As The Canary previously reported, the home office’s latest attempt to tackle knife crime through chicken boxes was lambasted for “racial profiling”.
Chicken stores are replacing their usual packaging with special boxes. Bearing the hashtag #knifefree, the boxes also feature “real life stories to show people how they can go #KnifeFree”. Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott called the plans “crude, offensive and probably expensive”.
Now a group has come up with a genius plan to actually do some good with chicken boxes. But it needs your help to raise the money to do it. Spelling Mistakes Cost Lives is hosting the fundraiser after it was rejected by other sites:
In response to the dumb & racist #knifefree chicken boxes, there's now a fundraiser to print boxes that inform young ppl on their rights when stopped by the cops
Not my project, but I'm hosting the fundraiser as all the main fundraising sites rejected ithttps://t.co/gNyZ9Wwsov
— Spelling Mistakes Cost Lives (@darren_cullen) August 19, 2019
https://twitter.com/MobNrg/status/1162789362221891584?s=20
“Don’t be a chicken! Know your rights!”
The boxes will have the messages “Don’t be a chicken! Know your rights!” and “All Cops Are Boneless” emblazoned on them. Inside the flap is information about your rights on stop and search. The box states:
Stop and search is racist from top to bottom, and has nothing to do with catching criminals. In 2011 there were 1,205,495 searches. Across the country less than 10% of stops end in arrest, and in London this figure drops to 8%. Many of those are nothing to do with finding anything illegal, but because people choose to disagree with or resist the search.
It then sets out important information, including all the things a police officer should tell you when you’re being stopped and searched. And it also gives the crucial advice of answering “no comment” to any questions that the police ask. There are limited circumstances, such as driving a car, when you need to give information to the police. But general stop and search powers do not give the police power to demand your personal details.
“Law and order orgy”
The text for the fundraiser sets out the background of Boris Johnson’s “law and order orgy”. It states that Johnson has:
rushed to announce the addition of 20,000 more police, massive prison expansion and enhanced stop and search powers.
And it explains that:
These measures go against what we know to be effective in combating violence in communities – and are a direct attack on the people who suffer most from knife crime, police violence and discrimination.
Importantly, it points out where the money could be better spent:
The money spent [on] these new measures could have been used investing in our communities, re-opening youth centres, re-opening libraries, funding our schools and healthcare services.
Before it firmly highlights:
More police is not the answer, more prisons are not the answer, more racist stop & search powers are not the answer, and badly designed chicken shop boxes are definitely not the answer.
Fighting back
These boxes are a brilliant way of fighting back against the ludicrous home office chicken boxes with both humour and information. Johnson does indeed seem to be embarking on a “law and order orgy”, and we all need to find new ways to resist and challenge what his government is trying to do.
Featured image via screengrab – Spelling Mistakes Cost Lives
