Racist Murder at a Bus Stop

Date with history: April 22, 1993 Racist murder at a bus stop Brian Cathcart recalls the impact of Stephen Lawrence’s death on Britain It is 25 years since Britain’s racism did not afflict the by five white youths’ – all most notorious race murder, police alone: ‘Any long- but naming the suspects. when a black 18-year-old established, white-dominated The Daily Mail went one school student was stabbed organization is liable to have step further, naming the five to death at a London bus stop procedures, practices and a on its front page and, in a by a gang of white youths. culture which tend to exclude stark headline, calling them The anniversary naturally non-white people.’ Some murderers. prompts questions about the truths were uncomfortable, That was February 1997. state of the country today, he declared, but they had to The Macpherson inquiry and particularly about what be confronted. reported in February 1999. changes the case may have That was nearly 20 years In those two years the case GETTY VIA IMAGES AFFAIRS CURRENT AND NEWS BBC inspired. ago. Few would claim today was rarely out of the headlines It was not the circumstances that the vindication of the and the British public caught of the killing themselves Lawrences’ arguments at least a glimpse of life that made the case famous, and the findings of the through the eyes of a black although they were striking Macpherson report had led couple. By the end there enough. Stephen Lawrence to the kind of changes in was strong sympathy and was with a black friend, Britain’s institutions that admiration for the Lawrences Duwayne Brooks, close to a Straw looked forward to. Doreen Lawrence in front of a – of a kind white Britain had bus stop where three white One measure of how little picture of her son Stephen not experienced before. people were also waiting. Only has changed might be the In 2012, thanks to a renewed the two young black men were police power to stop and grievance was no longer a police effort and to fresh attacked, and one of their search people in public places, given. And there seemed to forensic evidence, two of the assailants was heard to call out a power that should normally be something softer: this was suspects were convicted of the word ‘nigger’. The racist be used only when there the first time Britain’s white the murder, an event widely motive could hardly have been are grounds for suspicion of majority engaged with the welcomed as a kind of closure clearer. criminality. The Macpherson sufferings of a black family – ‘Justice for Stephen’ as It took almost four years report, recording that in 1998 in its midst. the headlines declared. to become a cause célèbre black people were five times The ordeal of the Lawrences Now we are 25 years and then it was because no more likely to be stopped had been long and harsh: from the murder and the one had been convicted and than white people, told the failed by the first police anniversary must be a the Lawrence family were police to stop making excuses investigation, they had moment for reflection. Britain insisting that police racism and fix the problem. Home mounted an extremely rare is in obvious ways more was to blame. Office figures in 2017 showed private prosecution for multicultural and tolerant Ultimately they were that black people are now murder only to see it collapse than in 1993, and yet there vindicated by a public eight times more likely to be after a couple of days in court. is also more hate crime and, inquiry led by Sir William stopped. Then, at the inquest, they even in the mainstream of Macpherson, a retired It would be wrong, had watched as, one by one, debate, more hate speech. judge, which concluded after however, to conclude that the five principal suspects While the murder of Stephen months of hearings that the nothing changed. For one, gave ‘no comment’ answers Lawrence prompted Metropolitan Police had the vindication of the family in the witness box and walked several ‘firsts’ in the British been incompetent and that by the inquiry brought an away free. experience, a legacy of lasting its crucial early investigations end to a particular form of That inquest was a turning change is difficult to detect. had been affected by white supremacy: many point. Doreen Lawrence, institutional racism. times before, groups, families Stephen’s mother, delivered Brian Cathcart is professor The response of and individuals had raised an angry speech from the of journalism at Kingston government was sombre and complaints about racism in witness box that was widely University London and the humble. The Home Secretary, public services, but never reported. The jury concluded author of ‘The Case of Stephen Jack Straw, accepted that with such consequences. that it had been ‘a completely Lawrence’, available as the problem of institutional Now the fruitlessness of black unprovoked racist attack an e-book from Penguin the world today | april & may 2018 | 23.

Load more