Talk:Handsworth race riots

Can anyone substantiate the "dozens of shooting fatalities" claim? Andy Mabbett 07:39, 4 August 2005 (UTC)


 * This is after a brief specific search on Google for Handsworth, Birmingham, I don't think I wish to delve further into Handsworth's gruesome death toll, needless to say there are many more victims by the looks of things. I can personally remember when two police officers who were shot in a parked car in Handsworth, one man died. More disturbing seems to be the number of people who originate from Handsworth and who have used guns elsewhere.


 * although in 2002 it was strangely reported as the safest place to live in west midlans


 * prisontalk?


 * 20-year-old was shot three times in an execution-style killing.


 * Corey Wayne Allen, who was shot with his own gun in Handsworth in 2000


 * 1996, Burger Boy Jason Wharton was shot dead


 * Luton Crawford shot dead 2002


 * Three gunshot victims a week Aston, Winson Green, Newtown and Handsworth


 * A man was shot in the head in an attack in Handsworth, Birmingham.


 * A murder inquiry has been launched after a man was shot during an evening at a Birmingham community centre


 * A man was blasted in the leg by gun wielding robbers who forced him to hand over his mobile phone. The attack bears striking similarities to a recent armed robbery in Handsworth, but it was not yet clear if the cases were linked.


 * two guards, one a young woman, were kidnapped during an armed hijack outside a super-market in Handsworth.


 * An innocent householder was shot during a gun battle.


 * A post mortem examination carried out yesterday on 24-year-old Elijah Fagan revealed he died from a single gunshot, fired from a 9mm pistol, to the abdomen.


 * In 1997 several high ranking members if the Johnson Crew were jailed at Leicester Crown Court after DJ Jason Wharton was shot dead in his car in Handsworth


 * an array of guns that have been recovered by police as part of Operation Ventara - a crack-down on gangster crime.


 * A Birmingham man said to be a danger to the community has been jailed for life for shooting at a stranger with a ball-bearing firing gun.


 * Not all the incidents are happening in Handsworth, but there seems to be a common theme that a lot of the people involved do live in Handsworth.


 * A man was shot in the stomach in a terrifying Birmingham street attack


 * I would settle for something like "Handsworth has a history of Gangland crime involving firearms, with many shootings within the suburb and many gun crimes carried out elsewhere by people from Handsworth." - although I wouldn't wish to glorify the facts? Nick Boulevard 16:08, 7 August 2005 (UTC)


 * So, that's "no", then. Andy Mabbett 18:56, 7 August 2005 (UTC)


 * no that's "quite probable" then, personally I do not fancy delving any further into "how many people have been horrifically gunned down in Birmingham" on the net, I would say that gun crime was not really an issue as far as I am aware during the time of the Handsworth riots but more recently (i.e. since the 1990's) the area has had, as the reports state, a an extremely high proportion of criminals who have access to firearms and are prepared to use them than as say somewhere like Harborne or Selly Oak. I am confident that there have been "dozens of woundings from shootings" in the area since the early nineties. And possibly dozens of deaths resulting from shootings by people who have resided in Handsworth. You've asked the question Andy, I have shown you some research to suggest that the sentence should stay in some form if not on this page then maybe on the Handsworth page itself. Nick Boulevard 19:26, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

Neo Lewis 14:59 28/12/2006 I have been searching the internet today while at work and I am completely disgusted in the amount of insults the area recieves from people who have possibly never even been there. All you ever hear about Handsworth is "gang wars" and "shooting" I was raised in Handsworth for the first 16 years of my life and I enjoyed every moment of it.

Yeah i agree it isnt exactly a decent place to visit but the majority of people who live there love the area and will always represent it. I live 100s of miles away from Handsworth but i still say with pride that I was born and raised on the streets of Handsworth. Neo Lewis 14:59 28/12/2006

Dead link
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 * http://www.the-drum.org.uk/event_info.php?id=328&eid=56
 * In 1980s Handsworth race riots on 2011-05-25 04:55:35, 404 Not Found
 * In 1980s Handsworth race riots on 2011-06-07 01:56:47, 404 Not Found

--JeffGBot (talk) 01:57, 7 June 2011 (UTC)

Other sources claimed that the local ...
The opening paragraph needs to be modified - I was active in Handsworth throughout the period and the riots mentioned did not have this component of local jealousy - community relations amongst African Caribbean and Asian communities was actually very good and a sense of solidarity amongst them was prevalent in Handsworth - I would like to know what these other sources are.

They should be referenced properly if they are given such high prominence.

The source of much of the discontent was provoked by the policing including the overuse of stop and search in these communities during the Seventies and Eighties.

All ages of the community felt a genuine sense of injustice, rather than being just a question of young people formenting violence.

In 1981 in which I was a direct witness - the police were almost exclusively the target and avarice a late comer to the game

The presence of the police aggravated the situation rather than bringing calm to the streets, they were seen as an enemy rather than a friend to the community at that time.

It is only after this that Police attitudes and application changed for the better

80.249.57.49 (talk) 08:45, 9 August 2011 (UTC)Philip Evans

Split and improve
This is a very poor article about three very important topics. It contradicts itself openly (were there two or three riots?), it seems to believe that all three can be explained with a single blanket explanation of their causes, and it tops it all by assuming that they all fall comfortably under the description "race riots", which is far from NPOV. For such controversial topics there is a woeful lack of references.

I'm going to split this into an article for each set of riots, and try to add a bit more sourced information.

JimmyGuano (talk) 19:41, 24 September 2011 (UTC)