Last week, I re-listened to Sinead O’Connor’s 1990 album, I don’t want what I haven’t got, having been haunted and shadowed by “I am Stretched on Your Grave.” In the process, I rediscovered “Black Boys on Mopeds,” and thought, a camera lucida[e] post.

The song has several specific reference points. So, early Monday morning, I tried to corroborate my memory of the 1989 incident: a British police chase of a young black man in the mistaken belief he stole the moped he was riding. Losing control of the moped, he crashed and died.

I found some line anecdotal accounts. The police report stated it was “an accident” and there was no police culpability:

“O’Connor felt that the police, a ‘representative of state authority’, caused his death, and the incident (re)sparked accusations of racism in the police force, on the grounds that the police would not have assumed that the youth had stolen the bike, or pursued him so aggressively, had he been white.” genius.com 

Shifting to Margaret Thatcher and Tiananmen Square, I searched for the iconic image “tank man,” the lone man standing down a line of Chinese tanks. I was jolted; June 3/4 is the 30th anniversary of the violent end of student protests by Chinese soldiers. Thus, the incident is again front and centre in the news.

O’Connor’s lyrics are hauntingly still being fulfilled: These are dangerous days/To say what you feel is to dig your own grave.

Black Boys on Mopeds

Margaret Thatcher on TV
Shocked by the deaths that took place in Beijing
It seems strange that she should be offended
The same orders are given by her
I’ve said this before now
You said I was childish and you’ll say it now
Remember what I told you
If they hated me they will hate you
England’s not the mythical land of Madame George and roses
It’s the home of police who kill black boys on mopeds
And I love my boy and that’s why I’m leaving
I don’t want him to be aware that there’s
Any such thing as grieving
Young mother down at Smithfield
Five a.m., looking for food for her kids
In her arms she holds three cold babies
And the first word that they learned was please
These are dangerous days
To say what you feel is to dig your own grave
Remember what I told you
If you were of the world they would love you
England’s not the mythical land of Madame George and roses
It’s the home of police who kill blacks boys on mopeds
And I love my boy and that’s why I’m leaving
I don’t want him to be aware that there’s
Any such thing as grieving

1990 from I don’t want what I haven’t got

for articles on the 30th anniversary of Tiananmen Square, see for example:    “How Tiananmen Square’s ‘Goddess of Democracy’ Became a Symbol of Defiance,” CNN;  “Tiananmen Square’s Haunted Silence,” Washington Post; “30 Years After Tiananmen, ‘Tank Man’ Remains an Icon and a Mystery,” New York Times.

for a video of voice, images and lyrics watch this.

photograph: Jeff Widener