J Liu's Online Journal

The crowd roars with excitement as the players walk onto the pitch. It’s a classic London derby, Arsenal vs Tottenham at White Hart Lane on a dull miserable day. The chants from the crowd grow louder and louder as the players get into their positions. – each chant making the players more eager to get the game started.

The referee blows his whistle to get the game under way; the noise inside the stadium starts to get louder and louder with the cheering of the fans. As the players begin to pass the ball around, anticipation grows. Ten minutes in, Arsenal begin an attack: Danny Welbeck sprints down the wing, past the defense. He passes the ball to Giroud, Giroud takes a quick glance to his left, he sees Ozil is unmarked and passes the ball to him. Ozil smashes the ball to the back of the net with a mighty kick. The Arsenal fans go crazy; cheers and chants fill the stadium as they show their excitement. At the other end of the stand, Tottenham fans begin to chant, motivating their players as they kick off again.

Despite their best efforts, Tottenham struggle to score as the first half comes to an end. The referee blows his whistle . Fans applaud the players as they head towards the dimly lit tunnel, eager to reach their dressing rooms. The noise inside the brightly lit stadium dies down as fans get ready in their various ways before the second half begins.

The players look keen and fresh as they exit the tunnel and make their way on to the pitch, ready to start. The referee signals and the crowds show their admiration and support with deafening shouts of encouragement.

Fifty six minutes into the second half, Tottenham win a corner. Erik Lamela crosses the ball straight into Ospina, who parries it straight into the path of Harry Kane. The fans burst with excitement. Harry Kane touches the ball and scores for Tottenham making the fans go berserk. After Harry Kane’s goal, the team seem motivated more than ever to score another goal.

Arsenal struggle to keep up with Tottenham as they keep applying pressure. The fans’ reactions keep motivating the home side which creates the lead up to Harry Kane’s second goal in the eighty sixth minute. Nabil Bentaleb lobs the ball into the box finding Harry Kane; with an almighty kick he puts Tottenham into the lead.

The chants of annoyance and disappointment from the Arsenal fans can be heard clearly over the cheers of ecstasy from the other end of the stands, where a sea of white and navy flags held by elated Tottenham supporters sway in the breeze.

The final whistle is blown, Arsenal players drop their heads in their hands in disappointment knowing that they have just lost the local derby. The sweet taste of victory is clear for all to see on the faces of the home team. White Hart Lane is drowned in chants and yells of triumph from the supporters showing their appreciation for the winning side.

By Justin Liu Kai Kit

Dear Ms Hopkins,

I came across your piece in my English lesson. Funny that, because in your piece, you talk a lot about England. I think that your views on certain immigrants are because of racial hatred. I feel this way because in your article, you only refer to Northern Africa and you refer to Northern African immigrants as “cockroaches”.

These people you categorise as vermin are in reality trying to escape from conflicts and seek refuge, but you wish to threaten them by using gunships and forcing them to return back to their countries. No person is superior to any other person, meaning it is only right to help those in need instead of adding more suffering into their lives. Your attitude is inhumane and is morally wrong. Every human is the same and should never be treated differently.

You don’t have the right to judge those who seek refuge from war-torn countries as you have never experienced what it is like to flee your home country because of war.

In your article you say that Britain should be “more Australian” when it comes to immigrants. To me this sounds as if you think Australia is the only country in the world that is good when it comes to dealing with immigrants. You talked about how Italy was failing on handling the immigrants landing on their shores but you support Australia, a country that threatens and refuses to aid these refugees. The way you speak about Australia and Britain shows that you think they are more superior than other countries. There is a part in your article where you talk about migrants “shelling out benefits like monopoly money”. You are wrong because most migrants are paying taxes and helping the economy. Since 2004 immigrants contributed £5 billion towards the British economy. Between 1995 and 2011 British citizens received more than they contributed in the same 17-year period – amounting to a cost of £591 billion.

You say you feel bad for truck drivers in the UK being fined after they’ve been accused of smuggling in immigrants and you speak about how you care “passionately” about tax payers but there was an internet petition about replacing you with fifty thousand migrants and 61,748 people signed it.

You may support the people of Britain but most of them don’t support you.

Yours sincerely Justin Liu

Dear Sir/Madam

I am writing this letter to inform you about what has recently happened to exhibit B also known as “The human zoo”.

The Exhibit was taken down due to the amount of complaints received from the public accusing it of being racist. Exhibit B was based on black history but what attracted most attention was the slavery part of the exhibit. The public thought this was a racist way to show black history but others thought it was just a way of showing such an important part of history.

The exhibit was given 5 star ratings all across Europe , but when it came to London so many people thought it was racist towards black people. Actress Elexi walker who played the role of a black slave said “It’s ridiculous to think I am being racist because I am involved in a piece that highlights the history of black people”. This point stood out most the most as it caused a public clash between haters and supporters. The supporters of Elexi Walker agreed with her point and began saying how the museum was meant to resemble a significant part of black history. On the other hand, Elexi’s haters spoke out about the museum being racist because it was set up by a white man even though Brett Bailey, the host of the museum, was born in South Africa.

Many people agree and disagree with the shutting down of the exhibit B museum, but I personally think it shouldn’t have been shut down. I believe this because the aim of the museum was to show the public the important events that occurred in black history.

The people who disagreed with the closing of the exhibit thought it was a way of showing people what happened to black people in the past. This included actress Elexi Walker who quoted it was “ridiculous” that she was accused of racism just for taking part in the exhibit.

Actress Priscilla Adade-helledy was nicknamed “ignorant black woman” because she took part in Exhibit B. Priscilla said “I feel abused as a person and I feel insecure that I was taking part in such a project that is absolutely stunning… and now I’m scared for my own safety. I don’t know how it can be seen as racism. If they had seen the exhibit they would understand it”.

Dear Katherine Birbalsingh,

I came across your piece about the London riots. You talk a lot about how the riots were caused by black youths. This is the point that stood out most to me. In the first paragraph of your article, you question “what colour is Mark Duggan? ” and answered “I suspect on the whole black”. This to me sounds as if you have an agenda towards black people and think they are a problem. You suspected that Mark Duggan was black. That shows you may have a racist view against black people. In this piece I will be giving my views on your thoughts about the cause of the London riots and black youths.

I disagree with your point because of the way you spoke about not being surprised about Mark Duggan’s skin colour, and how you suspected “on the whole, black”: this shows you automatically assumed that Mark Duggan was black. To my surprise, you admit that you have only listened to information about the riots on the radio, without knowing or researching anything in depth about it. You assumed a certain skin colour was behind the riots which proves you picture black people as trouble and the cause of crime.

I have listened to the interview that was made with a friend of Mark Duggan: it described the reasons why people wanted to protest and what they did in the protest to show justice for Mark Duggan and his family. You responded to this by trying to say how the police force were being judged in order to “make it sound as if the police are killing black people every other weekend”. The historian David Starkey likewise believes to be black is to be violent or a gangster. This is a point similar to yours as you both believe crime is a constant theme of blackness. In Starkey’s interview he says, “the whites have become black”, suggesting that it is only black people who influence crime. He then says blacks are a ”destructive, nihilistic gangster culture” and this ”has become the fashion”

In fact, statistics show that for every one white person, three black people are stopped and searched by the police. Institutional racism has been a problem in the police force for many decades. The murder of Stephen Lawrence in South East London on the evening of 22 April 1993 was a racially motivated attack and revealed the racism within the police force. A public inquiry was held in 1998 by William Macpherson and found that the police force was institutionally racist. Twenty years later in 2012, two of the perpetrators were finally convicted. As recently as June 5th 2015, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Bernard Hogan-Howe, gave an interview admitting there was institutional racism within the police force. He said ,“If other people think we are institutionally racist, then we are. It’s no good me saying we’re not and saying you must believe me. That would be a nonsense, if they believe that.” You think people are over exaggerating about police brutality, but the fact that there have been 333 deaths in police custody since 1998 and no police officers have been convicted suggests that there is a serious problem that needs more attention towards it.

I believe most of your points and statements were based on racial hatred towards black people, and that you are trying to cover up police brutality by saying in a very simplistic and sensationalizing way that the cause of the London riots was black youth culture.

These are my views on your opinion on the causes of the London riots and Mark Duggan

Yours sincerely Justin Liu Kai Kit