Hi. It´s good as always to catch up. I´m currently in Spain for Christmas until New Years Eve and it´s good to be able to say that all is well. I recently moved to a new flat on the other side of Bristol from my old place and as it was my first move in six years I have to say uprooting yourself and your life is never easy but hey the hard bit is over and it´s nice to be back at my new and old home I lived in way back in 2013 to around 2016.

Walking around the flat was strange and it felt like it was almost pleased to see me. I won both my amateur Muay Thai area title and English K1 title when I lived there. I guess you could say there´s a bit of martial history that resides there. I even remember my weight cut for my title defense. Getting to 60kg was not an easy task!

As I´m feeling reflective I thought today would be a good day to share a bit of fairly creative writing I posted on my Facebook a few years back. In fact it was a year ago today and Bristol Copwatch had been founded by myself in March of 2020. Looking back further conversations about what´s become a fantastic independent police monitoring group actually started in 2019 during the midst of a political policing cycle I was being subjected to.

If you have ever heard me speak my truth and share my lived experience of the police and criminal justice system you´ll know I have been through it and understand how the police operate. The short piece of creative writing below I think gives some insight into why I feel communities should always hold the police to account and cop watch. It´s called Rise. Merry Christmas and just like the last time.. I´ll see you on that road.

Rise

You know I talk to people about their experiences with the police and how a Copwatch can help them, and every single story I listen to I have a relatable experience for. I have made a lot of mistakes in my life and have been through the criminal justice system, and I can relate to all of their stories.

I can relate to how the criminal justice system comes after people like them and how it comes after people like me.

I can relate to how before mistakes are made we get profiled and they expect us to fuck up. Because we don’t fit in. The black ones and the brown ones who walk on the cracks of life.

Do we come from around here? after all, we’re not white.

But you see, mistakes do not justify a lifetime of endless harassment and suspicion. Good character counts for something although once a crown court judge told my barrister it means nothing.

Endless stop and search that ebbs and flows, never teaches us the true meaning of that thing the police avoid and bend to their rules even when you’ve just left school and when you get to that court..

“Are you British?” sums it up. It puts it in a nutshell and puts you in a box especially if your working class. You were never meant to win let alone succeed you rass. As I look to 2021 and the vital work that’s ahead I can’t help but wonder if I’ll meet the part of me I thought was dead.

And in the end I did meet him. The whole of me. The sum of my parts. The little fighter with a big heart.

23.12.20 with 2023 editions. Have a strong 2024.