UK police killings: An endless campaign for justice

The British media went into overdrive in September to mourn the death of Queen Elizabeth II. We were subjected to 24/7 reporting led by the BBC lamenting this ‘loss’ and urging the people of the UK, the Commonwealth and even the world to grieve over the death of someone who, to some of us, was a symbol of white supremacy and is the head of a police force that kills with impunity.

Just two days before the death of this nonagenarian, a young black man named Chris Kaba, was killed by officers of the Metropolitan Police force. On the 5 September, 24 year old Mr Kaba, a musician who was expecting his first child, was shot dead by armed police officers in South London. A family went into mourning. A child will never know their father.

The British media did not afford Mr Kaba, or his family, the same respect or the same resources that it would unleash for their departed Queen, who died a lot more peacefully, three days later. Instead, sections of the media went into the usual overdrive, questioning Mr Kaba’s past as they do in every case of this nature. What we saw was the tactic of ‘blaming the victim’, a deflective technique that Edward Said outlined so brilliantly when writing about how Palestinians are blamed for their own death at the hands of the Israeli armed forces to justify their own violence.

''Out of more than two thousand deaths at the hands, or in the care of, the police since the first recorded policing death of David Oluwale there have only been three successful prosecutions of police officers for these killings, those of Henry Foley, Dalian Atkinson and Sarah Everard.''

How fast was Mr Kaba driving? Did he have a gun or not? (He didn’t.) How violent were the lyrics of his music? These highly speculative questions were designed to do one thing alone in our minds, deflect the violence away from the officer that pulled the trigger and try to justify the actions of the state.

The family of Mr Kaba will now undertake a long and tortuous journey within the British judicial system as they seek answers and justice. They may get the first but the second is more elusive. Out of more than two thousand deaths at the hands, or in the care of, the police since the first recorded policing death of David Oluwale there have only been three successful prosecutions of police officers for these killings, those of Henry Foley, Dalian Atkinson and Sarah Everard.

This means that the family of Chris Kaba only have a 0.15% chance of success. However it certainly doesn’t mean that they will not give up, as the many hundreds of families whose loved ones have died in police hands have shown through endless individual and joint campaigns over the last 40 years.

Prepare for Chris Kaba’s lyrics etc to be used by the police and media to subversively justify killing him. For this incident to follow the met police being put on special measures, we are reminded that the “masters tools will never dismantle the masters house” #ChrisKaba pic.twitter.com/humbBpYPGT

— Kelechi (@kelechnekoff) September 8, 2022

This Saturday, on 29 October at midday, I will be marching with the United Families & Friends Campaign (UFFC) for their annual procession from Trafalgar Square to Downing Street in London to hand in their demands to the Prime Minster – whoever that may be by then.

The upcoming event will mark the 24th year that we have marched, and it has become clear that just demanding justice from the state is ineffectual. Of course, it must continue as the struggle of the suffragette movements continued, as the struggle against Apartheid in South Africa continued, but new strategies are also needed. This is why a group of organisations that includes UFFC, Migrant Media, Black Lives Matter and 4WardEver have come together to announce the People’s Tribunal on Police Killings.

“May this Tribunal prevent the crime of silence” declared Lord Bertrand Russell when he defined the spirit and the objective of the International War Crimes Tribunal constituted in 1966 to investigate crimes committed in Vietnam and judge them according to international law. Initiated by Lord Russell it was supported by eminent intellectuals such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Lelio Basso, Guenther Anders, James Baldwin, Simone de Beauvoir, Stokely Carmichael, Isaac Deutscher, Gisèle Halimi and others.

It is in this spirit that the People’s Tribunal on Police Killings will have its first session in the UK in 2023. The focus will be crimes of murder and manslaughter committed by serving police officers in the UK. The lack of justice in these cases, the flouting of the law and the systemic nature of the crime and the impunity offered to police officers has proved that the failure of state officials to ensure the basic right to life is made worse by the failure of the state to prosecute those responsible for deaths at the hands of the police.

The People’s Tribunal will act as a court of the people, faced with injustices and violations of law that are recognised but continue with complete impunity due to the lack of political will of successive UK governments.

An international panel from outside the UK will be called to examine the evidence collated from cases covering three decades of crime and impunity in terms of police violence that has led to death. It will also highlight the issue of racist police violence as its impacts on citizens. It will identify all the failings in the implementation of the right to life and will condemn all the parties responsible, in full view of international public opinion.

The collated evidence and findings of the international panel will then be taken forward in order to meet the demands of justice by the families of the dead, which will form the basis of class actions.

The Tribunal is set to be the most important event of its kind around police killings this country has ever seen. As Malcolm X once said: “If you give people a thorough understanding of what confronts them and the basic causes that produce it, they’ll create their own program, and when the people create a program, you get action.”

Ken Fero is a filmmaker, activist and educator and a founding member of Migrant Media which has produced a number of hard-hitting and radical documentaries examining community responses to issues of race, class and resistance. His most recent film Ultraviolence (2020) was officially selected in the BFI London Film and has won several awards. He cofounded UFFC with Myrna Simpson, Brenda Weinberg and Minkah Adofo.

Follow him on Twitter: @kenfero

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