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Kids of Colour

@kidsofcolourhq.bsky.social
79 followers 167 following 25 posts

An anti-racist youth work organisation, committed to racial justice for young people of colour in Greater Manchester. #FreeTheMcr10

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Kids of Colour @kidsofcolourhq.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
No one else is going to do that for us when it comes to injustice and fights against racist state violence. This was archiving straight from community, and we are so grateful to everyone who came to witness it. More soon.
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Kids of Colour @kidsofcolourhq.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
We heard from three of the boys, who spoke about their experiences and reminded us that there are still others to fight for who were not released. It is our duty to archive our present day stories so they are documented in history, and so others don’t rewrite our truths.
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Kids of Colour @kidsofcolourhq.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
📣 ARCHIVING RACIAL INJUSTICE & RESISTANCE 📣 We are so unbelievably proud of the boys for pulling together such a beautiful event last week. On Thursday night, community gathered to come and see an archive of The Manchester 10 case: the injustice and the resistance.
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Kids of Colour @kidsofcolourhq.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
‼️🚨 EMERGENCY FUND 🚨‼️ 📣 We need your help to support one of the Manchester 10 and his family. Please read the full post, donate if you can, and share WIDELY 📣 This is a mutual aid request in the face of a racist criminal injustice and immigration system. www.paypal.com/donate?campa...
EMERGENCY
FUND
SUPPORTING ONE OF THE MANCHESTER 10 FAMILIES
Hostile immigration policies linked to criminal injustice system outcomes are harming a family we support.
We need emergency funds to prevent homelessness.
KEE
THE _BOYS
JUSTICE FOR THE MANCHESTER 10,
FREE
THE
BesIn February, we reached out to community behind the scenes about one of The Manchester 10, who currently has no right to public funds or employment because of his unjust criminal case impacting his immigration status. In this country, if you are sentenced to over 12 months in prison, you can be at risk of deportation.
Sadly, what should have been an acquittal by the court of appeal in 2025 was only a sentence reduction, one that did not do enough to keep him safe.
He has lived in this country the majority of his life, but as a result of both his case's impact on processes, and a lawyer who did not do what was necessary, rights to funds and employment now affect the whole family. While a new lawyer works hard to fix this situation, one they should not be in, the family are at risk of homelessness.
Thanks to community generosity, we have managed to keep their home until now. From August, we will no longer be able to do that. We are now forced to make a public call for any support.HOW TO SUPPORT
DONATE
We have now set up a fundraiser on our PayPal for this emergency fund specifically. Donations will help pay rent and bills. Every donation helps. However, we do not know how long this situation will take to resolve. So if you know people with access to funds or big pockets, please ask for their support.
This money will be sent over monthly to cover costs, as requested. It is separate to our main donations, and to our existing Manchester 10 pot. If rights to support are returned, and money left is no longer needed, it will go back into our existing collective Manchester 10 pot.
HOW TO DONATE
Use the fundraiser link in our bio
Use this QR codeHOW TO SUPPORT
Housing
Of course, funding in this way is not a long term solution. We know empty homes exist across Greater Manchester. If you are able to help, or know anyone who can, please reach out.
Other
If you have any other suggestions, please do contact us.
We remind you, The Manchester 10 case is another act of collective punishment that should never have happened. For many young people in cases like these, they face double punishment. Long prison sentences (often for harms they did not commit), followed by the risk of deportation.
It is state racism, and we must resist.
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Kids of Colour @kidsofcolourhq.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
One Year On: Remembering Theo Vucky Nthobatsang
ONE YEAR ON:
REMEMBERING THEO
VUCKY NTHOBATSANG
Yesterday marked one year since the tragic death of 19 year old Theo. On the 7th June 2025, Theo died from his injuries that were a result of his fall from a 5th floor balcony. Police had arrived at the front door of a flat he was in, and he attempted to flee.
In the week's after Theo's death, his mother received no updates from the police, and tried to piece together what had happened from news articles, and a social media video of his fall. It was only this video that enabled us to figure out where he fell, which allowed us to take his mother there.
After Theo's death, we were able to obtain information that showed in July 2024, the Home Office concluded that there were positive grounds to accept Theo as a victim of modern slavery, a result of
'child criminal exploitation'.ONE YEAR ON:
This status, that comes via the National Referral Mechanism and that should offer state protections (such as the police and CJS not prosecuting victims in drugs related cases), was news to his mother. What this status means is, Theo's protection was and is a serious matter. Despite holding this status that should bring protections into Theo's life, it is currently unclear what was put in place for him between receiving this status in July 2024, and his death in June 2025.
What we know is that after July 2024, Theo was repeatedly arrested and prosecuted, including for drug offences. On the night Theo fell, drugs were found in the flat he was in, and whilst Theo was in a coma, his home was raided for drugs.
We are now awaiting another pre inquest review hearing for Theo, as different institutions make the necessary disclosures asked for by the coroner. Theo's family's legal representatives will be making arguments for an Article 2 inquest. An Article 2 inquest would examine whether state authorities met their obligations to protect life.
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Kids of Colour @kidsofcolourhq.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
One day, there will be an end to police violating our young people in life and death.
One day, there will be an end to police violating our young people in life and death.
The far right do not care about the lives of young people. They care about opportunities to be racist. Their approach, as always, is to weaponise tragedies surrounding children and young people to mobilise hatred, and ignore the much needed justice fights that children and young people require of us long term.
Those who actually care about young people have long fought for their justice in communities. That justice may be fights to improve education systems, to end police violence, to end child poverty, to ensure children live in safe housing, to address children's worsening mental health, and so on.
And those who fight for young people who are most oppressed - often racialised young people across the board - from the position of genuinely caring for young people's collective justice, by default fight for all young people. Because the improvement in the lives of those most oppressed, justice in their lives, liberation in their lives, would mean every young person's life has improved. When we fight for young people experiencing racist oppression, particularly by the state, we never fight to make specific young people's live's better or worse than others.
That is the narrative and work of fascists. It is what we of course now see emerging from from their tired playbook following the devastating death of a young person, whose life was met with the state violence that racialised communities have long been fighting against.
We are thinking of Henry Nowak and his loved ones. We hope they find the incredible support and justice networks we know exist, who hold families with these shared experiences of state violence. And we hope one day, there will be an end to police violating our young people in life and death.
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Kids of Colour @kidsofcolourhq.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
'This is not going to lead anywhere right, because he's not mentally, he's not right, he's not speaking to anybody, he's muting us, he's mentally not doing okay, every other day he has an outburst where he says, I don't want to live' there's literally hundreds of signs to say it's an emergency.
He needs to be taken. He needs to be taken and taken care of by professionals.''She's crying out for help, because you, I know what this leads to, I know what this leads to, he's already come back with injuries, the police is not even bothered about that, all they think is, they just thinking just ship him, put him back, I'm telling you, it's not working like this, so the police, I don't know, we have to go through this avenue to do what, because last time we tried to do this, they rang up and said, "Oh, have you got somewhere for him to stay?" We're like, "No, he can't even stay in his own family house, how do you think he's gonna stay in... other families won't take him?" so they're like, "All right, he might have to go to the police station." We said, "Right, you're gonna take a child to a police station?"'We've given you ample warnings every day, we're trying to get it sorted early, if they literally just came in the morning when he's still asleep, could have done that, but they're not thinking about that. They're not listening to what we are literally trying to.. we're going through every day.
So I don't know, as long as this gets logged up and this call is recorded. If we have to go to newspaper, I'm telling you, because something's gonna happen to this kid.We want to reflect the lengths loved ones go to to warn of coming harm, and how few institutional solutions there are for our young people in crisis. This family did not receive the support they needed, and it ended in devastation.
We need resourced communities that meet all young people's needs, not increasingly funded punishment that can only arrive once harm happens.
We urge you to read the full transcript through the link in our bio, despite its length.
Parents are routinely blamed for children's acts of harm, by services, by politicians, even by community. But many do not see the desperate calls in the background. We aim to build with loved ones who have begged for help, and whose children have either killed, or died. It is the state that is failing them.
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Kids of Colour @kidsofcolourhq.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
In Manchester, a child killed another child in community. Through a Joint Enterprise trial, he received a sentence longer than he has lived.
His family told us they begged for help for him for years. On the next slides are quotes from a call that was recorded and shared with us, between a family member and social services, relating to their child. It is one of many efforts made to find support, support they did not receive. Although this is the family's information, unrelated to trial, it all remains anonymous to not reveal identities in light of reporting restrictions. This family wants to fight, but we cannot share more about this family, and they cannot identify themselves.I can see this soon happening, something bad. So she literally doesn't know what to do, and before her, before she loses her kid, before everything else, she wants help'"He runs away in the morning. He doesn't go to school. We know what he's doing. We know he's getting groomed out there. So, what's reporting him missing? What are they gonna do? Because he's just... they're not finding him. They've never found him, you know? He just comes when he wants.
He comes at midnight, and then that's it. Or then they find him. And then the police will be like, 'Is he here yet, alright, no worries, bye bye.'"'So we're trying to go through the right avenues for mum, before he, she gets into trouble. So we're trying to do this rightly. So, how do you do this rightly when a persons just saying physically, I can't hold this kid, he's at risk, he's, he's vulnerable I...] The kids are not sleeping right now. All the other kids are not going to school properly. They're not waking up, they're not able to sleep. They're seeing police coming in and out the house for the last month. The kid doesn't, he keeps stealing from the house, she's hiding her knives. You know, I mean, in the house... that's the point where we're at, where we have to hide knives and everything.'
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Kids of Colour @kidsofcolourhq.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
⚫️ THE CALLS FOR HELP BEING MADE BY PARENTS IN MANCHESTER, AHEAD OF HARM THEY PREDICT ⚫️ We ask you to read this, and share. We ask you to remember that behind each local news headline that demonises children and blames families, there are many stories just like this.
"IF THIS IS THE WAY IT GOES ON, HE'LL LITERALLY END UP
GOING TO JAIL OR HE'LL
END UP DEAD."
THE CALLS FOR HELP BEING MADE BY PARENTS IN MANCHESTER, AHEAD OF HARM THEY PREDICT.
We ask you to read this, and share. We ask you to remember that behind each local news headline that demonises children and blames families, there are many stories just like this.
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Kids of Colour @kidsofcolourhq.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
[The paper commits to ‘deporting foreign national children at the earliest possibility’] We want nothing less than a society pushing forward to make young people’s lives beautiful, and that starts by recognising the violence and responsibility of the state.
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Kids of Colour @kidsofcolourhq.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
It names ‘racial disparity’ in the system, but whilst constructs of danger, risk, and threat are so inherently defined by racism that is entrenched in society more broadly - racism that the state constructs from above - there will always be ‘disparity’.
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Kids of Colour @kidsofcolourhq.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
which their basic needs are met as a minimum, and their lives are enriched to the maximum. That is what we should be fighting for. Any narrative that may feel hopeful in the paper always follows with reminders that the most ‘dangerous’ or ‘risky’ will always face imprisonment.
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Kids of Colour @kidsofcolourhq.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
them to take on so much responsibility. We are tired of the words ‘early intervention’, when they are often about inserting more institutions and authority into young peoples lives, and detached from recognising that as soon as ANY child comes into this world, they should have the right to a life in
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Kids of Colour @kidsofcolourhq.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
We live in a country where the age of criminal responsibility is 10, and a country where the state often avoids acknowledging the violence it brings to childhoods. The paper speaks to supporting children to ‘turn their lives around’: but they have barely had life, and yet somehow we expect
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Kids of Colour @kidsofcolourhq.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
When grounded in a criminal justice standpoint, even if poverty and root causes of harm are acknowledged in such papers, punishment will always be part of the solution, and we can’t keep punishing our children.
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Kids of Colour @kidsofcolourhq.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Once again, we remain deeply frustrated that efforts to reduce harm in community come from a criminal justice position, including ‘strengthening policing’. It is always about ‘reducing crime’ and never about building beautiful lives for young people.
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Kids of Colour @kidsofcolourhq.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Yesterday, the government released a white paper on Youth Justice reforms, with the hope to tackle ‘offending’ earlier. Our Director wrote a reflection. www.lbc.co.uk/article/solu...
lbc.co.uk
The real solution to youth crime is improving children's lives | LBC
The only ‘early intervention’ we want to hear about is an intensive, radical effort to make the conditions of young people’s lives better, writes Dr Roxy Legane
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Kids of Colour @kidsofcolourhq.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
📣 COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT HARMS AGAIN 📣 More Mancunian children will be sentenced next week.
Today marks 4 years since a jury found The Manchester 10 guilty, and sadly, collective punishment trials have continued to send children and young people to prison in Greater Manchester. It is often difficult to build widespread public outrage for children who are sent to prison. Children have lived short lives, lives that are beautiful and rich in their own right, but they may not have the compelling positions in society that allow many (especially adults) to connect, to feel rage, or to see injustice. A child loving swimming may not be a story that makes you feel as shocked or enraged by that child's imprisonment in the same way that knowing someone's role in society, what they do for work, or how they are not who you expect to see imprisoned, does. Children should not be in cages, but for Black children, it is often where the public expects them to be, and they become disposable and forgotten to much of society.
For Black children, their prominence in Joint Enterprise trials and in the prison system, is political. Their imprisonment is part of a war on Black youth that has grown in its violent infrastructure decade after decade.
You cannot remove politics from criminal trials when, like in this case, Black, Muslim children are in the dock. You cannot remove politics from life before the dock, from why and how they are there in the first place, from court narratives, from how 'fair' a process they receive, or from juries decision making. Particularly not in a country where fascism is gaining support rapidly.For one family due to see their child sentenced, their story is a shocking reflection of state failure: for reasons we cannot tell you. We support reporting restrictions for children, however if this family's story was heard, we know collective rage would follow. But in their particularly complex and harrowing life story, there is no way for them to speak without revealing identity, so for now, they are bound by a quietness.
Once again we find ourselves in another heartbreaking reality. One young person has lost their life; three young people will be sentenced; and children are convicted for harm they did not commit. This punishment is the state's so-called 'solution' for interpersonal harm in our communities, but punishment never prevents harm, it just supports an endless cycle of violence. Still, the root causes of interpersonal violence in community - often state violence and neglect - remain unaddressed. Four families and their connected communities, are devastated: left once again to pick up the pieces once state punishment is complete.
This cannot continue.
Our original statement about this trial is in our bio.
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Kids of Colour @kidsofcolourhq.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
If they were authorised to force entry, they could. So all that is left, is a household concerned about why this officer is trying to access their keys as a means of entry in the middle of the night.
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Kids of Colour @kidsofcolourhq.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
This video was sent to us by a community member we support. The officers) came in the early hours of the morning, presented no warrant, did not leave any information, left and did not return (therefore we assume this wasn’t an urgent visit).
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Kids of Colour @kidsofcolourhq.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
THE EVERYDAY AUDACITY OF POLICING WE ARE NO LONGER SHOCKED.
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Kids of Colour @kidsofcolourhq.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
📣 TAKE ACTION: SUPPORT GEDEON, ONE OF THE MANCHESTER 10 📣 Read the post and then use the link in for the actions! tr.ee/19eylFhRBN
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Kids of Colour @kidsofcolourhq.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
RETURNED TO GMP
In February 2025 the IOPC upheld our application for review, but frustratingly, returned it to GMP to re-investigate.
In October 2025, GMP rejected the complaint points again (providing no evidence of the alleged robberies but repeated that the taking of photographs was unacceptable.
This response added to the farce of the complaints process, as GMP left their own comments attached in their complaint outcome letter:
Sep 26
Do we know what happened to the photos? Would be useful to know if they were deleted / destroyed?MOVING FORWARD
In November 2025 we made another application for review, again demanding an 'independent' investigation by the IOPC. In April 2026, the IOPC upheld our review, finally deciding to investigate 'independently.
Of course, like many, we also have no trust in the IOPC, particularly in regard to its 'independence, but we continue to push for those affected. Its decision will be final, but we already know what this stop was, and what stops like this continue to be in community. They are an abuse of power, driven by racism, that continue to harm our children every day in Manchester.
We engage in complaint processes when it is important to young people or parents to document experiences of police violence. But we need greater resistance against state violence: know your rights, understand what is happening in your area, form groups that engage in intervention on the ground, organise in community for alternatives to forces that violate our children.
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Kids of Colour @kidsofcolourhq.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
COMPLAINT
In January 2023, 3 boys aged between 12-14 were on their way home. GMP stopped them on the basis of a 'series of robberies in the area', and that they 'matched the description' in the same black coats many would be wearing on a winter evening. The stop was violent. One child was held face down in the snow, the others pushed up against fences, and when a community member tried to support with rights information, the police threatened him with arrest.
As soon as the children expressed their anger, blame was further put onto them by the officers: can you see why the cuffs are on you? Because of this. "Look at your attitude'.COMPLAINT
In March 2023, we made a complaint about this stop on behalf of two of the boys and their parents. The complaint related to racism, the use of force against children, the lawfulness of and justification for the stop, and the fact an officer took photos of the children on their phone.
We chased this complaint for almost 2 years, receiving a response from GMP in November 2024.
GMP's response rejected the majority of the points in the complaint, all action was acceptable, other than the photographs taken of the children, which was unacceptable.APPEAL
In December 2024 we submitted an application for review of the complaint to the IOPC, and demanded it was done 'independently'. GMP's investigation was flawed from the beginning. They could provide no evidence of the series of robberies' used to justify the stop, with the investigating officer stating 'I have established that there was no briefing document provided in relation to this deployment and the information provided was provided verbally and therefore I am unable to review what information was given to the officers prior to the deployment'.
And whilst the taking of photos was acknowledged
as unacceptable, we had
absolutely no clarity on what had happened to the photos, or even whether they had been taken on a work or personal phone.APPEAL
An investigation should have collected Computer Aided Dispatch and Crime Reporting Information System reports, to understand more about the 'series of robberies'. We stated:
Without understanding this detail, this stop is impossible to scrutinise with any integrity. A 'series of robberies' can reasonably lead us to assume there were robberies over an extended period of time. Are these robberies to do with the day in question? How long before these children were stopped were robberies with a weapon reported? If reported in the morning, would officers really be expected to be out in the evening searching for children? If this alleged 'series of robberies' took place in the days prior, the descriptions - in particular clothing - would then become completely irrelevant. Without evidence obtained about these robberies, we have no information available to ascertain whether these alleged descriptions were in fact of children, or whether the 'series of robberies' even existed at all.'
We also needed to know where the photos had gone.
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Kids of Colour @kidsofcolourhq.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
3 YEARS ON: WHAT HAPPENED TO PHOTOS GMP TOOK OF THESE CHILDREN? ⬇️
3 YEARS ON: WHAT HAPPENED TO PHOTOS GMP TOOK OF THESE CHILDREN?
THE ENRAGING PROCESS OF POLICE COMPLAINTS.

Picture of child face down in snow with black hood up. 

Screenshot of GMP comment
Do we know what happened to the photos? Would be useful to know if they were deleted / destroyed?
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