The Mangrove Nine:

Those who knew activist Darcus Howe forty years ago will have wondered why this brilliant young man never went on to much greater things: Edit a national newspaper; controller of Radio 4, or be revered in cultural and intellectual spheres such as his peers Lord Melvyn Bragg. In his usual dismissive way Howe might say well Bragg is not Black.

Forty years ago Darcus Howe, Frank Crichlow and seven others took on the two of the mightiest institutions in Britain: The Government and the police, including special branch and MI6. And won.

They won against all the odds, despite all the precedents and fit-ups that had gone before; and in doing so British society and its institutions would never be the same.

Howe and Crichlow ordered a protest march against the ‘bully boy’ police tactics that sought to shut Crichlow’s Mangrove restaurant down. This infuriated the Met police and they charged the organisers with inciting racial violence. They were all playing very high stakes.  

Robin Bunce and Paul Field have written a wonderfully illuminating piece in the Guardian about the events forty years ago.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2010/nov/29/mangrove-nine-40th-anniversary

What struck me was just how much of a colossus Darcus Howe was: a fearless warrior, who would use the establishment against itself. ‘I demand to be judged by my peers’, he demanded. ‘That means I want an all Black Jury’. He lost that particular argument but set a tone that he and the others would not be pushed around.

Although they won and paved the way for others to follow, they would not be left alone or given the full opportunity to let their talents flourish. No surprise there either. But we can look back at their achievements and learn and rejoice.

I’m sure once they read the Mangrove Nine’s story playwrights such as Kwame Kwei-Armah and others will be writing their scripts and pencilling in Hollywood actors Chitwetel EJiofor and Don Cheadle to play Howe and Crichlow.

I for one cannot wait to read the full story, watch the play and enjoy the block buster film. Black British and incredibly brave. We applaud you the Mangrove nine.

Simon Woolley