STOKE NEWINGTON

Although I haven't posted on here for a while, there are many posts I could have written. More young people have died in gang incidents and countless others have witnessed such events or are grieving the loss of friends or family. I didn't intend this blog to become a list of RIP tributes.

On Saturday I was in Stoke Newington, Hackney - an area that has grown into an extremely desirable place for middle class families to live in over the last few years. There are countless organic coffee bars, children's book shops and vintage clothing outlets. Walking along Church Street, in search of a nice coffee shop myself, my eye was caught by something just around one of the corners. In a doorway a shrine had been built to a boy, Michael, who had been killed there some months ago in an alleged revenge attack. There were letters stuck up on the door from friends who expressed how much they were missing him, along with religious images and icons, and photos of Michael cut out from newspaper articles about the incident.

It would have been easy to miss this sad monument to a life taken and a family broken and grieving. Tucked away from the hustle of the main street where families rush along from shop to cafe, children on little scooters, toddlers reading a book in their pram, parents oblivious to the darker world that hides in the shadows just around the corner. Today an article in Stoke Newington People, an online community newspaper, reveals that a group of teenagers were arrested in a park in Stoke Newington a few days ago as a shot gun and ammunition were found there. Maybe the parents out shopping on Church Street really are oblivious, or possibly they are just choosing to ignore what is going on; the sadness and horror of the reality can be too much to bear. But then again, the sadness of the reality is something that many others don't have the luxury of choosing to forget. The pain and sadness lives with them every day.