Rikers Island

just beyond New York's La Guardia airport in this picture is Rikers Island the home to New York's jails. there are 10 jails on the island with a population of approximately 10,000 prisoners. the place has a fearsome reputation but there was one statistic that I found quite sobering. 55% of the inmates are black and 34% are Hispanic. that means that 89% of the inmates are none white.

there is a huge debate going on in America about the treatment of black people by the police but if 89% of the people in prison in Ney York are none white then something is not working, it may well be true that the vast majority of people Incarcerated there should be there but there is something wrong with a society where 9 in 10 people who are locked up are none white.    

9/11 15th anniversary

firstly no it's not my picture but I managed to see the tribute last night and even with the light 

Pollution where I was I could see the lights and its a very powerful image

I happened to be in New York on the 15^th anniversary of 9/11 and I was privileged to watch the memorial service which was carried live by the local TV stations. There are a few musical pieces but the main part of the service is the reading of the almost 3000 names of the people killed. The names are read by relatives of the families. They read in pairs and each read about 10 names. The last name they read is their own relatives and the readers then spend a few moments speaking of their loss and the effect it has had on their family. It was a tremendously moving experience. It was particularly poignant when a name was read out as “XXX and her unborn child.”.   The reading of the names pauses briefly so a single bell can be rung at the moment each tower was hit and at the time each tower fell. it takes nearly four hours to read the names out and the ceremony takes place every year. undoubtedly this will be the single biggest event in my lifetime and the scale of loss is incomprehensible.    

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