Akala received accolades for his appearance on Good Morning Britain, when he discussed why he thinks racialising knife crime is ineffective with Piers Morgan.
The British poet, hip hop musician, and author has discussed the peril of referring to knife crime as “a black problem” on numerous occasions.
In reference to the current increase in knife violence in the UK, presenter Piers Morgan said, “The perpetrators and victims appear to be almost exclusively young black guys.”
“Do you think there is a racist element to that in terms of cultural issues or racial issues, or is it the same problem they had in Glasgow where they were white and actually the racial part of this is something where we look at the statistics, think it’s a black problem when actually it’s not?”
Akala noted that some of the “most horrendous” knife attacks have taken place outside of London over the past few years, where “both the victim and the perpetrators were white”.
“There is one limited sense in which race may be important,” he said. “You could argue that only a very particular demographic of young black boys, only at a very particular stage in their lives, feel a degree of psychological self-hatred or contempt for themselves that they project on to other people.”
Morgan contrasted the latest awful mosque terror attack in New Zealand to the media’s propensity to refer to knife crime as a “black problem,”
He argued that if the attacker had been an Isis fan, the initial response from many would have been to refer to it as a “Muslim problem.”
Although hundreds or even thousands of them are found guilty each year, Akala affirmed: “You will never be asked called upon to explain why not all middle-aged white men are paedophiles.”
He continued, “It is evident that not all middle-aged white men are paedophiles.”
You can watch his full response below:
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