Black U.K. weatherman interrupts TV debate to passionately denounce building more prisons
Alex Beresford had more to offer than the chance of rain that day.
A weatherman in the United Kingdom is drawing international attention after interrupting a morning interview to shutdown talk of building more prisons.
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A weatherman in the United Kingdom is drawing international attention after interrupting a morning interview in which a representative for law enforcement said that the country needs more prisons.
Good Morning Britain weatherman Alex Beresford emerged from the background on Tuesday morning as John Apter, chair of the of the Police Federation, an association representing law enforcement in England and Wales, said more punishment will solve the country’s issue with knife crimes.
“My argument, build more prisons,” Apter said during “Good Morning Britain,” hosted by Piers Morgan. “We need to have a consequence,” Apter added.
At that point in the broadcast, a voice emerged from the background. Beresford then spoke up.
“I’ve grown up in some of these communities that you guys are talking about and prison — it’s not a deterrent,” Beresford interjected from his chair on the set.
“It won’t change anything and that’s the key thing,” Beresford said.
‘These boys, not all of them get to benefit from [their] environment. If you don’t show them something else, you won’t change it.’@alexberesfordTV talks passionately about the need to properly understand the root issues behind the UK’s knife crime epidemic. pic.twitter.com/3AUHCnJxAi
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) March 5, 2019
The program tweeted out the exchange from its own Twitter account and viewers and fans gave Beresford a social media high five for speaking up on an issue that apparently mirrors debate taking place in the United States. The TV program later posted a longer video from Beresford in which he explains why he had to interject. During the explanation, Beresford made reference to “stop and search,” the United Kingdom equivalent of “stop and frisk.” The controversial measure that once was policy in New York City gave law enforcement the right to stop anyone who they deemed suspicious.
“The reason I really felt that I had to interrupt in the debate around knife crime today was because I sat there, in a way actually getting enraged because it’s quite hard for me as a mixed-race person that has grown up in some of the areas that these boys come from just to sit back and say nothing,” he said. “It’s easy to point the finger when you’ve not actually lived that life or had experience with what it’s like to be in that environment … You can’t hide from the statistics and we do know that it’s a problem in the Black community, especially, just throwing stop-and-search out there as a way to kind of fix all is not the answer.”
On Wednesday, the day after the exchange, Beresford posted a photo of himself on Twitter in workout gear and thanked the public for backing him up.
“Off to the gym to burn off some steam,” he posted. “Thanks for all your kind messages. It really means a lot.”
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