1981 Riots & Bloodshed [Part I]

As the 80’s beckoned, tempers were frayed. Bass lines descended into subterranean thunder, reverberating a discontent that had simmered within the black community for years. Unemployment was high and the National Front prevalent. The newly devised ‘Sus’ laws’ gave police the authority to stop, search and generally brutalise young black males for no apparent reason. The tipping point came when 13 youths died in a house fire on 18 January 1981. They were aged between 14 and 22. Initially suspected to be a race attack the Media/Government fell collectively silent, because even back then, Black lives didn’t matter. Dubbed the ‘New Cross Fire’ the massacre prompted 20,000 people to take to the streets in what was known as ‘The Black Peoples Day of Action’. The institutionalised hush that followed sparked outrage and subsequently rioting broke out across inner city England. What our parents accepted, the next generation would not. Riots & Bloodshed, soundtrack to a revolution.