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Programme presented by Sue Jay and Roger Cook.
The programme combines a studio debate with a number of film reports from Detroit in the USA which was hit by riots in 1967.
The programme opens with a brief news clip of the September 1985 Handsworth riots followed by a film insert in which Doctor Arthur Johnson from Community Relations at Wayne State University (Detroit) compares the British Government to the Apartheid regime in South Africa.
Before the debate begins Sue Jay links into a Central News bulletin presented by Liz Pike -
1. An aircraft approaching East Midlands Airport has crashed into power cables at Isley Walton in Leicestershire. Mike Morley reports.
2. Cannabis has been found in a consignment of imported scrap metal at Matlock in Derbyshire. Anita Findley reports.
3. Mandy Miller from Lea Hall is to have her baby taken away because of a GBH conviction. Newscaster voice over (NCVO).
4. Keith Shenton, a Conservative councillor in Staffordshire has been found guilty of living off the earnings of prostitution. NCVO.
5. A Birds Eye Walls factory in Gloucestershire has been accused with causing river pollution. Newscaster in vision (NCIV).
Back in the Central Weekend studio views on the causes of the riots from a number of authority figures are offered (all illustrated with stills and quote captions) - Douglas Hurd, Home Secretary; Kenneth Newman, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police; Geoffrey Dear, Chief Constable for the West Midlands; Norman Tebbit, Chairman of the Conservative Party; and Sir Peter Emery MP.
We then see archive film and stills of the 1967 Detroit riot and interviews with residents remembering what happened. The overriding view is that the police were seen as agents for white racism.
Back in the studio the question of racism in the West Midlands police force is discussed by the West Midlands Chief Constable Geoffrey Dear and Handsworth residents Shirley and Paul Rennalls.
Next we return to the Detroit film report which covers the post riot reforms that took place to encourage more black officers to join the police and the introduction of a civilian commission to oversee complaints against the police. We see police training at the Detroit academy and officers on patrol. Interviewed are: Coleman A. Young (Mayor of Detroit); Inspector James Jackson (Detroit Police Academy); Sgt Henry Jackson (Detroit Police Academy Trainer); and Hal Shapiro (Police Commissioner).
Back in the studio Geoffrey Dear explains how police complaints are dealt with in Britain and debates trust in the police with journalist Simon Hinds and the use of plastic bullets with Emma Groves who was blinded by a plastic bullet in Northern Ireland and Brenda Downes whose husband was killed by a plastic bullet also in Northern Ireland.
Sue Jay then reads comments from viewers about the debate so far. She then lists a selection of historic British riots which are illustrated with drawings or stills.
Cook and Jay then begin a new debate about racism in Handsworth involving Shirley Rennalls again who has experienced racism first hand. Moving onto racism in schools, after a text quote from Professor John Eaglestone of Warwick University who has written a report into the problem, Shirley's daughter Marcia Rennalls and Robert Frater of the Afro-Caribbean Teachers Association speak.
The high levels of black unemployment are covered next. Malcolm Cross from the Centre for Research into Ethnic Relations at Warwick University claims racism in the Youth Training Scheme which is defended by John Feehally, YTS area manager. Paul Rennalls then provides a first hand account of a racist employer.
But it is not just employers that are racist as problems also exist in trade unions. Stills are used to illustrate three examples: a dispute in 1955 over the employment of a black bus conductor in Wolverhampton; the 1972 Imperial Typewriters dispute in Leicester where the Asian workforce were not adequately supported by their union (a slight error here as the strike actually took place in 1974); and a 1977 dispute at a British Leyland factory at Castle Bromwich where workers would not work with a black colleague.
Trade union racism is then debated by Stephen Batchelor of the Black Workers Association and Bill Morris, Deputy General Secretary of the TGWU.
Poverty was another major factor in the riots and Housing Association Chairman Jack David is the next to provide his views.
More viewers comments are then read out.
A final film from Detroit follows. We see Mayor Coleman attending a function with Stevie Wonder. Coleman is then interviewed about what has been done to prevent a repeat of the 1967 riots. Also interviewed are Father William Cunningham of the Focus Hope religious group who provide free food to the poor of Detroit; business man Walter Douglas; Hal Shapiro again; and Tracey Jordan who claims that the economy is still run by the whites.
Back in the studio the debate moves to the possible political solutions. Brought into the debate are: Keith Vaz (prospective Labour candidate for Leicester East); John Taylor (a Conservative councillor in Solihull); and Manzoor Moghal (prospective SDP Alliance candidate).
Finally the debate is wrapped up with all the contributors providing their views on ways to prevent a repeat of the Handsworth riots (the only person not to have already spoken is community worker Cherry Fletcher).
Presenters - Roger Cook, Sue Jay
Detroit Film Crew - Julian White, Robin McDonald, Dennis Fitch, Steve Middleton, Brian Best
Production Team - Jude Hackett
Jenny Homer
Stuart Kettle
Mike Jermey
Catherine Sloyan
Keith Wootton
Production Editor - Bruce Grocott
Executive Producer - Robert Southgate
Studio Director - Mike Connor
Series Producers - Jim Manson, Graham Mole
Producer - David Richards
Production number 6623/86.