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# Young Deacon - Failed by the System
- URL: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/young-deacon-failed-by-system/
- Published: 2011-08-14T15:08:14.000Z
- Updated: 2026-04-22T09:54:50.000Z
- Description: A post-riot song by a young south London rapper.
- Author: ourKingdom editors
- Tags: England Riots, #Migrated, England erupts, #en, #Import 2026-04-09 15:51, #appended-excerpt

I can’t justify the burning  
Of buildings and businesses  
That sort of attitude there  
Is inexcusable  
But what niggles on my mind  
As I’m looking and the cinders is  
This what the future holds?  
We're branded alot  
As rioters, looters  
Murderers, yobs  
Knifers, shooters  
Depicted as the worst  
On your news and computers  
But like it or not  
The youth are the future  
So it’s all well and good  
What you’re saying  
Sitting in the comfort of your chair  
And complaining  
Stretching your index  
And passing the blame and  
You’re doing a good job  
If that’s the part that you’re playing  
Everybody’s fast to judge  
But who you judging?  
No one wants to take  
Responsibility of nothing  
But let’s be real  
Where’s the ones that raised us?  
It’s the same individuals  
That wanna hate us  
We follow your example  
So let me break it down  
We ask why were at war  
You show us how to raid a town  
We ask the police  
Why crime rates aren’t at the minimal  
They turn around a cuff us  
Telling us that were the criminals  
The system is ----  
So who do we look up to  
It’s a youth club  
That a youth should run to  
But when the government cuts  
The government funds  
And increases police power  
Why don’t they just shoot us?  
'Cause if I’m honest  
We’re the real victims  
born and bought up  
In a messed up system  
Got a nerve if you’re asking  
Why we aint got jobs  
When this whole empire  
Is built on what we robbed  
Just look at the crown jewels  
You think that they were ever in our soil?  
You think we’d still be in Iraq  
If there was never oil?  
You’re focused on a issue  
But you don’t know what the issue is  
We were raised  
By a generation of hypocrites  
When you’re rolling in the mud  
And you look up in the mirror  
Can you blame your reflection?  
Or do you see it clearer?  
So please don’t give up  
And please don’t fear us  
The futures on my mind  
You could call it new era  
Don’t give up on the kids  
They’re in need of support  
Better role models  
Not leaders at war  
It takes a whole community  
To raise a single child  
So please think twice  
Before you blame him ‘cause he’s wild  
If only he had that  
Little bit of guidance  
Maybe he wouldn’t be  
Running from the sirens  
Maybe he wouldn’t be  
Adding to the violence  
And maybe he wouldn’t be  
Out in the riots  
We're crying to be heard  
And we’ve finally got a voice  
But then again the media  
Will always be biased  
So don’t feed on their lies  
And see the bigger picture  
We all need to unite  
And build a better future

*Read an interview with Young Deacon about this song* [*here*](http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/ryan-gallagher/raised-by-a-generation-of-hypocrites-youth-riots-london)*.*

A post-riot song by a young south London rapper.