A good society is characterised not just by liberty but by mutual respect and responsibility. When this breaks down it takes a lot more than police officers to put things right.
A good life depends on the strength of our relationships with family, friends, neighbours, colleagues and strangers.
Many black youths are defying stereotypes, achieving good academic results, finding employment and contributing to their communities. But helping those who fall behind is not an exercise in political correctness, it is a precisely what a compassionate - and sensible - state should concern itself with.
Ultimately, we must either abandon our reliance on stop and search or abandon any hope for a criminal justice system grounded in equality, impartiality and fairness.
I knew what it was to be poor... my mother worried about putting food on the table. I knew what it was to feel excluded and shut out, but I also knew what it was to experience love and generosity.
Like many black men growing up in London, I have been stopped and searched by several policemen. I was 12 years old when I was first groped and frisked by police for walking down the road. It terrified me so much I wet myself.
We need specific work on race equality programmes and programmes targeted at helping those who are yet to fulfil their potential.
From closing the digital divide to after-school activities and eating well, we cannot afford to ignore the link between deprivation and underachievement.
I'm not going to be cowed by the rampant racism, the organised racism, that comes from parts of the alt-right.
I spend much of my time in a suit and tie with my top button done up and my sensible shoes neatly polished. When it comes to work, my appearance is about communicating professionalism and confidence.
I grew up under Thatcher; the era of apartheid; the era of the poll tax; the era of riots. I remember Neil Kinnock was a hero.
As I have consistently recommended, we desperately need to find more black judges, particularly females, who are chronically underrepresented in our courts across London and the U.K.
When I was a young child and before he had left us for the U.S., my father would give me Mark Twain novels. In the characters, the weather and the context, my father must have seen many parallels to his own youth in the Caribbean in the 1930s and 40s.
I think that's always something when you're working class, when you're aware of things that you haven't had; there are moments when you question yourself, definitely.
We cannot have different policing for different communities. It is inherently unfair.
I love the theatre and Miller is one of my all-time favourite playwrights. 'All My Sons' is a very socialist play, which exposes the lack of empathy that can accompany capitalism when it is left unchecked.
White supremacy is not confined to strange men in the Deep South who put on white cloaks, it is not confined to strange gatherings of the English Defence League.
Stop and search is an integral cog in a racially disproportionate criminal justice system.
A university education is a privilege, but we should be proud that in Britain it is also a right, no matter what your income or class or ethnic background.
I certainly knew the hard side of urban life, stop-and-search.
