something is taking place
gotten only by militancy a lot of white
people did not want black people as
their neighbors
[Music]
west indian and black british stand firm
in
england
there's malcolm
[Music]
is he walking around birmingham yes
medic in birmingham yeah
can't be conservative or moderate today
[Music]
as angela angela davis yes brothers and
sisters this is genocide
these were all great movements for us at
the time this is really
our inspiration black power what does it
really mean
the coming together of black people to
fight for their liberation by any means
necessary
they articulated all our desires all our
dreams all our feelings
and that's why we were attracted to them
[Music]
there was a lot of hostility to
immigrants and immigration
some organizations would like to see all
colored people sent back to their home
countries
keep britain britain keep it white as it
should be
even when i went to school you would
hear it in the classroom
miss miss this isn't fair why are all
these immigrants coming here they're
coming to take my dad's job etc
there won't be enough houses and jobs to
go around the white person should have
their houses first
my mother was english and i was
surrounded really by white people so i
was quite isolated and lonely
i came to britain on a scholarship to
cambridge university
it was when i came to london looking for
a room to stay
that i suddenly got a jolt
they really did say we don't want you
here a lot of white people did not want
black people as their neighbours and
they certainly didn't want them in their
houses
apart from facing this kind of racism
from landlords
one would go to pubs and they would
pretend that you were not
there that you were an invisible person
serious clashes between the police and
immigrants
highlighting the growing conflict
between the two up and down the country
the policing of black communities was
very very brutal
we as we grew up began to resist and
want better for ourselves
a black man is not given a chance to get
a position where he has any sort of
power
he's not given a chance in society to
play any part
at all in a way he has any authority
there was a community spirit a spirit of
resistance side by side
with poor housing poor education police
brutality
and just trying to make an existence in
very very poor circumstances
i lived on a flat on the second floor
somebody
threw a molotov cocktail through the
glass
the flames were coming through i jumped
two stories down
that was a racial attack five houses
asian and black houses
were bombed the same night
i knew what was going on and i wanted to
be part of something so i joined the
black unity and freedom party
at weekends black panther badges are
proudly worn on the streets of london
in 1967 there was feeling that
the world is going to be changed the
black panther
movement spoke about who we were why we
were here
i thought these people are sensible i
want to join them
this was something that we had to do the
real revolutionary proletariat ready to
fight
by any means necessary for the
liberation
of our people
the militancy of the panthers was very
very attractive to us
their demands we could identify with
those demands without any problem at all
[Music]
we all produce newspapers we would go to
brixton
stand outside the reggae shop and sell
the newspapers
there 13
died 26 were injured
[Music]
listen i'm ringing up to confirm about
the cultures that are coming down from
huddersfield
how many are coming we were active in
all aspects of our communities
just trying to develop and move forward
the black community in this country
[Music]
there was a strict monitoring
of by the police especially after the
mangrove demonstration i've never known
whether
a fire was kept on myself but
darkest house certainly had a file on
him
we are faced with a serious potential
that
is the overwhelming intervention of
blacks
on the current stage of history in
britain when we were going around
black people were still called colored
what we did and what we changed of
course was introduced the term black and
being proud
we were not victims in british society
that we were out to make our own change
and you can see that today
[Music]
the movement itself has given me an
optimism i don't think the detail of the
black power movement of the
70s and early 80s is known really by and
large in the population
because it isn't taught in schools
because it isn't part of
the discussion in the media to any great
extent so now is our time really to say
this is what we did this is how we did
it and if there's anything you can learn
from that
then that's good enough for us