A research residency project in partnership with artist-led space TACO! and Thamesmead Community Archive, looking at anti-racist community led action work in Thamesmead and the surrounding area in the early 1990s – organising that has remained largely undocumented in the Thamesmead Community Archive up until this point.
Material displayed at 'A Day of Action' – a symposium exploring Anti-Racist Community-led action past and present, 11th June 2022. Speakers: Richard Adams, Dev Barrah, Giles Gabbon, Ann-Marie Cousins, Hannah Ishmael and Aleema Gray.
In 1991, a gang of young white men and boys murdered 15 year-old Rolan Adams in a racially-motivated attack. It received limited media attention, pre-dating Stephen Lawerence’s murder in nearby Eltham in 1993. However, there was an overwhelming community-led response commencing with a 1,500 strong 6-mile protest march from Thamesmead to the BNP’s offices in Welling, Bexley. This march was attended by the US Civil Rights preacher Al Sharpton, Diane Abbot, and Ken Livingstone, among others; and kickstarted a community campaign that led to the closure of the BNP office in 1993.
March on the BNP, Welling 1992. Image courtesy of Perou.
There is currently minimal documentation reflecting these rifts and the important community-led responses to counteract them. The project aims to make this anti-racist community work visible so that it can viewed and understood in a wider historical context of activism and the tumultuous history of race relations throughout the UK more broadly, as well as outline practices of community organising that might be drawn upon today by others as in light of the ongoing social justice demands of the BLM movement.
Stills from video interview with Dev Barrah – activist, Greenwich Action Committee Against Racist Attacks, Dec 2021.
'A Day of Action' – a symposium exploring Anti-Racist Community-led action past and present, 11th June 2022. Speakers: Richard Adams, Dev Barrah, Giles Gabbon, Ann-Marie Cousins, Hannah Ishmael and Aleema Gray.
The research so far takes the form of:
- 17 video recorded interviews with community organisers;
- Press cuttings and other material gathered for the archive;
- A symposium with invited speakers including activist Dev Barrah, father victim of racially motivated attack Richard Adams, and Black Cultural Archives archivist Hannah Ishmael, among others.
- A series of steering group meetings consulting on the development of a public memorial artwork, funded by the GLA's 'Untold Stories' grant, are currently in development.
Work in progress - casting Rolan Adams' memorial plaque for development of public memorial artwork, 2024. Image © Mat Jenner.
ACTION! Steering Group walk-around, surveying sites for public memorial artworks. July 2023.
