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The Black People's Day of Action

On Monday, 2 March 1981, around 20,000 Black people from all over the UK came together and marched through London. Beginning in New Cross in South London in the morning, people walked for over eight hours, with numbers swelling as the procession moved towards central London.

The march moved through Peckham and Elephant and Castle in South London with chants like 'Blood Ah Go Run if Justice Nuh Come,' 'The people united will never be defeated' and 'Thirteen Dead and Nothing Said!' towards central London via St George's Circus.

What was the reason for the march? On Saturday, 17 January, teenagers Angela Jackson and Yvonne Ruddock celebrated their joint birthday at Yvonne's house at 439 New Cross Road when a fire broke out. In the early hours of Sunday morning, thirteen people, all between the ages of fifteen and twentytwo, including one of the birthday girls, died in the New Cross Fire.

The New Cross Fire numerically represented Britain's most significant loss of life since the second world war, yet neither the media nor the political establishment acknowledged the tragedy.

In today's video, we take a closer look into the events surrounding and leading up to the Black People's Day Of Action. In 1981 13 were dead, and nothing was said, but not anymore.

Written and Voice By Kesewa John

Thanks to: Carol Pierre and Claudia Tomlinson.

If you'd like to know more about the New Cross Fire or the Black People's Day of Action, have a look at the links below::

Blood Ah Go Run by Menelik Shabazz    • Blood Ah Go Run: New Cross Fire 1981 ...  



Gus John, Linton Kwesi Johnson, John La Rose (editors), The New Cross Massacre Story. New Beacon Books: London, 2011. Buy it here: https://www.newbeaconbooks.com/nbpubl...

Carol Pierre, "The New Cross Fire and Its Aftermath" in Black British History: New Perspectives, edited by Hakim Adi. London: Zed Books, 2019, 162175. Available here: https://www.newbeaconbooks.com/black...

"New Cross Fire 13 Dead and Nothing Said," Each One Teach One, 20 January 2001: https://www.eachoneteachone.org.uk/ne...


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