False Positives
Musicfor Jean Charles de Menezes
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About
I moved to London in July 2005, the week of Live 8, the Olympic Big Win and the 7/7 Bombings. It was a stark contrast to the North of England, where I’d lived my whole life until then. After 7/7 London was tense, even moreso after the failed attacks on the 21st of July. On the 22nd of July, a man being followed by the London Metropolitan Police was shot and killed on a train at Stockwell tube station, on suspicion of being one of the previous day’s bombers. In truth, as it would eventually transpire, he was Jean Charles de Menezes, a Brazilian who was mistaken for a terrorist because of the colour of his hair and his skin.
Statements were released after his murder, claiming that he ran into the station, and jumped the barrier, and was wearing a padded jacket that looked like it may have contained explosives. In the fullness of time, and two independent investigations later, these would all turn out to be false. The police shot and killed an innocent man at point blank range, once in the shoudler and seven times in the head.
At the time, the story was harrowing. Jean Charles could be anyone. How could we trust the police to protect us if they were shooting innocent people? But I, and I imagine many people, believed that eventually, justice would be done, and his death – surely the work of a few bad apples in the force – would be atoned for. Unfortunately, years later, after both enquiries failed to find any one person responsible, the Met have covered one another’s backs, and nobody was ever charged with killing Jean Charles. In fact, Cressida Dick, Gold Commander of the operation that murdered him, is now Commissioner of the force.
The song itself started writing itself in my head, listening to news broadcasts and reading reports about the sequence of events that led to this mans death. But back in 2005, it was still to raw, and the story wasn’t yet finished being told. In 2016, on hearing that Jean Charles’ family had lost their final appeal at the European Court of Human Rights, the song came back to me, and I realised that I could finish it.
And that even now, lessons from his death haven’t been learned – Edir Frederico Da Costa, known as Edson – was killed by police in East London in June this year during a routine traffic stop. He was CS gassed to death. The same week, the Hillsborough enquiry filed charges against senior police officials involved in the disaster with gross negligence and perversion of the course of justice.
Sleeve Notes
Released
22nd July 2017
Credits
Written and performed by Antonio Lulic.
Featuring John Parker (double bass), Patrick Wood (keyboards and guitars), Nic France (drums).
Cover art by Gordon Stone McBryde
Recorded and produced by Patrick Wood.
Mastered at Metropolis.