AKALA HAS received praise from viewers after the rapper and writer appeared on Good Morning Britain on Monday (Mar 18).
Speaking to GMB hosts Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid about the rising rates of knife crime in the UK, Akala called out the racial double standards when crimes are often reported.
“There are several regions of the country – lets just look at the facts – that have higher murder rates than London does. Clearly throughout human history black people have not had anything sort of resembling a monopoly on violence,” said the 35 year old.
“Over the years some of the most horrendous knife attacks some of the victims and the perpetrators have been white and they’ve not been from London.”
To further prove his point, the musician, named a number of examples where victims and perpetrators were white – including a five-year-old who was stabbed to death by their mother. He added: “When both the perpetrator and the victim are white, race suddenly becomes unimportant.”
Akala then went on to address Morgan and said: “You will never be called upon to explain that not all white middle aged men are paedophiles, despite the fact that hundreds maybe thousands of them are convicted of sex offences every year. Because it’s evident that not all middle aged white men are paedophiles.” Morgan replied: “That’s a fair point.”
The conversation then went on to discuss possible solutions to youth violence, with Morgan asking Akala how he thinks it can be stopped.
He said: “Coming into family’s lives and young people’s lives and diverting them away from violence as young as possible. I think mandatory self defense in schools could be a solution. Not because you’d teach anyone to face down people carrying knives. ‘However, when you practice self defense it gives you a level of self confidence.”
He added: “I think support for schools and community groups that already exist and we talk about but not to. I also think send advice to schools to reduce expulsions.’ Concluding on this thoughts. There are a whole more solutions instead of telling young people, “hey now, put down your knives.”
Following his appearance on the ITV morning show, many took to social media to praise the star.
Capital Xtra DJ Yinka Bokinni tweeted: “I think this is a perfect example of when someone SHOULD be on telly talking, Akala knows what he is saying and Piers is *dare I say it* HAVING A CONVERSATION,” while another social media user wrote: “kala is the first person on @GMB in recent weeks to talk any sense about knife crimes!! Refreshing to hear an intelligent viewpoint rather than some jumped up middle class politician who has no idea what it’s like to grow up in those areas.”
Watch a clip from the show below:
@akalamusic [2] debates knife crime on @GMB [3] with @piersmorgan [4] - the debate many have been awaiting.
What are your thoughts on the comments?#Trending [5] #Akala [6] #PiersMorgan [7] pic.twitter.com/dbDlPomZUE [8]— MCTV (@MoChunksTV) March 18, 2019 [9]
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