In April 1993, Lawrence pod Dumayne Broke
were set upon by a gang of white racists in Eltham, South East London. Stephen's brutal murder shaped a national debate about what racism is and how to tackle it.
The police, despite receiving numerous tip-offs and other leads, had failed to gather basic evidence and allowed the suspects to slip through their fingers. Stephen's family were misinformed and abused by the police. Duwayne was treated as a suspect. Two internal police inquiries that followed were exercises in backslapping self-congratulation.
A private prosecution followed. When that collapsed the campaign for justice developed strength. Labour won the 1997 election, Home Secretary Jack Straw met the Lawrences and a public inquiry was set up.
The MacPherson Report had little substance. Welcomed by police and Home Office, it did not challenge the racism of the system. But the spell was broken because the inquiry exposed the day-to-day workings of teams of senior police officers as racist, incompetent and corrupt, allowing the suspects off scot-free. Indeed they were televised swaggering their way in to the Inquiry, as witnesses, and out again - free
Under pressure of public opinion the MacPherson Report did represent one essential step forward. It labelled the police as "institutionally racist".
Despite controversy as to what the expression meant, the reverberations were such that in its wake both the Crown Prosecution Service and the Prison Service have instituted internal inquiries that have led to each officially branding themselves "institutionally racist"
Predictably there was an immediate backlash from the police rank and file that continues to this day. The establishment response was a stream of fine words. M etropolitan police commissioner
Paul Condon spoke of his "sense of shame" but that "the legacy of [Stephen's] death would be enduring reform". Jack Straw hoped MacPherson report would "act as a catalyst for permanent and irrevocable change not just in the police force, but in the whole of society. Tony Blair promised a "new era in race relations" and that the government would "deliver the most comprehensive agenda on improving race relations which this country has seen for many decades".
That was 1999. Four years on, has New Justice still denied: 2001, united families march in protest at deaths in police custody ... ness. One academic, Bill Bowling, has done
white! denounced as a "waste of money" by Inquiry member Richard Stone said that ter". liberalism of MacPherson, stating that the label "institutional racism" had "missed the point". broadening the circumstances in which peowithout charge on non-serious charges and ately. 20 percent increase in racially motivated 2002. This figure increases in particular areas - for instance Kent where there has been a massive 238 offences. have reported a 100 percent increase in some research that shows that under this power black people are a staggering 27.5 percent more likely to be stopped than
The Home Office's pathetic response in November 2002 was to set up a unit to "study the reasons behind the figures" -Stephen's father Neville, who added "we white people. know what the problem is, we don't need another team to sort it out". MacPherson "things are getting worse rather than betIn the New Year, David Blunkett then signalled a clear shift away from even the tepid
Similarly the government has announced a raft of proposals to boost police powers and reduce defendants' rights - including ple can be stopped and searched, lengthening the period that people can be detained reducing the right to jury trial. These changes will hit black people disproportionMeanwhile government statistics show a crimes prosecuted in the year to March
masks much bigger percent year on year increase in racist
Far from reflecting increased state sensi tivity to the issue - this has been the tip of in the May elections.. the iceberg. The Monitoring Group, which works with victims of racist harassment calls to its emergency number in the last Roger Sylvester The battle for justice for Roger Sylvester continues after 3 detectives, who were supposed to be investigating the circumstances of his death in February 1999, were found guilty of "neglect of duty" in an internal inquiry. The three are at work. Scotland Yard said, "suitable sanctions have been adminis tered"!
Roger died in hospital after being arrested by police in Tottenham, north London. In four years that have passed since then his family have campaigned tirelessly for those responsible to be held accountable. Good News on the Ays The Ays, a Kurdish family from Turkey, have finally been given permission to go to the Court of Appeal in May to prevent their deportation to Germany. Their solicitor had to get a court order to prevent them being removed in the meantime by the Home Office. Medical evidence makes it clear that two of the children in particu lar would suffer badly if they were forcibly removed. They are now in Harmondsworth detention centre where their story started nine months ago. Keep up the pressure by continuing to write to the Home Office and raising it with your MP http://www.ncadc.org.uk/letters/n ews27/ayfamily.html Yarls Wood The trial of detainees and exdetainees from Yarls Wood immigration prison started at Harrow Crown Court on April 23. They are accused of starting a fire there in February 2002, which led to the facility being closed. Bedfordshire Fire Authority, backed by the FBU, claimed in 2000 that Yarls Wood was a "disaster waiting to happen". Since the fire, a number of defence witnesses have been deported, obviously making it harder for there to be a fair trial. One of the Group Four guards who works at the centre is stand ing as a BNP candidate in the local elections. The case is expected to last sev. eral months and campaigners are calling for a picket of the court every Monday while the trial lasts. http://www.ncadc.org.uk/letters/ne ws26/yarls2.html or contact [email protected]