6' ~~~tkw~·'i· ay · The pv;!.ice t hrough in the centre of the ded that a Fact Flndlng CommlSSlOn should to the front room' their enqu i-ries. are room arid was fuelled be set up. To put it shortly the setting when h.e heard some- :releasing information by paint thinners. up of the Commission was a vote of non- one shout fire he which t ends to s how From the enquiries confidence in the way the police were went ·to the fr~nt that the· fire started of the Fact Finding dealing with thit:? grave tragedy and to room and found it from inside. They Commission they h ave counter the deliberately misleading state- ablaze the whole answer the statement d iscounted the fol ­ ments in the press. ' lowing lines of That Commission pub­ police enquiry. lished its preliminary (a) That a faulty finding at a public television may have meeting attended by in exploded, excess of 1500 people (b) That a spark on Sunday 25th January from a gas fire had 1981, The following igni ted a p ouffe, a summary of their (c ) That someone findings. smoking c annabis may have been care On Saturday 17th less. January 1981 at 439 (d) That an abund­ New• Cross Road, Yvon­ ance of a lcohol fue ne Ruddock whose birt lled the fire. day it was, had organ­ (e) That g atecras~ ised a party joi ntly ers who had been with a friend Angela turned away retur Jackson. The party ned and cause t he started late at appro­ fire. ximately midnight due ose witnesses in­ to the delayed arrival uding Mrs Ruddock, of those who were pro­ had spoken t o, viding the music. Frow have been present all accounts the par­ hen gatecrashe rs ty was well ordered wer e spoken to, con­ and enjoyed by the cluded that there young people there. no ani mosity. There were no argu­ Those young people ments or fights and ad no inkling as as Mrs. Ruddock, they enjoyed them­ Yvonne's mother sta­ the fire. building he said had about the man seen selves tha t some ted there was a limi­ burned out, in 3 to making a throwing act­ ted amount of alcohol A young man who had ion by stating that , THIRTEEN YOUNG PEOPL been at the party 5 minutes, maybe 10 . as she did not want that man had attemp­ S NUFFED OUT WHEN THE stated that he left minutes. Mrs Ruddock LIVE FOR, THE Y WERE a ny of the children states and has always ted to warn t:~os ·e. at to go home drunk. the party a t about the party a nd had put 5.45 a.m and walked maintained that when his hand up to stop Andrew Gooding (14), On two occasions towards New Cross she l oo~ed into the Patri cia J ohnso n (15 the police attended room after the shout glass shattering from Station. Wh e n he rea­ one of the windows Owen Thompson (16) P the house ,On the sec­ ched the Railway of fire she noticed Yvonne Rud dock ( 16) an armchair over by from falling on him. ond visit they advis­ Bridge he turned aro­ · ~ He is then s upposed Steve Collins ( 17) e d Mrs.Ruddock to und and looked in the t he window on fire , Peter Campbell (18) to have repor ted to close the windows on direction of the the curtains were Paul Ruddock (22). one of the uppe r h ouse to s ee if his on fire, she do~s n ot the police station. Through their f oren­ floors. The party was brother who had recall h owever at being held upstairs stopped to talk to a sic scientists the and the ground floor young lady was coming, front room had been At that point he not­ designated out of iced a man (but can­ The Official Reaction bounds to the party not say if he was bla­ goe rs.. It was in that ck or white) standing The murder of 13 motive. I t seems h a s heeded t h e cries room t hat the fire, outside 439. There b lack youngsters has that whenever black of Black c h i ldren in which raged like a was a white Princess stirred in the people are attacked their hour of peril. volcano through the motor car parked at ranks of tne mass or kille d precisely The MP for the area, house, started. the kerb; the engine media and those in because of racist John Silkia who has activity the police offices less than a WHAT WERE THE EVENTS was running as he t h e 'acceptable' polJ itical p arties of state that there p.,etr ol bomb away h as SURROUNDING THE FIRE, could see fumes com­ ing from the exhaust , this country and the was no racial motive sai d nothing. Some time before He noticed the man on government l ess con­ Apart ;from t he We sympatbize with 5,30 a.m a white you­ the pavement made a cern than t hat over n ews bulletins on 'the peopl,~ of Dublin th was obse rved to throwing action and the death of dogs. · r~dio and televi~ion who have recently suf­ drive around t he bui­ simultaneou sly heard The media were very on 18 January 1981 fered a similar tra­ lding 5 or 6 times . the sound of breaking quickly on the and a few lines in gedy, We cannot how­ Shortly before the glass. The man then scene outside some of the national ever avoid the obvious fire star ted a white walke d around to the 439 New Cross Road. pape rs on Monday analogy , There were woman unknown to tho ­ driver's side of the SE14. They spared 19 January 1981 no teleg:r;-ams to t he se at the party e n­ Princess and got tnto no time in attemp­ there. h as been a: f amilies of Black chi­ t ered t he house and it. The car wh ich ting to sow these drought o f i n forma­ dren .who died i .n New enquired whose party had been facing see ds of confusion iion . The carrions Cross f r om t he Queen, it was. She was then Deptford manoeuvred with statements such of Fleet St and nor f rom Margare t seen to go into the a U-turn and spe d as ;f ight in party those associated Thatcher. The New area of the toilets. off down Mornington may have been the with ·it have shut Cross Tragedy has She carried two bag~. Road, cause for the fi r e , their b lood filled received no 'Official was approximately 2 3 or t hat it could p e ns , black death response for a Public years of age and was Amongst those who have been gate­ for them is of ·Enquiry , or a Natio­ lat e r seen outside as we r e inside t h e crashers. They were little or n o signi­ ·nal D~y of Mourning. the fire raged , A h ous e was Mr Leslie very quick to pub­ finance, Not even a simple white man""'"' also Morris, one of the lis h the standard Neither on e member note of sympathy. seen outside the buil- five or s o 'adults' police line that o f t h is Govt . nor one rli n" ":t. t .h P. t imP. of "1' i"hP nRrt.v . HP. there was no racial from t h e Oooo si·tion 13 DEAD AND 27 INJURED 7 Two Views Of a Tragedy The Following are extracts, firstly frpm wisdom that things will get better as time passes the service -delivered by the Rev. Cannon more conventional than wise? FIRE FUND Wil ired wood at the funeral service for So there is need for all of us openly and Yvonne' and Paul Ruddock. Secondly ·· by actively to declare where we stand in relation to Mrs Sybil Pheonix, at a press conference those who murder innocent people -- i=espective · The New Cross Fire Fund held on Thursday 11th February 1981. of whether these murderers are our neighbours, which was set up to relations, friends, kith or ldn. If we do not raise funds. for the vic­ Rev. W; Wood. come out openly against them, they will be proved tims of this tragedy at right in their assumptions that we are their the time of going to "-From time to ti.me, someone is murdered because partners in their evil actions. We must not be press the fund had rea­ he is representative of something that sone6iie afra1d," ched £900,000, else wanw to destroy. It would be unrealistic It is estimated that if we did not ask ourselves if these young Mrs •. S. Pbeonix. funeral expenses alone· people were .no·t murdered because someone wanted At a press conference held at the Moonshot Club are over £7,500. to destroy what they represent. Those who died in Pagnell Street, in an emotional speech Mrs. We appeal to all our are r epresentative of all of us. The te=or by Sybil Phoenix, a supporter of Mrs. Ruddock and Readers to support t his night, the bullet by day; the sickness that other parents who have lost their children in the most worthy Cause by destroys even in the day.,time which struck down fire, called for more support from the authorities. sending generously' to: Paul· and Yvonne and eleven oth.ers, can strike any She said: "if a dogs home was attacked and 12 THE NEW CROSS FIRE FUND of us, anytime, anywhere, so there is no point dogs burned the press would be asking 'how could Barclays Bank in being afraid. dogs lJe treaded this way'?" She said t hat "some­ 5A Marylebone High St, If we do not speak for ourselves, the people time ago a kennel was burnt down and a survivipg London W,1 who murder yourig black people will assume that: kitten made the news for days, yet we have a sit­ they are speaking for usi · what is more, they uation where black people have been murdered and would 'be·. right, for public opinion would be on to date there has not even beeh any messages of their side, since public opinion is not what sympathy from the Prime Minister of this country." people think; but only that portion of their thoughts that they express, Is the conventional The Hate Letters dubious minded people Following this. tragic eve L~: ~~,d ui·e· insensitiv were planning 'SUch publication of. the adresses of those who died a catastrophically in the South London Press, .the fa~ilies of ' sinister deed. The the deceased received a vicious set of hate lives of 9 young­ letters. Each of the letters carried the addre sters were instant­ 61 Chaucer Road, Herne Hill, S.E.24 and the ly snuffed out and signatu.re Brian Bunting.. · · · 4 have died as a That address has · are 0 f ering a reward result of· injuries been checked out and iri connection with sustained. An:ongst found to be the add'- .information leading them was 16 year ress of a Black fami - td a conViction. old Yvonne Ruddock. ly. The name, Brian All these letters Bunting is that of . bore the postmark HAD THEIR LIVES a man who has campal-Jcatford. Below we HAD SO MUCH TO gned against croups have printed the text like the National of one of these let- Front, Column 88 etc. t ers received by ~len PoweLl (15) Rosalind Henry ( 16) and who used to live some of the parents, at that address. A and that sent to the J;ick Cummings ( 16) similar letter was West Indian World (Jfrry Francis (17) ------·-,:------.received at the o.ffi- offices. (We have not ~hrey Brown ( 18) ces of the West Indi- corrected any spell­ tloy,d Hall (20)and an World, a-fter they ing or gramatical had announced they errors.) ~sa tions marched Noted it is said or •wha t a ~ reat day l a st sunday when I rough the street of so they praise them­ heard about the fire and all those ngham protesting selves for their in­ nigger going up in flames great me and ns t Black parties. vestiga.tive journa­ my mates went to the pub f or a go~d ss than 24 hours lism and 1reedom to drink two ol d girls said you gett~ng later NINE Black chil­ express their views. married we tol d them about the fire they dren lay de?..d and many Yet no word and no said great I hope the black B ... who injured. investigation. You muged me was t here (like the black mon­ There has ' be~n an may. as Well. ask"why key wbo ro uged my old mum) I wi~l see the orchestrated conspri­ this silence? To that day that all the black filfth ~: sent racy between the for­ question the only one back to Africa us street trader are ces of the state to asked at a Press Con­ tough. " curtail any action ference held on "What a pity only ]2 stinking niggers and the anger whiCh Thursday 11 February d i ed. I' ve seen in MacDon alds they are Black people would 1981, th~re was no offering Roast Nigger Burgers at a Spe­ and do feel at what r·eply. One may well cial price if ~ou take )2, The guy who ook place. When the wonder what reply threw the bomb is really Sick he says dia attempt at caus­ they could have made. t ha t he only got ]2 to the. gallon. ng confusion failed Could it be that Better luck next time." ogether with the there was no news We are aware that Because of the dir- rite police line of value b ecause they t he re are a lways th- ection of the police o racial motive,tbey are not concerned ose who would in cir- investigation which loyed the tatic of ab-ci'ut Black people cumstances like th- has not centred on ilunce. Not one word being murdered. ese write such let those groups, who clea- rom the Press or We must at all ters. It is our view rly have a moti ve to liticians . This was times be wary of the however that these carry out such attack. deliberate attempt ways in which this particular letters They have left a clear difuse reactions State works and be came from Racist field to write and f Black people. prepared to counter organisation. Had deciminate intimida- Political necess­ it at every level. the police concent- tory materials. Thus , chael Gooding elder city is a hard mas­ We must not allow rate d some of their th~y would not have brother of Andrew who ter. It is that ourselves to be lull energies into inve s- been so arrogant if died, Michael received master which has into not reacting tigating the activi- they believed that severe burns, Seen here ordered the silence especially in such ties of those groups there was any real at funeral of Paul and of the 'great' Bri­ grave matters as the then at last the threat of them being Yvonne Ruddock. •· tish j ournalist . l ives of our Youths.· lack community wou- found out. ·ld see some honesty. ------. 6 NEW CROSS First c ign Report 2nd March 1981 at Fordham Park New Cross March felt a feeling Black People· from all. over the· country of Upliftment and gathered in the rain to start a hi~toric Power by seeing so 12-mile protest march against Black many Black people to­ Peoples' treatment in Britain. gether. However,there KNOWING YOUR ENEMIES were some who had ' doubts about the JANUARY 18th: An unprecedented attack against Black youths took place at 439 Gains, despite this National coming toget New C~o~s Road, killing 9 and seriously injuring many others. The total deaths her of Blacks because of the indifferent were to eventually reach THIRTEEN. treatment from this JANUARY 17th: The Police and Media. society. The Demonst­ Sun front page read: A leaflet publis­ ration had also been 9 Die In Firebomb _ ing a further meet­ a warning to those Horror - The story ing was planned and people in this soci~ then went on to ex­ it was agreed that ety who feel that plain about noisy, Friends and Families Blacks are too weak overcrowded party of the Dead would to Stand Up against with gatecr ashers,. speak. Di scrimination and and Police l ookin\ Parl iament . On days before the Day STAND I NG FIRM WITH of Action, British LOW prepared to fight for a col·oured man many occasions for their Rights. in a white Austin RESPECT-F IRST SHOW their Debates have journalism sank to Princess. This News OF STRENGTH resulted not mere­ its cheapest level. ALL OUT NEXT TIME was also repeated by JANUARY 25th: The ly in verbal dis­ The Daily Mail head­ This historic the general media. large hall was comp­ ruptions but Actu­ line: 'Killer Blaze march focussed not letely packed for al physical punch Charge Soon! The ar­ only national, but BLACK PEOPLE DECIDE the meeting at the ups. ticle explained that International atten ·'THEIR HISTORY BY Pagnell St. Centre. MENTAL SLAVERY the police had in tion on the treat­ THEIR COLLECTIVE After a few emotion­ Black people must custody a few youths ment of Black Peo­ ACTIONS al speeches from the not fall into the from the party and ples in this soci­ JANUARY 21st: Local Platform and the trap of this Colo­ charges were to fol­ ety and so cause Black people at the meet i ng, the Floor nial conditioning low. A few othe.r the Government scene of the .Mass erupted into strong that Black's cant publications and great embarassment. Murder decided to arguments and some do this or that •• news reports latched. This move on o ur have a meeting to people began to dri­ We can do a n ything onto this story but part has also set a discuss the serious ft away mlli~bling and everything. not as extreme as precedent for fur­ implications of what that'Black people Certain construc­ the Mail. ther action. took place, especi­ can't do anything'. tive points were This story was With more people ally the fraudulent A few hundred went b r ought out of the checked with Scot­ nex.t time, both reporting by the to 439, to pay tri­ meeting and for land Yard by the Black and Wh ite. the media. bute, refusing to be those people who Committee, The Yard protest will not News of the meet­ moved on the police. were interested, admitted that the merely in Central ing spread mainly by Traffic in the area they met the fol­ story was 'complete­ London, but in all wor d - of-mouth. There was halted for seve­ lowing Tuesday and ly untrue'. The pol­ the workplaces when was an unpresidented ral hours. s u bsequen tly every ice can bla~e the people walk out, as turnout. At the mee­ ~~y EVERY NEW BEGIN­ Tuesday to discuss press and vise-versa some did on March 2nd ting eye witnesses NINGS IS IMPORTANT possible future but conscious minded To maintain the accounts of what took A REVIEW '- action. The first people in the commu­ gains of March 2nd, place strongly con~ There' 'i's a ·:· common Tuesday meeting nity knows that this get involved with tradicted the repor­ attitude among peo­ added to the origi­ was a final despera­ the work of this Org ting in media: the ple attending meet­ nal numbers of the te attempt by the anization and also person who was quot­ ings to have this Black Peoples Ass­ State forces to support the Demands ed as saying he saw great Expectation of embly. At this '(old Up' the Black of the New Cross Act a colqured man driv­ people on the Plat­ meeting an elderly reoples Day of Action ion Committee for an ing away in a white form, but without Black labourer UPLIFTMENT AND Independent I nquiry into the Massacre of car, strongly denied really thinking of suggested that we DISILLUSIONMENT those Black Youths. making such a state­ what they · themselves should have a Most people on the ment. The atmosphere are dofng. This is 'Black Peoples Day of the party was sa­ completely Negative of Action'. The id to be orderly. A if anything is to be Black Assembly di­ white man was seen done. If we look at scussed the matter to be driving around any kind of SOcial and unanimously a r~gularly by the force in society agreed that it was House. The Black com then we must under­ about time Black munity lived in con­ stand that the initi­ Peoples Voices stant threath of ter­ ative of a few to were heard in this ror because of known call a meeting does country. Racialist attacks in not constitute a ON MARCH 2ND 198l:NO the area, The fire­ Social Change, but MORE COVER-UPS NO men and police who what is required in MORE BLACK VICTIMIS­ had arrived at the the ACTIVE INVOLVE­ AT!ON' IN THIS LAND scene stated that MENT OF EACH AND COUNTER ATTACK this Fire had the EVERYONE OF US IN The State-police hallmark of a fire ­ TAKING PARK IN BUILD­ media being aware bomb attack. ING UP THE MOMENTUM that Black people TO MAKE SURE THE DE­ are getting more de­ BLACK ASSEMBLY MANDS OF THE COMMUN­ With this background ter mined to Protest ITY ARE MET AND NOT against such outra­ the Black Peoples' SWEPT UNDERNEATH THE Assembl y formed the geous attacks did CARPET. everything to coun­ New Cross Massacre The fact about ter this Black Peo­ Action Committee, the meeting being also made up of a ple's initiative. disrupted is unfor The Massacre Commit­ Fact Finding Commis­ tunate. But as in sion to i nvestigate tee was attacked and many cases when lab elled as Black the finer details there is discus­ and to ensure that political extremeist. sion about a emot­ Many inacc urate the­ the community wa·s ive subject, these correctly informed ories about the Fire outbursts will flooded through the rather than being occur as anyone fed distorted news News, will know listen­ FEBRUARY 25th:Four from the St~te, ing to Debates in paign to hoodwink the COill!runity, 1oca lly and nationally. They attemp­ Sunderland road-1811 ted to do the same thing New Cross-1881 concerning New Cross. In 19~1 the Home Office is~;es to the "gentlemen of Fleet Street"· a D not­ ice which though not obligatory they abided by and did not publicize the events . In 198 I they attempted by all means fair and foul to lay the blame for the Massacre at the door of a black p.erson or anyone e1 se but a racialist faction . The state has summ­ oned together a maggoty. rat infested group of so-called experts and investigators, Scientific and otherwise. This they did in order to add sub­ stance to their theories, namely:- !) That the fire was an capable of coming to not unprecedented step · accident, grips with the situation. gave his support in ·allow- In January 1971 at a 2) That it was caused by Without those ac ti vis ts i ng the 1awyers repre- house in, Sunderland Road one or more of those who New Cross may well have senting the families, Forest Hill, South East died. been no more than another leave to argue for a new LoDdon, a group of black 3) That it was caused by peg on the analysis sheet inquest before the High people had gathered to one or more of those who of racist violence . Court. We are optimistic . celebrate the New Year. survived . The f'lew Cross Massacre that we will get a new But what was to be a 4) That it was a combina­ Action Committee was the inquest. Party an occasion of cel­ tion of 2&3 above . community's reponse to THE INTERNATIONAL COMM1SS ebration .ended in horror The entire police the state's inactivity and ION OF INQUIRY. and tragedy. In the early "investigation" was con­ its attempts at subverting The Massacre Action hours of the Sunday morn­ centrated to prove one the comm~:~nit,y. That comm- Committee had hoped that ing a gang of arsonists, of the above and to dis­ 1ttee wh1ch 1s made up of the Commission would hell bent on the further­ prove any possibility of various black organtza- have been able to sit in ance of their racist from Sunderland road . We a racist attack. They tions _an~ i~dividuals, January 1982. Unfortunat- motive, lobbed petrol all know or should know failed miserably on both had w1th1n 1ts ranks ely that was not possible bombs into the room where what happened in New counts. But in the pro­ those persons who had for various reasons t he the party was being held. Cross that fearfu·l morn­ cess the police were res­ the experience to deal most important being Miraculously there were ing. On the morning of ponsible for spreading with the situation. . trouble in obtaining a no fatalities, several what has come to be known some very inhumane and We know today that suitable venue and cer- persons however were sev­ as the New Cross Massacre malicous rumours. what happened on the 18th ta{n of the Commissioners erely burnt and disfigur­ Thirteen black youths Un 1ike 1971 where they January 1981 is not only being unable to attend at ed for 1ife . ranging in age from 14 to effectively supressed in­ nationally but internat- that time. We are now Almost ten years to 22 years all lost their formation about the Sun­ ionally known .. The camp- working to get .the Comm­ the day on the 18th Janu­ l i ves. Out of that thir­ derland Road bombings. aign for a proper invest- ission off the ground in ary 1981 at a similar teen nine (9) died inst­ They were unable to do so igation and not the sham June of 82. For· any fur­ occasion of celebration antly the other four (4) over New Cross. Certain we have been served up is ther information ;about this time a young gi r ls died later in hospitals. sections of the black supported not only at either the appeal or 16th birthday party was In 1971 at the time of community wh.o had been home but also vigourously Commission of Inquiry being celebrated. The the Sunderland Road bomb ~ involved since Sunderland abroad. contact the NCMAC at 165", venue was in New Cross ings the police and other Road in a decade of pol­ THE APPEAL Railton Road. London S,E, road, London SE,I4, no organs of the state carr­ itical struggles, were Recently the attorney 24. or Tel- 737-2268 . more than three miles ied out a deliberate cam- experienced enough and General" in an unusual if ·

THORTHON HEATH CONTD THORNTON HEATH TRIALS