‘Everyone should have a chance to prove themselves’
Ten weeks ago Inside Housing launched a competition inviting aspiring young journalists to write about how living in their communities has affected their chances in life. Here, Nick Duxbury introduces contest winner Kemoy Walker
Moss Side in Manchester is by legend a socially deprived area that is anything but desirable. Or so you might assume if you have read about gang shootings, robbery, drugs or rioting kids in the area.
However, Kemoy Walker, a 21-year-old Moss Side resident, wants to challenge this perception of the place he has called home for 10 years. Mr Walker, a tenant of housing association Mosscare, is the winner of Inside Housing’s competition for young, aspiring journalists which was launched in October as part of the Riot Report.
The Riot Report was set up by Inside Housing, the Chartered Institute of Housing and the National Housing Federation to examine the cause of the riots and look at ways of helping to prevent them from happening again. It will be published on 10 February.
Young at heart
As part of our efforts to understand how young people feel about their local communities, we asked people aged between 16 and 25 to write 500 words documenting how their neighbourhood has affected their opportunities in life (positively or negatively) or to write about how a community project has changed life on their estate. The winner would have their article published in the magazine as well as the chance to do work experience at Inside Housing.
We received fascinating responses from budding journalists across the UK, but Mr Walker’s enthusiasm and candour won us over. We were especially drawn to his piece because of the way he examined how public perceptions of Moss Side were impacting his ability to find work and the way he is treated by the people he meets.
Let down by the system
As unemployment among 16 to 24-year-olds soars to 1.02 million, people like Mr Walker - who, since entering the competition, has found a job - feel ignored by the government and frustrated at the apparent lack of opportunities available to them.
‘I still feel like I am not being listened to,’ Mr Walker says. ‘No one in government knows what it feels like to be young and unemployed. There are no voices for young people.’
‘I am happy to have won this competition. I entered because of the issues around Moss Side and the stereotypes that people from here face. I’d like to change this so others know that Moss Side is an improving area and there are people - especially young people - from the area who have loads of talent.’
Kemoy Walker’s competition entry
I have lived in Moss Side, Manchester, for more than 10 years. I came to the UK from Jamaica and when I arrived I realised there were community problems in terms of gang violence. Despite its reputation, I had not seen things like this living in Jamaica so I was new to it. When my 15-year-old friend from school got shot in the local park and died, there was loads of media around Moss Side and it was on the news every day. Since then I have learned that if someone does something bad it’s on the news every day but when someone has done something good the media doesn’t want to know.
I have won awards in my community for helping to change the lives of young people, including an outstanding social behaviour award from charity Carisma in 2009. I also campaigned after the August riots for Manchester to get its first ever youth mayor. Although I am too old at 21 to take up this position, the council has agreed to introduce one so that there is a voice for young people. I am helping to set this up. I want to be the voice for the young people who are not being listened to and support the youths of today.
I want young people to have the opportunity to voice their concerns to the government because no one wants to listen to them. This is why I believe a lot of them are behaving anti-socially because there is no support for them.
I have worked in primary schools and secondary schools to help and support children and want to be a role model so young people can follow in my footsteps. But I have realised that whenever I tried to apply for jobs and I put on the application form that I am from Moss Side they never get back to me. When I have tried putting another area on the application form, such as Hulme, they have responded. Moss Side is seen as a terrible place and people presume that if you’re from there, then you must have a gun or you must be ‘hard’ (tough and aggressive). I was out of work for three months, but am starting a new job as a health and social care assistant this month.
When I used to attend college and students asked me where I was from, they normally had a bad comment to say, like ‘how come you haven’t been shot?’. I remember someone I wanted to bring to Moss Side saying they were scared if they got off the bus they might get shot. People presume you have a weapon on you as well.
Despite this, I have enjoyed living in an area like Moss Side and, even though the media has portrayed it in a bad way, I am trying to prove to others that it is not like that anymore. It has improved a lot and so have the young people. I hope that some day when people apply for jobs and put down that they live in Moss Side they won’t be discriminated against. Everyone should be given the chance to prove themselves and to prove that Moss Side isn’t a bad area.
