Over just 18 days at the end of January and the start of February, three Bristol teenagers lost their lives to knife violence. Last year, four people were fatally stabbed in the city, and schoolboy from Kingswood was also stabbed to death in Bath.
Knife crime is a national issue that’s as complex as it is devastating, and it doesn’t exist in isolation. It’s set in a wider social context where housing, school exclusion, unemployment, mental health, and government cuts can be issues at play.
As part of Together for Change, a citywide campaign with community leaders, campaigners and the city’s media, the Cable will explore the social issues that underpin the knife epidemic in the city.
We will amplify the voices of those most deeply affected, bringing communities, authorities together to build a local effort to make a difference, building a task force and lobbying the government for change.
In our latest Debrief podcast, reporters Priyanka Raval and Sean Morrison discuss why we’re joining the campaign, and why it’s so urgent.
As we were recording on Wednesday, news broke of another serious incident in St Paul’s. A 30-year-old man was stabbed to death on Tuesday night, police later confirmed, launching their fourth murder investigation in east Bristol since June last year.
The Together for Change campaign, and the Bristol Cable’s series that we will run alongside it, will develop over the coming months. The key message is – we must see change in the city and put a stop to the needless knife crime deaths that are devastating communities.
As our open letter makes clear, the best way of making this happen is by working together. So, if you want to take part in the campaign, if you have a story to tell, then we want to hear from you. Contact sean@thebristolcable.org using the subject line Together for Change.
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