As a new person to this forum I can't believe the debate I have just ploughed through concerning Rye Lane. I live just off Bellenden Road and East Dulwich was where I grew up and went to school (JAGS). Back then in the 80's and early 90's East Dulwich was a "dump". I have now returned to find it cleaned up and full of nouveau riche types from other parts of London. Peckham and Rye lane was a slighter smarter place with lots of shops and a thriving mixed community. Now it has been taken over by the market vendors and cheap shops, it is certainly vibrant and during trading hours noisy and dirty as all markets are; but dangerous?! As a Londoner born and bred I have lived in just about every corner of this city and one thing never changes. Any town with an ethnic presence is labelled dangerous and undesirable. There are many people in this country and on this forum who have racism inbedded within them and they don't know it. They spout their ignorance in pubs and at dinner parties and get away with it because most people belong to that huge club which is the silent majority, the ones who pretend that nasty things are not being done and said on their doorstep and thus they enable it. I have seen white people on Rye Lane recoil because a black person has brushed against them and then seen those same people on Lordship Lane pretending not to notice the group of foul yobs outside the EDT vomiting in the gutter. To the person who started this debate, move to Peckham, if you are worldly wise enough to know a drug deal when you see one or can tell when someone is smoking Heroin, you can clearly take care of yourself and can live anywhere. As for the rest of you and you know who you are, yes YOU ARE RACIST but you already know that hence the indignant babbling. Grow up and put your time and energy towards helping the hundreds of black kids who attempt suicide every month no doubt because they are fed up with being told who they are and what the area they live in is like (ie a dangerous dump full of dodgy characters). Look in the mirror and realise that in 2008 one of the hottest debates on TV is the fact that a mixed race man ( dubbed Black by Whites across the Western world as are all people who have one white and one black parent - no agenda there I'm sure) is running for President of the USA. "Oooh do you think he'll win" you all ponder over your pints of cider but not one of you has the soul to ask why has it taken so long for this to happen. Maybe its because so many of you still think and talk like those nasty hood wearing types someone saw fit to make a crass joke about. Just because you speak in code and use different words doesn't mean you're not one of them. Every time I see a police car on Lordship Lane its to break up a fight and that is nearly every week. Normal people know and understand that every area has nice parts and rough bits and everywhere has crime. Choose your postcode and someone will be able to show you a corner where yobs of all ages and colours gather to make a nuisance of themselves and break the law. Anyone who says different about any particular place is an ignorant fool with an agenda. Please ... no sniffy and defensive retorts you only embarrass yourselves just grow up.
