I was intrigued to read the interesting letter from Mr Snape ('Make Parents Responsible', Postbag, July 17th) and would like to raise several points in relation to this letter.
The first point I would like to contest is the idea that young people are "awful people, selfish people, and noisy people" as opposed to "quiet, ordinary, law-abiding people".
To brand every person under the age of 16 as awful, selfish and noisy i
s wholly inaccurate. If any other group of people, such as Black, gay or Irish people, were described as being awful, selfish and noisy or were put under an imposed curfew to be kept off 'our streets' for 'the peace of mind of the rest of the residents', it would be seen as outright discrimination.
Mr Snape complains about young people "roaming our streets". The fact is that they gather there because there is nowhere else for them to meet socially if they are not fans of the skate park and are too young to meet in pubs, rather than out of a desire to vandalise houses, deal drugs or beat up old ladies.
To impose a 7pm curfew on the youth of a town because they go out to socialise is utterly unreasonable; an equivalent is not suggested for adults who gather on the Market Place on Saturday nights who could inadvertently make younger people walking home feel threatened or uncomfortable, as such a decision would be seen by the adults it affected as unacceptable and utterly unfair.
Finally, I would like to contest the very notion of the adult residents of a town 'owning' the streets of that town. The idea of 'our' streets that certain groups of the town's society should be kept off does nothing less than fracture society. This is utterly unproductive, as it does not promote any sense of harmony or equality in the community; what sort of community would we have if the youth was made to feel alienated and the target of unfair discrimination based purely upon their age?
Surely it would be far more constructive if, instead of threatening youths aged 16 and under with arrest if they step outside after 7pm, more was done to accommodate the youth in a way that is beneficial to the community as a whole, namely by not forcibly alienating a large part of it.
Jess Purchase (18 yrs)
Hall Bank
Buxton
The full article contains 405 words and appears in Buxton Advertiser newspaper.
