Smiley Culture and deaths in custody campaign

There aren’t many causes that can get me to engage with the London Underground system on a Saturday afternoon but the Campaign for Justice March held last Saturday had me intrigued.

With my weekend time being very precious, I planned only to attend the Rally element of the event, as opposed to the whole march. I travelled to Vauxhall and followed the route over Vauxhall Bridge and past the Houses of Parliament.

At that point I lost my sense of direction and became confused as to which route the march took so I consulted with a motorbike policeman who informed me that “The March is all finished but Scotland Yard is that way....” How wrong he was...
 
Despite living in London for the last 12 years, I embarrassingly admit that my knowledge of Central London from street level is somewhat sketchy. I walked down Victoria Street looking for Scotland Yard but my ears found the venue! I heard voices from a PA system and followed them. We cut down Dacre Street and ended up right at the front of the Rally.

There was a crowd, not a huge one, but still a crowd – approximately 600 – 700 in strength. Merlin Emmanuel, the nephew of David Emmanuel, was speaking. The atmosphere was electric: fiery but calm; angry but determined; emotional yet strong. Merlin spoke passionately about the need to find out what happened to his uncle David Emmanuel when the police attended his home on the morning of Tuesday March 15, 2011.
 
Following Merlin’s speech there was a list of speakers who have members of their families that died while being in police custody. Sean Riggs, Julian Webster, and Wayne Hamilton were all remembered by their families as they spoke of their quest to find the truth behind their deaths. The speaker who affected me the most was the family member of Kingsley Burrell who had travelled all the way from Birmingham with a coach load of supporters. He re-iterated how important is to maintain focus throughout the campaign, stay calm and reserve the “fighting” for the courtroom.

I managed to speak to Merlin and I asked him if there was a specific message that he wanted me to pass on. He said “The objective is to get to the bottom of what happened for Smiley and everyone and we’ll be doing lots of things like this until we get there”.
 
While the Rally was going on, I struggled to remember where I was. At times, I felt like I was at Notting Hill Carnival, but the eerie twirling of the New Scotland Yard sign behind us, reminded me that, despite the sound system on the back of a truck blasting out Smiley Culture’s music, this was a serious issue. It was good to see families present: fathers with children and people of all ages present for the cause. My initial feelings of disappointment at the under-representation of people in attendance have since changed. The Campaign for Justice will benefit from “quality not quantity” - Campaigners will need endurance, not burn out.
 
I attended the event with my cousin who is visiting from Dominica and a close friend. While on the train home she made some interesting observations. She said in the 80’s she used to attend lots of Rallies and Marches for injustices – be they for Gay and Lesbian rights or for people with Disabilities. She has had the good fortune of being able to climb the career ladder over the last decade. Her thoughts on the Rally were that it “reminded her of her blackness” as sometimes as we ascend the career ladder we often feel we have to leave some of this “blackness” behind.

This brings me back to the “quantity versus quality” debate. I feel that the Campaign for Justice can benefit from these “second-jobber” types of people who have the benefit of experience and foresight to see it through from the beginning to the end.

Good luck with the Campaign Merlin – I have nothing but admiration for your tenacity.

Dawn Joseph

Read more from Dawn over at her blog Life’s lessons.
Previous blog: Can Black Britain produce an 'Oprah'?