation that he had not declared.
Written by: Ella Glossop
Tish Murtha’s searing documentation of broken Britain
Vandalism on a Grand Scale — Capturing youth unemployment and poverty in north-east England during the ’80s, the photographer never lived to see her work published. A new photobook by British Culture Archive brings her eye-opening work to light.
Written by: Miss Rosen
Ra’ed Khan and the tireless work of Road to Freedom
Hurriyah — Having been providing frontline aid and support to refugees for over a decade, a new book featuring poetry by Omar Mooro traces the story of the NGO. In this chapter extract, founder and music executive Ra’ed Khan explains its origins.
Written by: Isaac Muk
‘Baking Street’: Activists rename Tube stations in heatwave protest
‘Heatwave, sponsored by Shell’ — The protest comes as the UK recorded the hottest day in June ever recorded at 36.7C.
Written by: Ella Glossop
