Britain’s Rodney King Moment. The Romford Police Assault

Thursday 23rd January 2020 saw the magistrate's trial and ultimate acquittal of Metropolitan Police Officer, Detective Constable Kevin Rowley on the charge assault and battery of a young black boy. 

You may remember this officer seen on a video that went viral, where the officer is seen using his baton to repeatedly strike a terrified young 17-year-old black boy outside a parade of shops on Heath Park Road, Romford on April 22nd of last year.

The case was heard at Hendon Magistrates Court, a court that is miles away from inner London. I've seen this type of court scheduling before and its usually politically motivated. It's the common practice of moving controversial trials of police officers that take place in inner London, as far away from where the original incident took place, or in where that not possible in the tiniest inaccessible court venues. 

On this occasion, the trial was held, in what is a notoriously difficult part of London to get to for 10 am on a Thursday morning. 

I suspect, though I cannot prove, that the decision to have the trial in an area of the capital with virtually no African Caribbean communities, was based on finding a court that would be difficult to get to, and would prevent any protests outside the court itself, no doubt justified, on this occasion by concerns for 'the officers safety' 

Hendon Magistrates Court No 2 is a tiny court with a public gallery that seats around 20 people.  Two-thirds of the public gallery was packed with press and police officers

Last year London's black communities and many more besides, were left angry and traumatised by the shocking video showing a young black boy, pleading with DC Rowley to stop assaulting him.  Many Police officers have told me that they believe the violence used was both disproportionate and unnecessary.  I agree with that analysis.

The first thing to say about this prosecution is that for a police officer to face charges of battery and assault, on a black person, is an extraordinarily rare event. 

In over 40 years in challenging police abuses, this is the first such case I've come across.  So it was with some degree of relief and hopeful anticipation that the family of the young boy concerned, and I attended this trail.  

There's was the hope that maybe, this trial would hold the police to proper account particularly where the Met themselves admit to using disproportionate force when arresting black males. London's black communities believe they are being racially targeted for drug searches and are subjected to unnecessary violence on arrest, and all this against a backdrop where Black communities public confidence in the Met police is at an all-time low. 

So it was with some little hope that the family and myself sat in this far-flung tightly packed, little court.

However, once the prosecution began it was clear to me this wasn't going to be our day.  

As the trial unfolded I concluded that bizarrely, the witnesses for the prosecution appeared to me, to be witnesses for the defence.

I have purposely not written this sequentially, as in the order of evidence as it was given on the day. Instead, I have written this as a reflective piece pointing out some of the salient points that struck me as a former Policing Director of London and an ardent campaigner for justice.  

That will no doubt lead some to conclude that I'm presenting the evidence to suit my own perspective and people are entitled to that view. Nevertheless, I contend that many in the black community and those prepared to take a critical lens to this case will share my analysis. 

My motivation for doing so is to simply present a community perspective informed by decades of institutional police racism and the deeply embedded lack of trust that now exists between the London black community and the police. 

Let us start with DC Rowley's evidence to the court. He told the court that his attention was drawn to two black boys walking across a zebra crossing. 

He said: 'Initially we saw them as they crossed the zebra and the cars paused. One of them had a wad of cash notes in his hands raised to the sky. It looked a bit out of place." 

Black boys on zebra crossing looked out of place? 

Here I'm guessing that what he really meant is that these two black boys, looked out of place in the predominantly white area of Romford. 

He mentions that the cars paused, well yes, they were crossing the road, what’s the significance of that comment, and what did he expect the cars to do? 

He goes on to say one of the boys had a wad of cash in his hand, in fact, they didn't, the eldest boy was holding a single £20 note, pocket money of two brothers who lived locally, and coincidently the only black family in this area. These boys were simply on the way to the shops to change the £20 so they could split the cash between them. 

The officer went on to say, 'They looked like they had no purpose there. They walked into a fish and chip shop for five seconds, and walked back out again.'

Firstly, what leads him to conclude, they had no purpose there? Why? Are black boys not supposed to be in Romford? 

The boys were local and were simply popping into local shops asking if they could change a £20 note to split their pocket money. 

He goes on to say, 'Most people keep money in their wallet or their bag. I said to the other police officer, keep an eye out on those boys. I thought they looked a bit weird.'  

Had they been walking with a large amount of cash in their hand, then that may give rise to some suspicion, but these boys had a single £20 note and kids don't usually have a wallet and young men don't usually carry money in bags. When arrested the young man did not have a wad of cash, as described by Rowley, he had precisely £20. The prosecution decided not to pursue that point. 

As to the reason why they were stopped, well this comes straight out the police playbook and the most singularly cited reason offered by Met officers for stop and searches; 'I asked them what they had been up to and I was hit with a strong smell of cannabis.'

We've all known plenty of black non-smokers subjected to stop and search who have similarly been wrongly accused by police officers of smelling of cannabis. 

In the minds of London's black communities, we consider this as a joke. It always amazes me that while white people report higher drug use, according to the British Crime Survey. much more than black communities, they are not subjected to the same level of racially targeted police stops and searches. 

The officer goes on; 'It was coming from them. I told them they were going to be detained as part of a drug search. [The youth] said, 'you're not searching me, I know my rights.' 

The officer then reports that at this moment the second boy had runoff. Yes he did, he ran to his nearby home to alert his mother and followed in hot pursuit by another officer. 

Rowley’s statement here strikes me as being almost scripted in an effort to begin to frame the boy into the widely held violent black youth stereotype. It’s the trigger words used as a nod and a wink to the magistrate, igniting shared white stereotypes and fears. 

The problem was that this evidence was contradicted by a witness who had previously given evidence in which she says she saw the events from an adjacent window overlooking the scene and described the initial encounter as 'quite calm'.  

Teri Vigers told the court,

'He was a little bit hesitant, he obviously didn't really want to be there, he was a bit edgy but did allow the police officer to put him in handcuffs without any problem.’ 

Well yes, being a young kid and being subjected to a stop and search, given the awful reputation of the Met would make most people ‘a little bit hesitant'

Her description of the encounter is at odds with Rowley’s who said the boy was extremely agitated. 

Vigers goes on to say, 

'He asked the young boy to sit down on the floor, it looked like he was trying to call for backup or speak to someone on the radio.' 

'The young boy was asking about his brother, I think he was trying to find out about his brother.' 

Ms Vigers told the court she had given her witness statement to  
the police the day after the event. 

This was a surprise as the family had not at that stage, submitted any formal complaint, so why and for what reason was a statement taken by the police? It could be inferred that the police coached her to provide a helpful statement, as they knew instantly that what Rowley did was wrong. 

Personally, I was disinclined to disbelieve her evidence from this point on. 

Back to Rowley, he stated in court that once the second boy ran off: 

‘I'm now alone with an agitated and aggressive male who is not complying. He's made it clear that I'm not searching for him. It's a concern for me as I'm alone with this male.' 

The officer told the court that the boy said he wanted to see his brother and that he tried to reassure him.'

So the older boy was concerned for the safety of his little brother. Given the acute lack of trust in the police, it's perfectly reasonable that he should be concerned. 

Witness Terri Vigers also went on to say, after Rowley had placed the boy in cuffs that the boy had sat down, stood up, then sat down, then stood up again, and was the edging away from the officer while DC Rowley goes onto say that boy was struggling like a man possessed.  

'First of all, we could smell cannabis. But this behaviour was not possession of cannabis. I've had experience of catching people with knives, drugs, guns.

'He was putting up such a fight I didn't know what he had on him. He hadn't been searched at this point.

'He was aggressive, desperate to get away, pulling me, dragging me, pushing me. It was not the behaviour of someone who has a single count of possession on him.’

'He might be 17, but he's my height and build, and he was very strong. Because he was so aggressive, he had a lot of adrenaline.'

So the boy complied with arrest and allowed himself to be cuffed without and resistance. As for the officer's description, this is a regularly used trope used by police officers, in controversial arrests where they routinely describe black people as possessing superhuman strength, being violently aggressive. A set policing script that has been used regularly for the last 40 years. 

Rowley goes onto to state; 

'I wasn't trying to hurt him. All I was trying to do was detain him. Because he was in such a rage he was not listening to anything I was trying to do.'

Another witness who lives locally a Mr Anthony Bailey gave his evidence. Mr Bailey said:

'As part of my job I use restraint. He was struggling to restrain the youth. 

He went onto say, 

'He was struggling to keep him there from what I have experienced in safeguarding.

Really? What job is that then? He wasn't asked. The terms restraint and safeguarding are terms usually used by people with either professional policing or security experience or both. The prosecution didn’t ask him. 

His evidence was that the young man whilst cuffed was violently swinging the officer around from side to side. 

This, of course, is in direct contradiction to Ms Vigers testimony that described the boy as doing nothing more than 'edging away'

Bailey then says, ‘The officer struck him as the teenager did not respond to his command to get down.' I find the word 'command' interesting. 

Returning to witness Teri Vigers she went on to state, 

‘The police officer said he would have to use force if he didn't listen. He removed his stick and repeated quite a lot of time he didn't want to use it.’

'The police officer stated he didn't want to use force and then struck him on the legs.'

She said the boy was 'trying to irritate the police officer' by screaming, in order to draw a crowd, well yes being beaten will lead you to scream. And let's be real, this isn't Brixton that crowd was white, and even they were angry at what they saw as evidenced by the commentary on the video.

She goes on to say, that Rowley had been ‘reasonably calm until he used the baton.’

'I think I recall him saying he didn't want to use force that was after they moved across to the shop.’

'He's obviously got to the point where he was being really nice and really calm and raised his voice and withdraws the baton.’

She makes the whole incident sound like an exercise in textbook community policing. 

Yet none of the video audio captured any of this, and yet Vigers, Bailey and the Rowley all claim these words were spoken throughout the later part of the encounter i.e. outside of the parade of shops. All were very clear on this particular point.  

The audio from the video is clear and there are no instructions heard from the officer to the boy to sit down, nor is there any warning offered to the boy. Yet everything else is captured, comments by the crowd, traffic noise and the boy himself. Was the officer whispering? 

Vigers, Bailey all say that they heard the officers comments in their homes and yet we can hear nothing on the audio. Vigers says she heard the boy expressing concern for his brother from inside her home. Yet throughout the video, the officer shouts get down once.  

Another witness, an elderly white gentleman whose name I did not catch stated he knew the officer personally and was concerned and had wanted to help him.  How did he know the officer, Rowley was in plain clothes that day so what was their relationship? The prosecution simply ignored the response.

Hard of hearing, the man was shown a video of the incident and asked if he recognised a man standing near the incident, in a red t-shirt hands on his hips. After scrutinising the video, the man answered he did not recognise the man. 

That was strange because the man he was asked if he recognised, was the actual witness himself, which he later conceded to. His evidence clearly couldn't be relied upon. 

The prosecution went on, in my view to demonstrate inconsistencies in DC Rowley's initial description of events and the evidence he gave in court however despite this, and the contradictions I've highlighted, the magistrate acquitted the officer. 

Of course, the family are deeply disappointed and will be considering the verdict and what options are available to them. There is still the option that the officer though found not guilty of assault could be disciplined by the Metropolitan Police service. 

Let us hope, for the sake of police, community relations that this option is exercised. 

Am I surprised? Not really, I've seen such travesty's of justice before and will no doubt see them again. This case will, however, reinforce the black community strongly held belief that when it comes to the police, disproportionate violence and black people there is little if any justice to be had.     

Speaking to the family they’ve had enough and lost all confidence in British justice, policing and criminal justice. They told me their packing up and leaving the country, which they said had become a hostile environment for young black people. 

They didn’t want their sons to suffer the indignity of false accusation, baseless suspicion and violent arrest. They felt betrayed by British institutions. They spoke of the weight of racism being too heavy a burden to carry for their sons.  They want them to prosper in a country where talent, not colour is the defining characteristic of young black people.

Angry, depressed and determined, they are heading home to Africa, Ghana to be precise where their sons can be free of the racism so brutally inflicted on them in the UK.  

The boys mother spoke to me and said, ‘As black people we’ve spent decades, pleading, begging, cajoling and appealing to the angels of their better natures only to be kicked in the teeth, targeted, excluded and arrested. There comes a time when enough is enough and our duty as parents is to safeguard our children from this toxic racism takes priority.’  

I for one couldn’t fault her logic. From the criminalisation of our communities to exclusions from school, the Windrush scandal Britain, raging unemployment and poverty Britain has become hostile and unapologetic for its growing culture of unabashed, unashamed racism and many like this family, are saying maybe its time to leave. Those of us who remain must fight on. 

The Labour defeat: A Black analysis.

As a black activist of some 40 years standing I've witnessed a fair few elections, but none I think as momentous as the one we've just held. The result was simply astonishing and the scale of defeat suffered by the Labour Party is unprecedented in modern times.

And as we seek to analyse the why's and wherefores's of what went wrong, key questions emerge from a black perspective: why in this election, did the white working class leave Labour in their droves, and yet the Black working class, facing the same austerity, plus vicious racism, not only stayed loyal to Labour, but turned out in even greater numbers in this election?

Some in Labour are suggesting that the party lost touch and failed to reflect its Northern working class base. I wouldn't disagree with that analysis, being a Mancunian myself,

However, I start from a radically different place and then come to entirely different conclusion from those who offer this centre right analysis.

In the confusion, shock and anger that has now besieged Labour Party members, there are bitter recriminations and open hostilities, between those that believe the great leader was horribly betrayed by Labour centrists, mounting coup, after failed coup against Jeremy Corbyn, instead of  being focused on fighting the Tories, and those who say he was never up to the job in any event.

Whatever your own view, we all know it's a political truism that divided parties usually don't win elections.

Declaring my own interest here, let me say I am a long term supporter of JC having worked with him man and boy over 40 years.  Having said that, and having worked on securing two election victories with Ken Livingstone from 2000 - 2008 whilst I supported Jeremy ambitions, I think he surrounded himself with a team that was woefully indulgent, and lacking in any kind of real election experience or any on the ground campaigning creativity. He was, in my view, also bereft of any in depth community mobilising capability outside his traditional base.

That said, Labour got somethings right and to their credit, over the last three or more years recruited hundreds of thousands of new members, many of them young people.

Though Jon Lansman's Momentum tried to offer a new dispensation. it soon betrayed its potential by becoming a curious sort of hybrid, a social movement coupled with old style Stalinist control freaky exemplified by the Unions total domination. Momentum was the Labour aristocracy, arrogant and effusive with their white privilege. National Black organisations were dismissed and ignored whilst Momentum tried to create a new cadre of complaint black left leadership. Its focus on racism was largely cosmetic and infective.

Such arrogance and inexperience could be seen reflected in the parties election manifesto, all JC really needed was a small number of big signature policies and a smaller number of innovative ideas. Instead the electorate was offered a cornucopia of manifesto promises. It was to all to much. In private sector parlance, the market hadn't been warmed up sufficiently for such bold announcements and the old adage of if it looks too good to be true, it probably is, kicked in.

Then there are those who allege that the party's failure to arrive at clear line on Brexit added to the character and 'political history' of Jeremy Corbyn, presented 'unsurmountable obstacles' to securing an election victory. Let me be clear here also, I'm a left wing socialist who believes we should have remained and substantively reformed the European Union.

I believe Brexit to be a project of the extreme right wing, who are using Brexit as cover, a stealth move to deliver their long cherished, economic wet dream of a free trade, deregulated, low wage economy that eviscerate's workers rights.

Notwithstanding that, I also believe that Corbyn's position on the issue was inexplicable to the ordinary voter. My own 84 year old mother, a life long Labour supporter and a huge fan of left political mavericks, could not understand Labours nuanced position on Brexit,

Jeremy should have known you cant play footsie with racism, there is no accommodation to be had, it is all consuming, and when the left seeks to pivot towards working class racism, it always looses, always. 

We've seen this time and time again over the last 60 years. Labour desperately trying to justify the racist sentiment of its core base, on a range of issues such as citizenship,  immigration, criminal justice and policing. Let's recall, that it was Labour, who over the post war period, when in power, who  introduced more immigration legislation than all the other other parties combined.

This election Labour tried to be determinedly anti racist and at the same time, respect Labour Brexit supporters.

Whatever the details of the many perspectives now on offer,  now the Tories have a massive majority Brexit supporters say the referendum  decision was arrived at democratically and should now be implemented.

I'm not impressed with Brexit's democratic credentials, first the referendum vote was won on a wafer thin majority, and second, history is replete with idiotic and catastrophic decisions that have been democratically endorsed; transatlantic slavery; genocidal colonialism; Hitler and the Third Reich; Jim Crow legislation; South African Apartheid, the Iraq War and of course the French Revolutionaries refusal to recognise the Haitian Revolution of former Enslaved Africans.

In white societies not all democracy is benign, take UK voters relentless support for draconian immigration policies, delivered by Labour under Wilson, Callaghan, Blair and Brown, whose zeal was then reflected by the Camerons Tories who offered even more 'tougher' immigration legalisation, that ended up creating a racist hostile environment, that forcibly and illegally deported Black British citizens and saw people die as result of their illegal denial of citizenship and denial of access to income, housing and the NHS.

The Tories simply took Labour's polices and political rhetoric and presented real racism back to the country.

From a Black perspective, you can see my point. Historically, whenever Labour concedes to racism, its black people who ultimately pay the heaviest price.

There are those who legitimately point to Jeremy's failure to tackle the anti semitism problem head on from the outset. There is some truth in that charge.

The lessons I learned as a key member of Ken Livingstone's administrations during my time at London's City Hall were critical. In regards to racism you have to get ahead of the curve and assemble the big tent coalitions, before the inevitable crisis, manufactured or otherwise, hits your desk. Once that happens, it's usually too late to credibly respond to any such charge, any response is undermined by the fact that you have zero relations or track record with any particular community.

Similar accusations of anti semitism made against Livingstone had less traction precisely because of the work done to assemble the necessary coalitions and establish good relations prior to any crisis.

That said, I'm sure of Crobyn's anti racist credentials as an individual, however I think Labour as an organisation, like the majority of white institutions, when confronted with accusations of racism,  experience a form of brain freeze that often tend to leave them resembling frightened deer, trembling  trapped in the lights of a fast oncoming truck.

His inner circle and trusted advisers were culturally predisposed to disbelieve these complaints and failed to act decisively as a result. Had they deepened their friendly relations with Jewish communities prior to these accusations gathering real momentum, they could have relied upon broader support and good advice to guide them through this issue.

Instead they looked wooden, reactive, classically defensive and therefore fell back on bureaucratic procedural responses that gave the public impression of seeking to stall or bury the issue.

It was clumsy and ham fisted.

Let me be clear though, there are some elements on the left that are indeed anti semetic, that much I've seen and heard myself. They are a vitriolic fringe minority in my experience, but when it comes to racism size means nothing. I also believe that the centre right sought to opportunistically inflate this issue for their own nefarious purposes. People who have been largely silent on institutional racism and islamophobia suddenly sprang into life presenting as "life long committed anti racists" Utter bullshit.

Labour, like every other major British institution is an institutionally racist organisation. That title must be embraced if the issue of racism is to be effectively dealt with. There were too many in the senior ranks of the party who sought to deny that fact.

For Black people this is resonant with our lived experience of white privilege.

More broadly on this topic and specifically in relation to black representation in the party, we've seen a huge decline in the number of elected local African and Caribbean councillors, inparticular black men over the last 20 years.

For example there are only 62 Black male Councillors in the whole of London representing 3.4% of the total and when Black women are added, we still only make up around 9% of the total.

While Jeremy talked passionately of equality and democracy for all, the Party had other ideas.

As part of his focus on internal constitutional reform, the Labour BAME network grouping for example saw its power reduced after Unite and other unions conspired to deny them greater autonomy and independence they argued for.

As result, and unbelievably, BAME Labour saw their constitutional remit, and level of democratic control, actually reduced after his democracy review, not enhanced, despite all the promises.

In looking at Labour's election campaign as a whole neither the strategy nor the manifesto were correctly calibrated.

Take the manifesto for example, this was packed to the gills with big spending policies, such was the scale of the offer that people began to doubt its credibility and despite the publication of the Grey Book costing public expenditure and tax funding sources the manifest though hugely popular in parts was overcooked.  In politics as in life, sometimes less is more.

Finally and providing to be the most insidious, powerful, dominating, and overarching context, there was the issue of Brexit itself an issue that has fundamentally re-aligned the landscape of British politics from the "hard left to the extreme right." No other issue has so divided the nation.

Politics is a contact sport and the nice guys don't always win. Livingstone's secret was creativity, flair, team discipline and policy rigour, most of all the later.

In relation to Jeremy Corbyn he was predictably publicly traduced by the majority of the billionaire owned British media for over a year, prior to the election and some would say throughout his entire political career.

His personal poll ratings plummeted and yet there appeared no counter strategy to offset or at least minimise this. Public rallies and twitter feeds were simply not enough. Its not as though the high command didn't have the information. They did, and for some inexplicable reason they chose to ignore it.

I and others continually warned him that after his success in 2017, they would not underestimate him again. It was as clear as day, that they would double down on Corbyn. And yet no counter strategy was put in place. Momentum tried and failed to counter this attack. His front bencher Diane Abbott was mercilessly attacked, relying on readily accepted racist tropes, she and Corbyn, like Ken and I in 2008 faced an unprecedented campaign of public smears. lies and falsehoods.

Whilst Jeremy and Diane faced much worse,  (and credit to their reliance under fire, trust me I know the personal toll this takes) the press and social media campaign was disgustingly racist for sure,  but it was also so entirely predictable.

I was not alone in warning Jeremy, Diane and the Party. I still bear the scars of Johnsons relentless racism election campaign to oust Ken Livingstone, where we were the victims of the very same 'dog whistle' tactics perfected by Aussie Camapign guru, Lynton Crosby, whose tactics including smears, innuendo's, racism and bare faced lies. His tactics were singularly focused and brutal. Here's what former Greek Finance Minister, Yanis Varoufakis wrote in the New Statesman recently,

'If you ask the commentariat for an explanation of this paradox, you will get an earful of chatter about Corbyn’s Marxism, alleged anti-Europeanism and lack of character. However, the truth is simpler and uglier than any of this. From day one, after he won Labour’s leadership in 2015, the game was afoot. Soon after Corbyn became leader, I warned that a huge campaign of character assassination was inevitable. It was not difficult to see it coming.''

Now Labour's centre right Labour political commentators, MP's and right wing media pundits are seeking to blame Corbyn and Corbynism alone, whilst the Labour left are blaming Brexit,

Personally I think the later must be true. There can be no doubt that Brexit has transformed the tribal alliances of post war British party politics. However if you can see a punch coming your duty is to avoid it. Labour bears some responsibilty for that.

There was no real recognition that Brexit had the wholly negative and yet transformative effect of uniting the right and rehabilitating racism, bigotry and xenophobia back into the heart of 'patriotic' British politics. While Labour struggled, we as black people noted that the real message of Brexit is, 

"We know what we voted for and we prefer to be poorer than be more diverse"

The real reality is the country choose racism over economic good sense, and that was and remains the Labour dilemma wrapped up in a nutshell

The bigger picture here, for students of global politics, is one of gradual economic decline of European nations including Britain, combined with a disastrously low European birth rate.

Contrast this with the economic growth and populations explosion of China, India and Africa. It's as though the European and American white elites, having seen the writing on the wall, are seeking once last throw off the dice to screw every last penny from their stagnant economies by doubling down on the poor.

They know, that the only immediate way to reflate their flagging economies fast is with a good old fashioned war. So they're warming up the populace with bombastic nationalism and talk of the glorious return of the days of Empire. Brexit in this purely political context can be seen to be what it is, having fed the nation a continuous diet of lies and propaganda for decades, promoting British and English exceptionalism and refusing to acknowledge the crimes of Britains colonial past, Brexit can be seen as a form of colonial karma.

The British empire, like all empires either had to adapt to its new post colonial realties or suffer the inevitable consequences. As Dr Martin Luther King Jnr said,

"The arch of the moral universe may be long, but it bends towards justice." 

Brexit has polluted public discourse and the response of large swathes of the British public remind me of the chant of South London Millwall Football Club back in the mid 70's onwards. Their fans were some of the most violent and racist fans in Britain at the time. Though repeated attempts were made to suggest that the London white working class were being demonised, much like the Brexit denials of racism today, such claims were always overwhelmed by the ever preset reality of working class racism and xenophobia.

And so powerful was Millwalls reputation that it remains intact despite the best efforts of the club.

They're proud acknowledgement of their toxic reputation was epitomised in the now infamous chant, 

"No one likes us and we don't care." 

Today, that sentiment appears to be the national, cultural default setting, a glorious return to the days of 17th century, when Britain was known as the most Perfidious Albion. This Millwall sentiment is now the proud clarion call of most Brexiteers and though Brexit supporters resolutely claim they are not all racist, all racist are Brexiteers.

Their furious denials of racism are critically undermined by the huge numbers of out and proud obvious racist in their midsts, who they appear more than happy to defend and tolerate.

We see no consequent, anti racist Brexit movement, condemning the vilest among their ranks No public statements rejecting their support, no condemnation of their fellow comrades in arms. In fact we see claims of racism dismissed as utter rubbish, with some even claiming that racism is an invention of the left and British whites are the real victims of racism. Indeed their cheer leader in chief Boris Johnson's is Britains most ardent defender and advocator the extreme right.

Since the EU referendum racist attacks and hate crimes have exploded massively across England in particular and the popular refrain of the 60, 70 and 80's,

"Go back to where you come from."

This nasty slur, aimed at anyone who is assumed not to be British, has made a dramatic return following this election. Today social media is awash with tales of  neighbours telling their Black, Asian European neighbours, that now Boris is in power, its time to pack their bags and fuck off.  The ensuing wildly irresponsible nature of the political and media debate on Brexit saw the brutal murder of Labour MP Joe Cox. 

Thomas Mair an extreme right wing, white supremacist slaughtered the Batley and Spent MP Joe Cox in  June2016 in broad daylight. In the subsequent years we have seen fascist organisations, whites males members, being convicted of preparing or intending to commit acts of racial terrorism.

The culminative effect of Labour, who since 2005 saw an increasing number of Labour Council seats in the North fall to the Tories, should've provided an early warning system, that Labour voters in the North were revolting. The collapse of Labours Red Wall was therefore to be expected, given the extent to which constituencies, such as my home town of Oldham, and towns like Hartlepool and  Batley had all been progressively abandoned, sinking into the quagmires of long term unemployment. drug and alcohol addictions, ill health, depression and violence, all symptoms of poverty and long term deprivation.

They suffered deindustrialisation and globalisation and in the context where the global rate of wealth inequalities rose dramatically, as ably demonstrated by the French economist Thomas Pikkety, whose work charts the amassing of wealth in the post war period, and demonstrates that the gap between the worlds super rich and the poorest has grown substantively over that time. He also points to the consequences of such inequality, rises in racism, xenophobia and fascism.

These former mining and cotton towns were crushed by 1980's Thatcherism and later pounded by Tory austerity. These communities, tired of broken promises and witnessing their own relentless demise decided to inflict a punishment beating on the establishment. That anger could've been directed at Bankers, but was instead skilfully redirected towards Muslims, and then Europe Union and then wider still to Eastern Europeans all of whom joined black peoples as demonised communities.

These largely white working class communities began to turn first to the British National Party, then the EDL, then onto UKIP and finally to Farage.

Labour, the trade unions and the left anti racist movements, had no real response to the growth of working class racism, other than pithy slogans, white left 'conferences" and barley attended protests.

Brexit has turned out to be a perfect exercise in divide and rule using the oldest political trick in the Western democracy playbook, the scapegoating of 'unpopular minorities.'

Slugish unresponsive Labour Councils saw increasing numbers of people not voting and becoming increasingly alienated from local democracy. The last 40 years or so has seen UK voter turnout decline another indication that should have altered Labours high command. They just didn't care and determined instead, to simply continue to take these constituencies for granted.

Concerns about poverty, unemployment, poor housing, worse schools and high crime rates, were all   decades long frustrations, that were all eventually poured into the Brexit cup.

Here is the rub. British Black communities have long suffered the same economic disadvantages faced by these towns, and they didn't desert Labour, on the contrary they supported the party in even greater numbers.

My own view is the the centre right detested this radical working class history.

British white working class communities, in these now former Labour towns, simply became ignorant of there own fabulous history, that gave birth to the Labour Party, Anti Slavery movement and inspired the Suffragettes, and in doing so have left themselves vulnerable to becoming seduced, infected with ideas of narrow nationalism, given false hope by the idea that Britain can be great again.

Real political education was abandoned by Labour and the Trade Unions in favour of focus groups. Who remembers Socialist Sunday schools today?

Fed by a constant and relentless wall of media racism for the last 70 years, communities in the North have become infected with racism, bigotry and prejudices, largely thanks to our disgusting right wing media, and opportunist politicians, whose propaganda campaigns designed to split the working class and maintain the status qou has been total and overwhelming.

However rather than simply bemoan the fact, the Labour movement offered no education on the matter.

It is of course, the hegemonic domination of Britains powerful elite that has brought about this dreadful election result. The post war commitment of the British elite class to ruthlessly maintaining their wealth has never wavered for one second.

Black communities however have been both let down, and disappointed but remain clear sighted on who are the the real culprits responsible for our continued oppression and exclusion. Remembering our history we are less susceptible to the elite's relentless propoganda.

The task now at hand is truly momentous. In the context of Britain leaving the EU we must now circle the wagons, pause and reflect on how and why we got here.

Workers rights and anti discrimination laws enshrined in the EU human rights framework are in danger of being washed away. History teaches us that when the British economy suffer's recession, racism is always amplified. We recall the rise in racist murders Britain witnessed in the mini recession of the early 1990's that saw the murder of many, including Stephen Lawrence.

The coming Brexit recession will make that era seem like a walk in the park. And we know, as black people, that when the white working class wake up to the fact they've been brutally betrayed, it's not the Tories that will get the blame, it will be whatever convenient scapegoating minority fits the bill at the time.

Such is the scale of the crisis facing us, that it requires us to consolidate our collective forces, faith groups, community organisations, charities, campaigning groups, black trade unionists, student and our pensioners in an consolidated effort to reaffirm our political alliances with the aim of creating a bulwark against the racism that is inevitably headed our way.

That requires bold, ethical leadership and courage, for our duty now is to build legacy of a solid black movement that can better protect the next generation from the predations of British racism, injustice and inequality.

I believe it is now time for a National Civil Rights Convention aimed at bringing together our disparate and fragmented communities together, to build a unified  movement with Labour activists and the wider black community, as we begin to prepare our communities to face these unprecedented challenges.

The issues of global rising inequality, climate change and environmental racism, poverty and injustice loom large. We must not ignore the warning signs. The challenges for the next generations are immense. Our job is to ensure we put aside our ego's, stop the cut throat competition among black organisations, abandoned petty differences and build a movement.

Such a 21st century conception has to focus not just domestically, but internationally in recognition that our condition here in the UK can be mitigated by ensuring we provide global opportunities for our young people, to access improved trading links with the global African diaspora, demand environmental protections. quality education and enhanced human and civil rights.

In addition we will need a new, domestic black youth led, anti racist movement that demands that the Labour educates working class communities out of their wholly misplaced beliefs on issues on issues of inequality, racism and and the value of diversity.

The idea that Labour has to move to the right in order to reconnect to these voters is simply a misunderstanding of how we got here.

There is no rush too find a new leader, the next election is not until 2025. What's needed now is not a reactionary snap back to the centrist right positions of yesteryear, conceding to racist sentiment,  but a deep analysis of what went wrong and what now needs to change.

Lee Jasper

Ryan Parkinson was unfairly sacked by BMW for a second time. We are trying to raise £1000 so that he and his family can have some sort of Xmas. Solidarity. You can donate here.

Ryan Parkinson unfairly sacked by BMW wins his job back. You won't believe what happened next.

Young Black family man, Ryan Parkinson, was unfairly sacked by BMW. He proved he was a victim of racism, and BMW were forced to take him back. 

You won’t believe what happened next. #RacismAtWork Latest episode #LeeJasperDriveTime : Read how BMW's racism destroyed this hard working brothers career #RyanParkinson  #SocialistSunday

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