Marking the first ever Stephen Lawrence Day (April 22, 2019), his mother, Baroness Doreen Lawrence urged schools to teach pupils how to challenge racism from an early age. She added that children must learn to 'embrace inclusion' at a young age.
Stephen Lawrence was stabbed to death in a racially motivated attack in South East London on April 22, 1993. Last year on the 25thanniversary of his death, Prime Minister Theresa May announced the creation of an annual Stephen Lawrence Day, to begin from 2019. The country's leaders came forward to share their thoughts on this day. Two of the group of up to six men who attacked the teenager and his friend Duwayne Brooks have been convicted of murder, but most have escaped justice. The Macpherson Report into the investigation into Stephen's death found that there had been "institutional racism" in the police. Two decades after publishing that report, the Metropolitan Police admitted that this incident has been catalyst to changes in the police force.
But with Brexit, people have witnessed increasing intolerance, racism and xenophobia in the UK.
Southall Asian Youth Movement
Now 40 years later, and a day after the first Stephen Lawrence day, we remember Blair Peach, an anti-racist and socialist, who died in Southall at the hands of the police on April 24, 1979, opposing the fascist National Front who were attempting to intimidate and scapegoat the Asian community in West London. This incident took place after the killing of 18 year old schoolboy Gurdip Singh Chaggar on 4 June 1976, outside Dominion theatre in Southall- two murders that ignited anti-racist struggles in Britain.
A teenager Suresh Grover was standing with friends and chatting near Dominion theatre in Southall, when he noticed a police officer standing next to a pool of blood. When asked who was killed, the officer responded “just an Asian”. This murder triggered riots in Southall, which had become home to a large South Asian population, particularly from Punjab in India, and prompted local Asian and black youths form the Southall Youth Movement, and it took the anti-fascist fights to the streets. This movement spread to other cities in the UK, but little had changed in Southall even after three years. Suresh Grover became one of the founding members of the Southall Asian Youth Movement. He told the BBC, “After Gurdip Singh Chaggar's death Suresh Grover became one of the founding members of the Southall Asian Youth Movement. Similar groups sprung up across the country.”
The far-right National Front group announced a meeting on April 24th1979, police ignored the pleas to cancel the gathering, which the community believed to be provocative and organised a large anti-fascist march.
Police clashed with protesters, hundreds were arrested, others were hospitalised with serious injuries and New Zealand-born teacher Blair Peach, according to a report that emerged in 2010, 'almost certainly' was killed by police, but were never held accountable for his death.
Tariq Mehmood, a writer, who was one of the founding members of Bradford's Asian Youth Movement, was Born in Pakistan and arrived in Britain with his father in the late 1960s. He told the Al Jazeera, "We grew up with a system of bussing. This meant that we were taken out of the areas where we were living and sent to school five or six miles away because they didn't want too many non-white children in one area," he said. "We were subjected to a lot of violence.
"The violence got so bad during secondary school that they used to release all non-white children half an hour before white children so we wouldn't get attacked. So my very first impression of this country was the intensity of the racist violence against us."
Remembering Chaggar and Peach
On 27 April 2019, to remember Chaggar and Peach a 'march for unity against racism' has been organised by Southall Resists 40 and Labour Against Racism and Fascism. People will assemble at 2pm on Dominion Road for a procession, followed by a rally outside Southall Town Hall at 4pm.
Weyman Bennett Joint Convenor of Stand Up To Racism told Asian Voice, "Across Europe racist and fascist groups are mobilising. They expect to make big gains in upcoming Euro elections in May. In Britain the toxic nature of the Brexit debate has opened the door to the far right. UKIP under its leader Gerard Batten is allied to ex English Defence League leader, fascist Tommy Robinson and the violent Islamophobic thugs of the Democratic Football Lads Alliance. Whether we voted ‘Leave’ or ‘Remain’ we cannot let racism divide us.”
Julie Sherry from Stand Up To Racism said, "Blair Peach died to defend a multicultural society and to oppose the growth of racism and fascism. We should keep Blair’s memory in our hearts while we build the fight against the far right today."
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"The violence got so bad during secondary school that they used to release all non-white children half an hour before white children so we wouldn't get attacked. So my very first impression of this country was the intensity of the racist violence against us."
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