Dear Theresa May and Sadiq Khan,
I hope you get this or at least the people around you get to read this and have the respect to pass it on to you. This letter will probably get me in a lot of trouble and just so we are clear….I don’t care.
My name is Kendra Houseman. I would like to speak to you about the 74th person that has been killed in the UK this year. The BBC have issued a report, and it names everyone that has been killed in the UK so far, the link is HERE. And if you would be so kind, I would like you to count down all the faces to number 74 (Try not to hover too long over the one of the babies and very young children as I did, or the tears will start straight away).
Before I continue, I think that ever single face on that list from 1-100 should have their name spoken aloud, so that people do not forget.
Anyway, back to the matter in hand. Theresa and Sadiq, I hope you have counted and found yourself at number 74.
You should now be looking at picture of a young man. He is looking at the camera shyly and you can just see a hint of his crooked and cheeky smile. That is Glendon Spence. He was murdered on the 21st February in a youth club in Brixton. You can read about Glendon HERE, but just in case you don’t have time, I just wanted to let you know that he was murdered in your capital and it is not good enough. In fact, I suggest you do take the time to read the link I have added and get to know exactly why “Number 74” is much more than a number. I want you to know his name.
I was going to include a link here on the headlines that followed the next day in the newspapers of Glendon’s shocking murder, after all he was only 23, Stabbed to death in front of a children’s football team in the middle of a highly populated area…Plenty of people were there so you would assume that this would be newsworthy…. but…. there were no headlines in the paper and his death did not make the front page of any paper I could find. Some have, but not Glendon’s. Maybe his face was not what they wanted for front page news…surly it can’t be that black and white……anyway…..
The reason for this letter is because I have some questions over his death, if you don’t mind answering them. I am sure you or the people that work for you will be able to answer them so here goes:
1st Question– It took 25 minutes to get an ambulance to Glendon who had been, according to the press and people I have spoken to, stabbed with a sword. Do you think that 25 minutes is acceptable waiting time for an ambulance if you are bleeding out on a youth club floor after being stabbed and left for dead? (Please don’t bore me with any jargon…just yes or no please)
2nd Question – I had to tell my son that his childhood friend had been murdered. I had to look in my sons’ eyes and tell him that Glendon had been murdered. Have you ever had to tell your children something like that?
3rd Question – I have spoken directly to the lady who was with Glendon as he died. Her children witnessed his death. Here is some of the things she told me “We tried to help him, stop the bleeding, save his life and couldn’t. He died in front of me. I was at the centre as my son was playing football. My daughter also saw him lay there dead and we have all been traumatised by this. No one deserves to die like this. These killings need to stop” and she also said “I wish he could have survived. I prayed over him. I’ll never forget the look in his eyes”. What are you doing to support those directly affected by these murders? What support will you offer this women, her children and anyone else who will have the memory of Glendon’s last moments imprinted in their minds? (Trick question as I know that you have not and will not do anything)
4rd Question – What are you ACTUALLY doing to stop murders like this of our children and young people happening?
I look forward to your reply to my questions.
Whilst you are here and reading this, I just wanted to let you both know that what you are doing around youth violence is not good enough and you should both be ashamed of what is happening on the streets. You have disappointed a lot of people, including yourselves and I would go as far to say that the blood of many people is on your hands. I think that both of you should be held accountable for these deaths and should be charged with enterprise. Because if I stood and watched someone get murdered and did nothing to stop it, I could be charged with enterprise. I would be held accountable. But no one is holding either of you accountable and both of you walking free.
Its not just you two to be fair, there are plenty of people letting the children and young people down the UK. I did write to Shuan Bailey, you can read that Here and Here, to address some of my concerns …. but he never got back to me. I am not sure if that was because he was busy? Because from where I am sitting, he is also doing nothing to help and even worse, he claims to have walked the same roads as people like myself and Glendon. If you see this Shaun…still waiting to talk things out…ya get me
I would like to believe that when both of you started out in politics that you had fire in your bellies and wanted to change the world. I would like to think that you had a million ideas on how you would change things. So, what happened?
What exactly needs to happen for you to make changes? I’m just going put this out there, and this will cause a few ruffled feathers, people kept saying that if a middle-class white person was murdered in the same way as say Glendon was, then things would change. The only difference is that you might just make the headlines. Hate me for saying that if you want, I am just saying what everyone is thinking.
Theresa May and Sadiq Khan, why don’t you just be honest and say you have no idea to stop this violence? That you are scared and that you do not have the answers. Why don’t you just admit that you are not putting money back into communities and exposing people to extreme poverty. Why can’t we just stop this cloak and dagger game you both play where you claim to care about these murders but actually never do anything to back this.
His name was Glendon Spence. He is the 74th person to be murdered in the UK in 2019. He was my sons’ friend, and I will make sure the both of you know his name. I will make sure that everyone knows his name. #knowhisname
Kind regards
Kendra Houseman
P.S.
‘I’m no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I’m changing the things I cannot accept’ -Angela Davis
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