Opinion

Allison Morris: After Milltown cemetery attack, we shouldn't write off all young people in the area

The almost biblical images of the gates of Milltown cemetery blazing after an arson attack by local youths shocked and stunned many.

In the times we live, where images are instantly posted and shared, there was outrage and anger that such an act had taken place.

That a cemetery, a place where loved ones are laid to rest, could be violated in such a way was distressing for many.

Understandably, there are some places we assume should be off limits for such behaviour.

It is an unfortunate fact that Milltown, the Falls Park and the City Cemetery have long been places were people gathered, to drink and at times cause a nuisance.

More recently the behaviour has gone beyond that to destruction of property, including a play park and then last weekend damage to the beautiful historic gates of the cemetery.

During the Troubles Milltown was famously attacked by Michael Stone, with three people losing their lives in that episode.

The conflict is now over, current political crisis aside.

The cemetery is not now under attack for sectarian reasons but instead by members of the local community.

And I really want to emphasise that point, because the reaction to the arson attack was quite startling.

People on social media calling for those responsible to be shot, beaten with iron bars and one person even suggested tying them to the gates and setting them on fire, which would probably be too extreme a reaction for ISIS.

To advocate such brutality requires a detachment from those responsible, to think of them not as young people who you know or have met but somehow sub-human.

The word feral is used a lot, making those young people seem less human, more animal makes it easier to detach ourselves from their behaviour.

But the truth, as hard as it may be for many to digest, is that the young people involved in the trouble at Milltown and the Falls Park were not beamed down from space nor did they escape from the zoo - they are local.

And that reality creates a very different set of problems.

Punishment style shootings and beatings go back to the beginning of the Troubles, at one stage in the 1980s it seemed like the IRA had kneecapped everyone under the age of 18 in the Divis area, some more than once.

As I write this in 2017 it remains the area of Northern Ireland with the highest crime rate, so summary justice didn't work.

The sons, daughters, grandsons and granddaughters of those who still walk with a limp from those shootings are now often those involved in street drinking and antisocial behaviour.

West Belfast has consistently the highest rates of long term unemployment and deprivation, long term illness and intergenerational reliance on benefits.

The misogynistic nature of our society has left thousands of young women alone, looking after families and shouldering the blame if their children step out of line while deadbeat dads walk away unscathed.

Teenage mums little more than children themselves are now young women trying to control angry teenagers and being vilified for it.

Some of these social problems are historic and can be traced back to neglect and under investment by a hostile British state. But that's also a cop out. As we sit in 2017 it's not good enough to simply say 'it's the Brits' fault'.

Local politicians must shoulder some of the blame in what is effectively a one-party constituency. Eradicating decades of neglect is not going to happen overnight but it can't be used as an excuse forever.

While I'm not for one second saying we should all 'hug a hoodie', helping those young people move away from destructive behaviour is always preferable to trying to beat it out of them.

While some young people will never be able to break that cycle that is for the criminal justice system to deal with.

At the back of Milltown cemetery, where that shocking act of vandalism took place, lies the Bog Meadow, which forms part of the St James's community.

There under the supervision of youth workers such as Damien Lindsay there is a community farm tended to mainly by young people from the area. St James Swifts, the local football team has 200 members, young men and women many of who are part of a community forum who look after both old and young in their area.

I'm proud to be from west Belfast, I'm proud that despite the hardship we've endured we survived and thrived and produced some wonderful young people like those from St James's so let's not write them all off because of the actions of the few.