a review by Pete Cresswell.
It’s hard to imagine anyone better qualified than Dave Clay to chronicle the history of Black people in Liverpool. Born and raised in Liverpool 8, he has been involved in Black community politics and activism all his life. So when for instance he writes about the 1981 "Toxteth riots" he is talking from experience.
In his introduction Dave make it clear that this book 'is not some form of sociological analysis of Liverpool Black history and identity'. But it is a fascinating and informed insight into his community's rich history.
Dave deals with the city's shameful history of slavery and the slave trade but the main story of the book begins after the First World War. Millions of Black people served in the British and Imperial forces during the conflict, one being a Liverpool man, Charles Wootton, who served in the Royal Navy. For their service Black people in Liverpool and other cities were thanked with riots and violence from white mobs who blamed them for the failure to remedy social evils after the war.
Wootton himself was murdered by a white mob, thrown into the Mersey and pelted with bricks. No murder investigation was held, nobody brought to justice.
After the Second World War the situation was not that much different and in 1948 Black individuals and establishments were attacked by white mobs in further race riots in the city. The police responded by arresting Black people and invading Black social clubs.
Dave's personal experiences emerge as he moves into the sixties and seventies. By 1972 there was more than a hint of what was to come when white skinheads attacked Black families on the new Falkner estate. Black youths, Dave included, rushed to their defence. 'We set up a barricade. Well you could call it a barricade - a selection of bins and debris blocking the main entrance'. This did not last long but more permanent ones were erected and the estate 'found itself surrounded'. Dave reflects "Once again we came under attack in the city of Liverpool. Once again we held firm.' By 1981 relations between the Black community and the Police, led by Chief Constable Kenneth Oxford, were at an especially low point and one altercation between Black youth and the police 'was the fuse that would lead to the use of CS gas, one death, many injuries, many burning buildings, many arrests and the most violent of disturbances in the country', now known to history as 'The Toxteth Riots'.
The Rialto Building, a former cinema/dancehall was at the heart of Liverpool 8. It became a used furniture store, owned by a Conservative city councillor and was burned down in the riots. Dave recalled visits to matinees there as a boy 'When we cheered the native Indians and booed the cowboys' !
By !981 ,Dave Clay was the Chair of the Liverpool 8 Law Centre, a community organisation. He describes one almost surreal episode involving the Bishop of Liverpool, David Sheppard when they attempted to mediate between a group of Black youth and the police. The police broke their word to hold back and sent Land Rovers' screeching down Granby Street, racist insults being shouted, and the Bishop scrambling in the dirt.
Three years later a Labour Council had been elected and a Council Race Relations Committee was formed, with a Black Caucus elected by black community organisations. But things collapsed dramatically when the Militant led Council decided they 'knew best' and appointed a black London based Militant supporter, Sampson Bond, as Principal Race Relations Adviser, rather than any of the local candidates. The fall out was long and bitter, with the Black Caucus supported by Council trades unions. Dave Clay concludes 'Militant was wrong about Sam Bond, just as they were a year later with their redundancy notices'.
In 1981 there were no Black councillors and no Black MPs in the city. The first Black City Councillor, Liz Drysdale, was elected in 1987. By the time the book was published the city had its first Black Lord Mayor, Anna Rothery, its first Black MP, Kim Johnson, and shortly afterwards gained its first Black elected Mayor, Joanne Anderson. Huge changes but as Dave observes, big issues remain with the destruction of Granby Street, institutionalized racism and other major issues. There's so much more in this kaleidoscope of a book. Tributes to local heroes such as Dorothy Kuya and Howard Gayle, Black sport and music, how the Charles Wootton Centre was closed by the Liberal Council and the stories of Black organisations such as Black Sisters. All supported by references to other books and dozens of photographs and illustrations.
At £5 it would be cheap at twice the price.
Pete Cresswell.
This review first appeared in the North West History Journal and was published before Dave Clay sadly passed away.
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