Clapham Common

 

The weekend’s events hit home with me. I used to live in Halls of Residence on the edge of Clapham Common when I was studying at London University. It felt like a pleasant place to live, a green space in a huge conurbation. But was it really so safe? And are we truly safe anywhere?

The kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard are shocking. We know enough of the case to horrify, although there are still unanswered questions. Was this entirely random? Is the suspect guilty? Assuming so, how did the Metropolitan Police come to employ him?

I feel a real connection to the concern about Violence against Women, an ongoing issue on which this murder has shone a troubling spotlight. Women are often seen as vulnerable, and there are appalling misogynistic attitudes which seem deeply entrenched in some people’s minds, from psychological bullying to the threat of violence all the way up to fatal injury.

Clapham Common became the focus of concern and the expression of grief on Saturday. I understand why many women wanted to show their care and solidarity. With Covid restrictions we obviously should not be gathering in large numbers at present. However, it is beyond me to understand how or why the Metropolitan Police intervened, pushing women to the ground and handcuffing them. This is the very same force from which the murder suspect came. And the protest was against violence to women.

I normally support the police. They have a very difficult and dangerous job, and I value the fact that officers brave danger regularly to keep us as safe as possible. However, I can’t support this, and I hope that lessons will be learnt. Ultimately, however, the issue is about attitudes to women and feeling safe in the streets. A lot needs to change.

The propensity for violence seems to be a recurring factor in human life. We can see it happening across the world today, we can see it through history. We see it too in the Gospel story where Jesus is arrested and beaten up, where logic fails and compassion runs out, where the wish to victimise a person leads to their death. How we need to learn that we should strive to overcome our sinful nature which leads to physical and spiritual death and know that God’s way is the way of resurrection, of new life in the Spirit, of divine compassion and spiritual peace.