All of this made me think of my new group up in Skegoneill, which is also in North Belfast. We had our second meeting this past Monday, where we began to talk about issues that mattered in their community. Their youth leader mentioned graffiti, and how some of it could be considered art but a lot of it was just sectarian slurs scribbled over the side of someone's home. They said that it was especially odd and unnecessary in their area, as many of the residents would come from mixed families. However, they also told me there have been a lot of attacks recently at the roundabout at the top of the street. Apparently, Skegoneill is an interface area as well. The roundabout at the top of Skegoneill Avenue is a flashpoint where Skegoneill meets Glandore, and there has also been talk about building a new 'peace line' on the other side next to a new housing development. They would be, as one young person put it, "in a wee corner."

They offered to take me up to the roundabout and show me around the different graffiti sites they were talking about. As we walked up the sidestreet from the community center to the main road, we came upon a group of young guys, and the youth leader spoke to one of them, calling him Chris (obviously I've changed his name). Chris was the name of the guy they had been telling me about who'd gotten attacked by a group from 'the other side' a few weeks back. He still had some bruises on his cheeks and forehead, and he showed the youth leader the progress on the scar on the base of his neck. The exchange went something like this:

Theresa (name also changed): Ach Chris, how are ya?
Chris: Not too bad, better.
Theresa: Let me see.
Chris: Ah it's getting much better in the back (turns his head to show her). It was about 20 of 'em, just jumped me, like.
Theresa: Aye, you've got to be careful.
Chris: Aye, we got 'em back this weekend, so we did. Was 20 of us this time an only 'bout 4 of them.

I'm sure you can imagine how difficult it was for me at this point not to allow the shock and horror in my mind to appear on my face. I'm not even sure I succeeded. It was so flippant, a part of normal social interaction... but if I thought that was disturbing, there was more to come.

We came to the end of the street (about 20 feet from where we met Chris), crossed it, and stood on a 3-way corner not far from another group of young people standing by a car in front of an apartment building. We hadn't walked far from the community center, maybe 100 yards total, so I wasn't sure why we were stopping.

"This is it here," Theresa said.

There was a small raised circle painted white in the middle of the intersection - the roundabout. Further down the street was Glandore, and then the Antrim Road. Back the way we'd come was Skegoneill, and then the Shore Road. This wee place was, according to Theresa, where youths from the area would come - after, of course, having their drink behind the adjacent apartment building - and shout slurs at each other, and possibly get into physical altercations.

"I live in that building," one of the girls said to me, pointing to the one that Theresa had just referenced as the drinking station. "Top floor."

Me: So, does the violence in the area affect you? Does it make it difficult to get home at night?
Lucy (name changed): Nah. We don't get involved.
Brian (name changed): We just around the back of the building.
Me: Do you think this is a safe area:
Brian: Well, we wouldn't walk down through Glandore, like. They'd jump you.
Me: Is this something you have to deal with everyday?
Lucy: No, not us.
Brian: We just don't go over there, like.

I think my astonishment in this instance came not from the fact that there is weekly violence - viewed as a form of entertainment to some - but the fact that these kids, aged 15, didn't seem to think or see how the violence affected them. That to me, this kind of thing wasn't normal at all, that of course if someone fighting regularly outside your front door forced you to changed your habits, it affected you. But this is normalised here. It's not good - that's not what they're saying. But it's not out of the ordinary. It doesn't put a kink in everyday life.

Except, it does. How could it not?

What I would love is for this group to choose to do their project on the murals or graffiti, or violence. But it seems to me that when we talk about issues, they bring up sectarianism and violence because it's what they think adults and youth workers want to hear. It's what we want them to talk about, what we want them to want to change. And part of me really can't get over the idea that they wouldn't want to change it.

I'm afraid that for some people here, violence has become so normal, so everyday, that it's boring.

written by  ebienelson on April 22, 2009 from Belfast, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: "She is the Belle of Belfast City..."
Send a Compliment

---

Hi Lizzy!
Greetings from Sydney, AUS! Really interesting blog! I have no idea about the sort of stuff that goes on over that side of the world, especially Belfast, and I feel like I'm learning heaps when I read your blog :-)
Keep it up! I love that you're still travelling and being passionate and successful and I wouldn't expect any less of you! Much love xxxx

written by  Frances Gilham on April 26, 2009

comment on this...