Black People’s Day of Action, 1981
On 18 January 1981, a fire tore through 439 New Cross Road in south-east London, where Yvonne Ruddock was celebrating her 16th birthday with about 60 guests. The fire, known as the New Cross Massacre, killed 13 young Black people, and injured 50 more. Given the high degree of racial tension in New Cross at the time, it was assumed that this was a racist attack. However, arrests were not forthcoming, local communities felt that the police were indifferent to the tragedy, and to this day, no one has ever been charged with starting the fire.
The protests arising after the fire led to a mobilization of Black political activity, and on 2 March 1981, there was the inaugural Black People’s Day of Action. The New Cross Massacre Action Committee, chaired by the activist and publisher John La Rose, led a march from the scene of the tragic fire to the Houses of Parliament and presented a petition outlining the community’s concerns to the authorities. Around 20,000 people, coming from as far as Birmingham, Manchester, and even France, marched across London to demand justice for the victims of the New Cross fire and insist that the establishment listen to the Black community.
This radical and powerful course of action was unprecedented and changed the course and direction of Black political life in Britain. We have since seen Black people in Britain take to the streets to protest numerous injustices, from the unlawful killings of Mark Duggan in 2011 and George Floyd in 2020, to the devastating Grenfell fire in 2017.
