Sparked by the recent police killings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Tony McDade, Black Lives Matter protests have swept the globe. However, there still remains the staunch belief here that police brutality against Black people is a US issue and that it doesn’t affect the UK – or at least, not as badly. Arguments such as “British police officers aren’t even armed” are hurled at Black organisers in the UK, negating the fact that Black people account for 8 percent of recorded deaths in police custody in the UK, despite forming only 3 percent of the UK population. In fact, just this month, a police watchdog announced that an investigation is underway into the death of Simeon Francis, a Black man who was found unresponsive in his cell at Torquay police station on 20th May.
Advertisement
The truth of the matter is that while most British police officers aren’t armed, there are specially trained authorised firearms officers who do carry guns, as well as the Ministry of Defence police and a select few other UK forces. All police forces in the UK have a firearms unit. But the invocation of the archetypal ruddy-faced British bobby walking their beat gun-less, unlike their US counterparts, remains at odds with the fact that over 1,700 people have died in police custody since 1990. You don’t need a gun to exact lethal force on another. The fact that the last time a British police officer was convicted for a death in custody was in 1969 – despite several verdicts of unlawful killing since – is all the more galling.Ken Fero, a member of the United Families & Friends Campaign, a coalition supporting those affected by deaths in police, prison and psychiatric custody, tells VICE: “[We] welcome the focus that the brutal murder of George Floyd has put on state violence in the US, [however] we are heartened by the youth in the UK who are also making the very important point that police brutality is very real and present and dangerous in this country also.”“This is not a new issue,” adds Deborah Coles, director of INQUEST, a UK charity that has provided specialist support for bereaved people following a state-related death for nearly four decades. “These are not isolated tragedies, but part of a systematic problem and synonymous with state violence, structural racism, injustice and impunity.”
Advertisement
When we think about or research the Black people who have been killed or maimed by police, we are confronted with tragic and traumatic loss. While their deaths provide critical references, the lives these people lived are often forgotten. Below, we’ve highlighted some of these lives, but this isn’t even close to an exhaustive list – never stop looking these people up, never stop supporting their families, and never ever stop saying their names.
ROGER SYLVESTER (NORTH LONDON, 1999)
Advertisement
SMILEY CULTURE (SURREY, 2011)
MZEE MOHAMMED-DALEY (LIVERPOOL, 2016)
Advertisement
JOY GARDNER (NORTH LONDON, 1993)
TREVOR SMITH (BIRMINGHAM, 2019)
Advertisement
SARAH REED (NORTH LONDON, 2016)
JIMMY MUBENGA (LONDON HEATHROW, 2010)
Advertisement
CHERRY GROCE (SOUTH LONDON, 1985)
DALIAN ATKINSON (TELFORD, 2016)
Advertisement