成人快手

“If anything goes wrong, remember, you’re the black person in that situation.”

“I’m grateful that what’s happened in America has triggered more of a movement and would urge people here to also concentrate close to home because it’s not too long ago that we heard about Sheku Bayoh.

“It’s something that continuously happens and you experience a lot growing up and you never know how you’re supposed to speak about it."

Sheku Bayoh was 31 when he died in 2015 after being restrained by police in Kirkcaldy.

In a statement, Police Scotland’s Chief Constable Iain Livingstone said: "The death of Sheku Bayoh was, and remains, a terrible tragedy. It has had a traumatic impact on his family and friends, as well as affecting many people within policing and the wider community of Kirkcaldy and Scotland.”

He went on to say that Police Scotland will participate fully in the Public Inquiry into his death in an open and transparent manner.

David says you have to be extremely cautious when you’re a young black male in Scotland.

“It’s not enough to not being doing something wrong you can’t be associated with people doing something wrong, you can’t be in the area where there’s been an incident and if you are it’s like instantly you feel like you’re guilty it feels like you have to prove you’re innocent at every turn.”

George Floyd, an African-American man, died after he was stopped by police investigating the purchase of cigarettes with counterfeit money on 25 May in Minneapolis. A video showed him being arrested and a white police officer continuing to kneel on his neck for several minutes even after he continuously pleaded that he could not breathe. Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, 44, has been charged with murder and manslaughter.

David described the emotions he felt in response to the world-wide reaction to the death of George Floyd.

“I think for me, I get very worried because you see the injustice on the one hand, you support the affirmative action and u think I feel it enough that I want to be out there but then on the other hand you start worrying about the safety and destruction and the people who have to live in the communities when all is said and done. If I’m being honest I feel like I’ve just been spinning I don't know how to make sense of it.”

David went on to describe how racism can materialise in ways that people don’t recognise unless they’ve experienced it first hand.

“It takes quite a toll on, especially young people, you feel like you grow up with a sense of nervousness around a lot of situations that other people wouldn’t. You’ll find that a lot of parents, especially black mothers, especially with their sons, they’ll sit you down and they’ll be like, 'Listen, I know you want to go here with your friends and do this but remember that if anything goes wrong you are the black person in that situation’.

“Sometimes my mum answers the phone to me when I call her and she sounds like she’s scared and I’m calling to check in. “It’s because we don't trust governments and law enforcement, maybe that’s less of an issue here than in the US but it still is one. It doesn’t feel like anyone’s got your best interests, it doesn’t feel like you’re being listened to half the time. And anytime you want to say something it feels like you have to soften it.”

When asked about when he feels able to truly relax and be himself he said:

“You do that when you’re indoors if you’re with family and with some of your friends, not all of your friends. With black groups you’ll find that people understand you and you can have more open conversations and express frustrations.”

On how we use this moment to bring about radical change David said he feared it wasn’t as close as some think.

“I think it's further off than people like to give it credit for...it's still going to be a little while before you can go outside and act however you want. Education is the only thing.

"Educating yourself and educating your black friends. Educating your white friends. Because that's the only way they’re going to understand things. Because if you sit and internalise the things you don't like, about what they’ve said or how they feel or certain actions they’ve taken, you’re not changing anything whether they mean to or not. Then they go out and perpetuate harmful behaviour so education is the only way forward.”

A number of protests are reportedly planned in Scotland amid escalating anger over the death of George Floyd.

Police Scotland’s Chief Constable told the Unlocked podcast that he shared the shock and distress at his death, and stated that racism in all its forms is disgraceful and unacceptable. David is cautious about whether or not this collective energy will last.

“There’s the worry that there’s a token voice, you get quite sceptical when mass movements of activism happen that involve a lot of people from all over the place because you’re almost like, ‘right everyone’s here now, everyone posted but what’s going to happen in three months when we still have black kids being beaten on the street, being killed in the street, being arrested for the wrong reasons, what happens then and who is still there’.

“I wanna hope that in the future my children won’t have to go through anything like this but that would be a fairy tale scenario.”