Over-Policed and Under-Protected

Following a call for workers from the Caribbean to come to Britain to rebuild the metropolis after the Second World War, the Black community in London grew considerably. Despite being British subjects by birth in a British colony, Black Britons experienced racism, violence and harsh policing. By the mid-1960s, inspired by Malcolm X and the Black Power movement, activists established legal services to promote the civil rights of Black people and to address the limitations of state services – a “welfare state from below”. Crowd-funding techniques were used to organize 24-hour telephone lines to connect people with legal support and advice on arrest. This voluntary work influenced later campaigns to reform police practice from the 1970s: issues that are still alive in the twenty-first century.