BY CAROLINE BELLAMY AND ANGELA STEWART
LONDON - "In the last eight months we can see the confidence
rise of people who for years have suffered brutality," said
Bali Gill of the Stephen Lawrence Family Campaign at a recent
Militant Labour Forum in London. She was underlining the
importance of the recent public judicial inquiry into the
police investigation of the murder of Black teenager Stephen
Lawrence in April 1993. The inquest into Lawrence's death
concluded that he had died in "an unlawful killing in a
completely unprovoked racist attack by five white youths."
Prosecutions of these youths, named by 26 witnesses, were
halted because of the supposed lack of evidence. The judicial
inquiry revealed that such evidence could have been collected
by the police, but was not. The inquiry was won as part of a
five-year campaign by Lawrence's parents.
The Lawrence campaign has encouraged other antiracist fights. On November 3, UK Home Secretary Jack Straw met the family of Michael Menson. Menson, a 30-year-old Black man, died two weeks after being set on fire in January 1997. He was conscious for a week before he died. During that time he told several people that he had been attacked by four white youths. The police never took a statement from Menson, saying they assumed he had set fire to himself as a result of mental illness. Menson's family is demanding a fresh team of police investigators into his murder.
Straw offered a new investigation, headed by John Grieve, director of Racial and Violent Crime at Scotland Yard. The family has not yet decided whether to take up the offer. Grieve headed up the Anti-Terrorist branch from February 1996 until recently. He was in charge of that branch when unarmed Irish fighter Diarmuid O'Neill was shot dead in London in September 1996. Within days of O'Neill's death, the Police Complaints Authority promised a fair and impartial investigation would be complete in six weeks. To date they have failed to report. Gill declared, "For the first time the Lawrence inquiry has allowed minute investigation into police actions" and exposed the truth of "things we've always been saying." At the inquiry one cop said that he did not search the house of a suspect for weapons because it was "too nicely decorated." It has been reported that Lawrence was denied first aid at the scene of the crime.
As more evidence has come to light there has been division in police ranks on the best way to defend themselves. Metropolitan Police Chief Commissioner Sir Paul Condon continues to deny that there is institutionalized racism in the force. David Wilmot, head of Greater Manchester Police, on the other hand acknowledged some police racism, but blamed it on a racist society.
Shellia Kennedy, a member of the Rail Maritime and Transport workers union and of the Communist League, also spoke at the forum. "These excuses are covering up the real reason Stephen Lawrence died. They let the cops off the hook. To simply say that we live in a racist society implies that what the five youths did to Stephen is a part of white working-class behavior. This is not true.... Racism is a system used by the ruling class to maintain its power. It does not come from us, it comes out of their system. When ruling-class politicians show immigrants as a problem, say that workers should protect `British' jobs and `campaign to save the pound,' rightist forces seeking scapegoats for the economic crisis find their targets. The cops are there to defend capitalism and that's why they are racist. It's also why the police cannot be reformed."
The resonance of the Lawrence campaign among workers is evident. A BBC poll showed that 90 percent of London residents had heard of the case and 48 percent said they now have less trust in the police. Kennedy reported how a Black co-worker who was stopped by the police told them to back off, saying "I know about the Stephen Lawrence case."
A recent conference on "The betrayal of Stephen Lawrence - Grassroots response and the way forward" in London drew 250. Many were members of other family-based campaigns, from around the UK, inspired by the Lawrence fight to intensify their challenges to police and immigration service murders of their relatives.
Irish campaigners for justice are beginning to come together with these campaigns. At a meeting in August attended by 300 people, Diane Hamill spoke. She is the sister of Robert Hamill, who was kicked to death by pro-British loyalists in Portadown, Northern Ireland, while officers of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) sat and watched. Hamill said, "We have seen the Stephen Lawrence inquiry and the other cases here tonight, some of them very similar. We hope that if we all get together we may get a public inquiry into what went on." The family of Diarmuid O'Neill also took part.
Suresh Grover of the Stephen Lawrence campaign pointed to the importance of cases like the Birmingham Six and Guildford Four, where police frame-ups of Irish people were exposed. Without these victories, "the Lawrence campaign would never have come as far as it has. This shows how important it is for Black and Irish people to unite against injustices.... One of the chief police officers said at the inquiry that he did not arrest them [the suspects] because he did not understand the powers of arrest. You tell that to the Irish and the Black community!"
Angela Stewart is a member of the Young Socialists. Caroline Bellamy is a member of the Transport and General Workers Union at Ford, Dagenham.