He defended himself in court and made the establishment answer.
Darcus Howe was born in Trinidad on 26 February 1943 and came to England around 1960, into a politics he would help to define.
In 1970 he stood among the Mangrove Nine, tried after a protest against the racist policing of the Mangrove restaurant in Notting Hill. He defended himself in court, and the trial produced the first judicial acknowledgement of racism within the Metropolitan Police.
As editor of Race Today he gave the movement a voice in print, and following the New Cross fire that killed thirteen young Black people, he helped organise the Black People’s Day of Action on 2 March 1981, when tens of thousands marched through London in the largest Black political demonstration the country had seen. He carried that authority into a later career as a television journalist and documentarian.
He died on 1 April 2017, a lifelong organiser who made the establishment answer.
His record is in the Race Today archive and UK court records. His card is in the deck.
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Timeline
- 1960Came to England from Trinidad.
- 1970Tried as one of the Mangrove Nine and defended himself; the case brought the first judicial acknowledgement of racism in the Metropolitan Police.
- 1973Became editor of Race Today, a radical Black political journal.
- 1981Helped mobilise the Black People’s Day of Action on 2 March, following the New Cross fire.
- 2017Died on 1 April, aged 74.
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I salute Darcus Howe, who stood in the dock, defended himself, and made the establishment answer.
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