40 years on from Toxteth and Moss Side riots 'not much has changed'

Video report by @Tashakacheri

Liverpool MP Kim Johnson and other prominent figures have said that little has changed for young black people since the 1981 riots.

It's now 40 years since young people - both black and white - took to the streets to stand against racism and police brutality.

Life was hard for young black people in 1981. Unemployment was high, housing was poor, opportunities were scarce.Many people at the time said their neighborhoods were patrolled by police who were openly racist towards them.On the July 3, 1981 the arrest of a young man called Leroy Cooper lit the fuse in Toxteth in Liverpool.

Jimi Jagne was 17 years old when he took to the streets.

There were hundreds of people arrested, police officers were injured, tear gas was used on crowds for the first time and many shopkeepers lost everything after their businesses were burnt to the ground.A couple of days later, violence erupted at Moss Side in Manchester.The young black people there faced the same issues as those in Liverpool and across the country.This week marks 40 years since that summer. Kim Johnson, whose Liverpool Riverside constituency includes Toxteth, and other prominent figures have said that not much has changed for young black people since the 1981 riots.

Black people in our region feel there's still a long way to go. Relations between their communities and the police remain uneasy.But many feel that the fall out from the death of George Floyd in America has at least shone a light on the need for change.