DEATH IN POLICE CUSTODY AWARENESS WEEK

26 OCTOBER - 31 OCTOBER 2015

   
In This Issue
Kadija Sesay and Friends
 
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SOME OF THE EVENTS AROUND THE COUNTRY
TO HIGHLIGHT THE AWARENESS OF DEATH IN POLICE CUSTODY
 
Monday 26 Oct 
Anniversary dates of significant events
In 2011
http://www.blackmentalhealth.org.uk/index.php/expert-opinion-mainmenu-127/1110-public-meeting-on-black-deaths-in-custody-wednesday-26-october-2011-630-900
in 2012
http://www.seanriggjusticeandchange.com/
 
Statistics and information
tp://www.inquest.org.uk/statistics/deaths-in-police-custody
https://www.opendemocracy.net/opensecurity/deaths-in-british-police-custody-no-convicted-officers-since-1969

In Today's News
 
Tues 27 Oct 
Newspaper launch
Nottingham group  Chat'Bout launch a newspaper about racism, the criminal justice system and the role of women created in collaboration with artists Barby Asante and 'sorryoufeeluncomfortable',
plus screening of films of the past and present looking at race, activism and social justice. 
Time: 18:30
Venue: Nottingham Contemporary

Wed 28 Oct 
Black Lives Matter Conference, Nottingham
The October Dialogues
https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/c3r/current-events/october-dialogues-2015-black-lives-matter.aspx
Includes: A presentation on the first known black man to be killed by the police,  David Oluwale in Leeds
http://www.rememberoluwale.org/
A presentation on the role of poets in human rights campaigns with a focus on the Justice4Sheku campaign case as an example ( kadijageorge@gmail.com ; change.org/justice4sheku)

Thursday 29 Oct  
Meeting at Westminster
Sheku Bayoh Family hosted by MP Roger Mullins has invited other MP's to listen to their case. Family Lawyer Aamer Anwar and Deborah Coles of Inquest will be present
Film Screening  
Who Polices the Police?
Time : 18.30
Place: The Drum, Birmingham
 
 
Friday 30 Oct  
Film Screening
Fruitvale Station with Uncle Bobby whose nephew Oscar Grant was killed by police on New Years Day 2009
(Sheku Bayoh Family members present, will also address audience)
Time: 18.30
Venue: Karibu Centre in Brixton:
https://www.facebook.com/events/861280867274048/

31 Oct 
UFFC (United Families & Friends Campaign) march
Time: Midday
Starting point: Trafalgar Square, London
End point: 10 Downing Street, London
Performance
Celebrating our Struggle
with hip hop artist Akala
Time: 18.00
Venue: School of Oriental and African Studies, (SOAS)Russell Square, London. 
 https://www.facebook.com/events/1657762171132966/
 
STOP PRESS... STOP PRESS... STOP PRESS... STOP PRESS... 
15 Nov: Policing the Crisis: Defend the Right to Protest conference, 15 November 2015
 
For more information contact
 

PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE JUSTICE4SHEKU CAMPAIGN
Kirckaldy, Scotland 
 http://www.shekubayoh.org/


    DEATH IN POLICE CUSTODY AWARENESS WEEK


 26 -31 OCTOBER 2015

The march started on 31 October in 1999 with families united in their pain and suffering who had lost family members and friends at the hands of the police.
 
The United Families & Friends Campaign (UFFC) was set up in 1997 by families who had lost loved ones at the hands of the state to challenge the injustice in the system. It began as a network of black families because disproportionate numbers of black people were dying in police custody. It has now grown as a group that supports all families of the victims of custodial deaths.
 
This week, there are events every day around the country that highlight death in police custody, from meetings at Westminster, community events, conferences in universities, film screenings and a publication launch. The week culminates in the peaceful annual remembrance procession march on 31 October fronted by the United Families and Friends Campaign from Trafalgar Square to Downing Street, where a petition will be handed in to demand justice for those who have died in state custody in suspicious and controversial circumstances.

"Statistics on deaths in police custody in the UK over the past 40 years show a constant rise in police brutality and the ability of the different elements of the state - whether it is the Home Office, the Independent Police Complaints Commission, the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner  (Scotland) or the Crown Prosecution Service - to guarantee immunity to police officers that kill. The UK's appalling record of deaths in custody is matched only by its failure to successfully prosecute one single officer for what is now exceeding thousands of deaths. Whilst the excuses, inquiries and investigations by the state inevitably fail by design to make effective change, recent years have seen an increase in the campaigning and resistance of the families of those that have died to demand justice for their loved ones.  Time has stood still for many families which is why even after 20 years of struggle Myrna Simpson, the mother of Joy Gardner who was brutally killed by police in her home in North London by being shacked in chains and suffocated by 13 feet of masking tape around her mouth, can still cry out today 'My tears will catch them'. Historical crimes like this still burn in our memoirs and will never be forgotten."
 
Statement from Ken Fero - Director - the banned documentary film 'Injustice' about the struggles for justice by families whose loved ones have been killed by the police.
Founding member of United Families & Friends Campaign with Myrna Simpson, Brenda Weinberg  and Minkah Adofo.
 
A Call for Action
 
We ask people to write to their local MP's, sign our petitions for justice, start new petitions, hold public meetings, hold an event throughout the UK this week to demand that the state act on the demands of the families who have suffered injustice at the hands of state authorities.
 
We ask the Prime Minister to act - to read the demands, listen to the families and respond to them directly by acting on the demands that they will hand into Downing Street on 31 October 2015.
 
It is the final week of Black History Month - a month of celebration. This is not the history we want to 'celebrate'.
 



 
 



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