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Darcus Howe, one of the Mangrove Nine PA
evening sitdown
Your evening longread: The story of the Mangrove Nine
It’s a coronavirus-free zone as we bring you an interesting longread each evening to take your mind off the news.
EVERY WEEK, WE bring you a round-up of the best longreads of the past seven days in Sitdown Sunday.
And now, every weeknight, we bring you an evening longread to enjoy which will help you to escape the news cycle.
We’ll be keeping an eye on new longreads and digging back into the archives for some classics.
Last night, the filmmaker Steve McQueen launched his Small Axe series of films with one about the Mangrove Nine. Here’s a podcast about their story – which saw them win a landmark British court case after they organised a protest against racism.
(The Guardian, approx 26 mins listening time)
Guardian arts and culture correspondent Lanre Bakare tells Anushka about the 55-day trial that took place in the Old Bailey in 1971. All nine defendants were eventually acquitted of the main charges of incitement to riot. But what really moved the needle was Judge Edward Clarke’s closing comments. “What this trial has shown is that there is clearly evidence of racial hatred on both sides,” he told the courtroom. It was the first judicial acknowledgment of racism in the Met, three decades before the Macpherson inquiry. The story, Lanre says, has clear parallels with the Black Lives Matter protests of this summer.
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