Bob Marley
- 1981-05-31
"13 Dead Nothing Said" - Skin follows large protests in the aftermath of the New Cross Fire, a response to widespread institutional silence on the tragedy.
The loss of the lives of 13 Black teenagers during the New Cross fire of 1981 was widely considered to be arson started by National Front members. Officially the cause of the fire remains unsolved. At the time, the tragedy was ignored and unacknowledged by the government. This edition of LWT's multicultural series Skin covers the protest in the aftermath of the incident, one of the darkest periods of the 20th century for Black Britons.
The programme reveals the black community's grief, and tracks the emergence of a renewed sense of community solidarity in the wake of the government's silence in response to the tragedy. It follows the marches in solidarity with the victims and dissects the racist media backlash, focusing instead on how community solidarity bloomed as young, previously apolitical Black Britons began to organize and raise money for the Massacre Action Committee.
Look out for an interview with a young Darcus Howe, then an activist who would later become a prominent broadcaster on Channel 4. Howe discusses the outpouring of solidarity as a member of the New Cross Massacre Action Committee established by academic and historian John La Rose.
Programme about the black community's response to the fire at a party in Deptford in which 13 young black people died. Includes footage from the march which was organised to protest at the government and media's response to the fire and interviews with members of the black community.