This is one of the most high-profile murder cases in British history, which brought the term ‘institutional racism’ into the national lexicon, but until recently, I knew very little about the details of it.
The murder of teenager Stephen Lawrence in an unprovoked, racially motivated attack sparked national outrage and a number of public inquiries into the blatant discrimination of the police response.
On the 22nd April 1993, 18 year old Stephen Lawrence and his friend, Duwayne Brooks, were waiting for a bus in Eltham, South East London, when they were attacked by a group of white men shouting racial slurs. Brooks was able to get away and shouted to Lawrence to run, he managed to get about 120m before collapsing from his injuries. Stephen Lawrence was stabbed multiple times, severing axillary arteries and puncturing one lung.
When police officers arrived at the scene, no first aid was administered and by the time Stephen finally made it to hospital, he had already bled to death. And despite multiple people coming forward with the names of the suspects from the very beginning of the investigation into the attack, it took until 2012, almost 20 years later, for anyone to be charged with murder.
There were five men accused of his murder, Gary Dobson, Neil Acourt, Jamie Acourt, Luke Knight and David Norris. But only Dobson and Norris were charged in 2012 with 15 and 14 years in prison respectively. The other three walked free and in 2018 The Met said that the investigation into the murder is ‘unlikely to progress’ without new information.
This incident is largely credited with ‘changing the face of British policing’, but it took a visit from Nelson Mandela – who said of the murder: ‘It seems black lives are cheap’ – and a surprising show of solidarity from tabloid newspaper, the Daily Mail, who published the names and faces of the suspects with the headline ‘Murderers’, to even start the conversation.
A public inquiry into the murder, known as the Macpherson Report, was announced in 1997. It was published in 1999 with the conclusion of ‘institutional racism’ in the British police force and a list of 70 recommendations to address this, including that the police should be ‘made subject to the “full force” of race relations legislation’ and defining a racist incident as ‘any incident which is perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person’.
While many of these recommendations were implemented with specific changes to legislation and practice, the question of ‘institutional racism’ in the police force remains. In 2017 stats showed that black people were eight times more likely to be stopped and searched by police officers than white people and in 2018, only about 2% of officers of assistant chief constable rank or above are BAME.
This case has been a defining moment in British history which forced the police force to take acknowledge their institutional racism. However, with Boris Johnson recently announcing yet another inquiry into racism in the UK, it is time that we questioned how much progress has really been made.
Further Reading:
BBC Article: A Timeline of Events To 2018
StephenLawrence.com – A more detailed timeline of events
The Stephen Lawrence Case: How it Changed Britain
Watching:
Stephen Lawrence: The Murder that Changed a Nation
Listening:
Seriously…, Macpherson: What Happened Next
Beyond Today, Are the Police Still Racist?
The Reggie Yates Podcast, Episode 2: Toes. ft Deputy Mayor of London: Matthew Ryder
More in this series:
History that We Should All Be Aware Of: Black Codes and Convict Leasing