The trials arguing “community self defence” after attacks by the National Front in Bradford, the “Bradford Twelve” and the “Mangrove 9” trials involving Frank Critchlow passed into legal legend. In 1985 a group of largely African barristers successfully defended a large group of Rastafarians and Pan Africans who had broken into the British Museum to “liberate” various African antiquities but who were convicted only one person for taking some books on physics! The founders of the SBL Rudy and Sigbat led the charge often with a whole row of African, Caribbean and Asian barristers successfully fighting for their clients. Rudy claimed that it often felt he “had one foot in the dock and one foot at the Bar”.

Their argument supported by an all white jury was that they could not steal goods that were theirs by right! Rudy established the right to have a Judge recused for racial discrimination after a case before the Birmingham Employment Tribunal where he was threatened with being disbarred for doing so. An agreement was reached between the Bar Council and the then Commission for Racial Equality in 1989 providing for such an application to be made without the barrister or solicitor facing disciplinary proceedings for making the application.

The Benson Commission on the Legal Profession recognised in 1979 held that there was systematic discrimination and that many BME solicitors and barristers could not gain entry into the profession. In 1982 proposals were formulated to create a Bar Race Relations Committee to address issues of discrimination. The Bar Race Relations Committee was formed shortly after wards, followed closely by the Law Society Race Committee. Lord Gifford and Jocelyn Gibbs were amongst those who advocated for change. The Brixton, Handsworth and Liverpool 8 uprisings of 1981 led to the report by Lord Scarman with defence campaigns being led by Rudy Narayan, Sigbat Kadri and others. At the Bar school in 1980 there were approximately 60 BME barristers seeking pupillage with many facing serious discrimination and sexism. Trainee solicitors seeking a training contract faced similar problems with some taking years to obtain a contract.

In 1985 SBL played a key role in the Handsworth Defence Campaign in Birmingham with barristers Michael Hall playing a leading roe in challenging the racism of the Birmingham magistrates in a case called Akpabio. Mr Akpabio was the first person given a community sentence after an unjust conviction when barrister Peter Herbert challenged the bench to sentence him to imprisonment. They backed down but issued a press release saying that they treated “our coloured people” very fairly in Birmingham”. A request was sent by the SBL Chair William Panton to the African National Congress (ANC) which led to the late Nelson Mandela agreeing to be the patron of the SBL. The SBL Committee had the benefit of ANC member Martin Mabilitsa providing a crucial link to the liberation movements of Southern Africa throughout this turbulent period.

In 1986 the pictures of the Soweto uprising, the photos of the shooting of black teenager Hector Pieterson rang out around the world was accompanied by massive repression by the apartheid Government of South Africa. SBL demonstrated outside the South African Embassy joined by Platts Mills Q.C., solicitor Michael Reid, Joy Okoye, Tanoo Mylvaganam, Anesta Weekes Q.C. and many others. There were several of us like barrister, Delano Bart, who were quite scared of being arrested but we are all very safe in the end. Our protest led to an official compliant being lodged by the then South African Ambassador to the UK Foreign Office so it had worked and been noted.

SBL worked with the “Lawyers against Apartheid” group to place mounting pressure on the Bar and the Law Society who eventually agreed to de invest in South Africa. The then Attorney General, Sir Patrick Mayhew called Peter Herbert in Chambers directly to try, unsuccessfully, to persuade him to drop the motion at the Bar AGM supporting the Soweto uprising. He was told that to suggest as he did that, “saying imprisoning 14,000 children might sometimes be necessary” was not a sentiment we were unimpressed with let alone the media.

In 1989 SBL members took part in a series of Public Order cases in Liverpool, which were won challenging the racial profiling of policing in Liverpool where galleries of the local community were kept in Hope Street and Admiral Street police stations. The three defendants, Stephen Nze, Peter Thomas, and Leslie Thomas subsequently took stage at the annual SBL conference. Liverpool 8 Law Centre provided an enormous welcome from Solomon Bassey, Peter Bassey, Maria O’Reilly and Maneh Brown amongst many others in the community. In the years that followed that connection with SBL was maintained with many members of the local community obtaining significant damages from the Merseyside Police with the assistance of Elkan Abrahamson and other radical local solicitors. At the time there were no African, Caribbean or Asian barristers working in Liverpool. SBL member Nigel Fraser gave a brilliant defence speech telling the jury that he himself was from the Handsworth ghetto in Birmingham, and the first of his brothers not to end up in a life of crime but to go to University and become a barrister. The jury was reminded of Liverpool’s history of slavery, asked to consider the exemplary and poignant story of John Demerette, a Liverpuddlian, St Lucian amputee and veteran of the Third battle of Ypres prevented form dining at the Belmont Hospital protected by white and black soldiers. Demerette was discharged from the British army and blamed for the insurrection that followed and only recognised as a victim of hate crime years later. The all white jury wept and acquitted all three defendants to the anger of the Presiding Judge of Liverpool, HHJ Wickham who ordered riot police to wait outside Court to arrest anyone making a disturbance. Defence witnesses included the veteran Labour campaigner, Sir Lady Simy, who spoke eloquently of police racism. Lord Gifford’s report on policing in Liverpool provided the backdrop to the case, with the celebrated poet Benjamin Zephaniah providing the entertainment at the victory party.

The SBL obtained funding and established a small office in the Brixton Enterprise Centre with a director and part time administrator before moving several years later to a new office in Stockwell. SBL grew to prominence with regular media appearances of members on Question Time, newsnight and a whole range of national and international print journals. Former Chair Chris Boothman and Employment Judge Christiana Hyde (her current title) produced a BBC2 documentary on the racism in the criminal justice system aired on BBC2 in 1988.

In October of that year SBL sent 23 delegates, including Rudy Narayan, Nicola Williams, the late barrister Sandra Graham and many others to participate in the National Conference for Black Lawyers annual meeting held at Howard University, Washington DC. We were entertained at Blues Alley in Georgetown by the late legendary jazz singer, Sarah Vaughan, met the internationally renowned political activist, Professor Angela Davis as well as members of the Attica Prison Riot. There was a solid week of political inspiration and learning with some of the best thinkers of the US civil rights movement. Leaders of the NCBL such as Adjua Ayetoro and others visited London in subsequent years to keep that unity alive.

Returning from the US the SBL implemented its political master class by immediately requesting a meeting with the Lord Chancellor, Lord McKay of Clashfern at the House of Lords. We obtained a warm welcome although it took over thirty minutes to explain that yes we were African and Asian lawyers and yes we were there not to visit the building but to met the Lord Chancellor. Those meetings continued on an annual basis throughout his time in office. The lessons of the US civil rights movement were reinforced by Kawme Toure (Sykely Carmichael) , speaking to SBL at County Hall, at the old GLC building in 1984, were to “organise, organise and organise” and use the mainstream media to educate and reach our own people.

In 1990 the SBL attended the 50th anniversary of the National Institute for the Advancement of Coloured People (NACCP) in New York addressed by Rudy Narayan and Peter Herbert. SBL was reported by a legal woman’s rights activist in a legal publication in Japan for the first time. In 1992 the SBL made submissions to the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice advocating multi racial juries and the need for race training for all members of the full and part time Judiciary. In a campaign run jointly with the National Association of Probation Officers (NAPO) and the then Assistant General Secretary, Harry Fletcher, the Black Probation Officers Association and the Association of Black Social Workers we successfully exposed examples of judicial racism across the UK. These embarrassing and outrageous comments, such as “murderous Sikhs,” ,“Nig-Nogs” and “N in the woodpile,” led to the implementation of s95 of the Criminal Justice Act 19991. In coming years the report by Dr Roger Hood of Oxford University would again highlight the disparity in sentencing, especially between white and African Caribbean and Asian defendants, based on a comprehensive study of several thousand defendants at Wolverhampton and Walsall Crown Courts

In June 1992 the National Bar Association visited the UK, and took part in a mock trial in Kensington Town Hall with barristers Karl King, Courtney Griffiths Q.C. and others laying key roles. When the appalling beating of Rodney King flashed across television screens worldwide SBL demonstrated outside the US Embassy in London being joined by the legendary black M.P.,Bernie Grant M.P., the National Black Caucus and many other organisations to protest at what was occurring.

When the police uprisings in Watts in Los Angeles took place the SBL was able to call an African American surgeon working in the local hospital and have direct access to most of the UK media who were afraid to go out on the street. A joint press release was put out by SBL, the National Bar Association (NBA) and the Black Lawyers Association of Canada (BALSA) and faxed to news agencies around the world stating our condemnation of the failure of the US justice system. Within a few weeks SBL joined the NBA in having discussions with the US Ambassador to the UK who openly admitted the US Justice system had , “messed up”.