The Front Line

The third episode of Uprising looked at the wider context of race relations between Britains black community and the police.

It resulted in the race riots in the spring of 1981 in various cities in Britain including Brixton.

It was in the background of economic deprivation, the recession of the 1980s and the hostility of the newly elected Tory government against immigrant communities.

The main spark was police targeting of black communities due to the sus laws. The police stopped and search any random black person they found. All they needed was a suspicions that they were about to commit a crime. It was usually accompanied with a sharp punch.

The best demonstration was a clip of senior police officer arguing that a police officer using the N word was not racist.

The episode does tie up with the New Cross fire. There was a second inquest some 20 years later but it still ended up with an open verdict.

I was not sure if the third episode was needed. The race riots of 1981 warrants an entire series of its own.