Small Axe (2020) s01e01 Episode Script

1
[reggae music playing]
[bell dings]
[boisterous, indistinct voices
and laughter]
[reggae music continues]
[indistinct happy chatter]
[man]
Here we go, here we go, here we go.
[dice clatter]
[onlookers react]
[dice clatter]
- [laughter]
- One one. One one.
[onlookers react]
- [bell rings]
- Ohh!
[indistinct remarks]
[birds chirping]
[Bob Marley & The Wailers:
"Try Me"]
[Darcus Howe]
These are new men,
new types of human beings.
It is in them that are to be found
all the traditional virtues
of the English nation,
not in decay as they are
in official society,
but in full flower
[Frank] Rita.
because these men have perspective.
Is where you been? [chuckles]
Note particularly that they
glory in the struggle.
They are not demoralized
or defeated or despairing persons.
They are leaders, but are rooted
deep among those they lead.
Linton
I tell you enough times you catching
your tail in front of here, boy.
Just liming with the limers, man.
Get your backside somewhere else.
[laughs]
Oh, man.
Respect, bright man. [laughs]
The place stinking of varnish.
Ah, when we have cook up,
no one will smell nothing.
We need a little something
to make the place look nice, no?
You asking me? And all day
Kendrick sitting on his backside.
[Frank sighs]
Kendrick
[register bell rings]
run down the market and get
some flowers for our opening night.
I don't know a thing about flowers.
What if someone seen me?
Say you're in love. Go.
[sighs]
You see what I mean, Frank?
Good for nothing.
Hmph.
Mnh-mnh-mnh.
[water flows in sink]
- Miss Agnes?
- Mm-hmm?
- Mr. Charles?
- Yes, sir?
Okay, we gonna do fish curry.
Goat curry. Mutton curry.
Yes, sir.
Me mother's crab and dumpling.
But first, we will start with the roots.
The Trinidadian barrister, Darcus Howe,
thinks things could build up
dangerous social tensions.
The policeman who--
who frames a Black man
is doing so with a confidence
that the system
is going to give him a conviction.
And the section of the community who
one must call the most alienated
either are going to turn to crime
in that they are going
to be arrested anyway,
or seek their revenge
against the society in another form.
Now, at this point in time,
that form has not been expressed
and I hope it wouldn't be,
but one must be very direct here,
and say that the police
must either stop it
or the Black community
will have to stop them doing it.
[pleased reactions, applause]
Excellent work!
A toast, a toast.
A toast to my beautiful wife Selma,
who brought this vitally
important program together.
And to my husband, the great CLR James,
who I thank for his love and support.
And Darcus. He's a leader!
He'll make a great lawyer one day.
Yeah, he done all right, didn't he?
But let's get one thing straight:
Darcus isn't interested
in being a barrister.
He is interested in change.
To change.
[all] To change!
[happy chatter]
- Hey, bruh.
- [laughter]
What's happening? [laughs]
Oh, so my brother gone
all bourgeois in the ghetto.
[Frank]
You want a cappuccino?
[laughs] cappuccino.
Hey, Frank. Listen, eh,
to the Mangrove. A fresh thing.
A fresh thing, yes!
I'll drink to that.
[Caribbean music begins]
Bring it!
Hey! Frank, check it, man!
Come on everybody.
Let's play outside.
Come on.
Come outside.
[overlapping indistinct shouts]
[music continues]
Come on, a celebration, this one!
Celebration!
Now we have a limbo!
[indistinct chatter]
You see, the thing about
the Black man is he's got his place.
[indistinct chatter]
He's just gotta know his place.
If he oversteps, he's gotta be
gently nudged back in.
[distant laughter]
And then you get the odd one
or two who need more of a
you know
just like the Micks.
What you have to understand, Dickie,
is that the army isn't up for it,
are they?
Not like the old days
when they'd have got
a small battalion together and, bam.
Wipe the whole lot out in one go.
Did, uh you ever want
to be in the army?
No.
I grew up thinking I'd never see
my country fighting
anyone else's war ever again.
That's why I'm Bill,
through and through.
But you never wanted to,
you know,
be a sergeant or anything?
I've seen enough.
[car engine starts]
You reading Black Jacobins again?
That's what you should be teaching.
They're primary school children.
I'm not sure they're ready
for Black Jacobins just yet.
Well, you're never too young to start.
I've lost count of the amount
of times I've read it.
What are you on about?
One TV show, you think
you're the Second Coming or what?
No. But not far behind.
Oh, it's all about you, innit?
You grew up in a society where
Black people were the majority, yeah?
I grew up in an environment
where I was the minority.
From day one I was judged as being
"too Negroid" to be adopted.
So don't you come at me
with your lofty words
and your Black Jacobins, all right?!
Hey.
Look, you're right to say that
sometimes words aren't enough.
But know this.
No one is going to help us
unless we help ourselves.
Yeah, you're absolutely right.
Actions do speak louder than words.
And the first thing that I want you to do
is tidy up the bloody mess that
you have made in the kitchen.
Move it.
[Aunt Betty] Hey.
You still there?
Good for nothing but making
a whole of a mess.
You varnish your house like this?
You stinking up the place!
[Jim Reeves: "I Love You Because"]
[knock on door]
[Frank sighs]
PC Pulley.
Yes, how can I help you?
I want to talk to the manager
of this fancy new what is it?
It's a restaurant. And I is the owner,
not the manager.
Aren't you the golden goose?
Yeah, and we closed right now.
[sniffs] Smells like a sex club
to me, Mr. Crichlow.
No, sir, sex club is not my thing.
We setting up for lunch.
So how about a sausage and egg then?
Yeah, the Mangrove don't do
that kind of thing.
It's just spicy food, you know,
for a particular palate.
Irregardless,
you have to book to eat here.
What, with this?
No. With our reservation book.
Do I have to spell it out?
No, I understand enough.
I met many a hustler, Constable.
What did you just call me?
I call you Constable.
Maybe it's Officer now.
I'll arrest you right now,
you Black bastard.
Arrest me for what?
I haven't forgotten your antics
at your last shithole, The Rio.
Degenerates.
Illegal gambling, ponces
This is a new business.
It's a different kind of thing.
tarts, late-night queer parties.
Drug dealing.
I've never taken drugs in my life.
We'll shut you down
before you can say eenie
- I don't want no trouble.
- We got company.
- Hey, leave the Mangrove alone.
- Leave him alone.
- He said move.
- Go on about your business, then.
- Move on, Pulley. Move on.
- Move your backside from our area.
You not got jobs to go to?
Get out of here, man. Get out.
[overlapping shouts]
[woman]
Move your backside. Move.
The Mangrove is a restaurant!
It serves West Indian cuisine
to people who eat that kind of food.
Just like any other restaurant!
Greek. French.
English, for that matter!
We the Mangrove.
We pay we taxes, we pay we bills,
and we pay we staff.
You gonna try and arrest me
for that, or what?
- [man] Yes, Frank.
- [woman] Tell him, Frank. Tell him.
- [man #2] Leave him alone.
- [man] Move on.
[indistinct remark]
You can't outsmart them blue necks, man.
No!
The Mangrove ain't nothing like the Rio!
They have no business here
so long as we keep the place clean!
End of the story!
Hm.
[Altheia] Good afternoon.
[all]
Good afternoon.
My name is Altheia Jones.
I am a student studying biochemistry
in this country,
but today I am here as a member
of the Black Panther movement.
I have been invited here
by your trade union
to talk you about your workers' rights
and your power as a collective force.
We have discovered,
discovered and rediscovered,
the ways in which we can overcome
the fragmentation our people
have suffered throughout our history.
And the way is through
joining the struggle
and being part of an organized struggle.
For it is the struggle, actually,
which makes us whole.
So I have come here today
to encourage you
to actively support your trade union.
Because the virtue of lending
your voice to collective bargaining
is that together we become stronger.
[murmuring approval]
[laughter and happy chatter]
Well, if colonialism is good for anything,
it brought us together on this table.
- [all laugh]
- Sorry, where's your bathroom?
Through the kitchen.
Excuse me.
Good evening.
[Frank]
Skippy never used to go home.
Skippy carries his toothbrush
in his suit pocket.
[laughter]
Ah, but that was the Rio.
And this place ain't nothing like that.
[Darcus]
Cappuccino.
[Barbara laughs]
I think they were serving
a different type of coffee at the Rio.
[laughter]
[indistinct chatter]
[reggae music playing]
[no audible dialogue]
[indistinct chatter]
[woman] What's wrong?
[indistinct chatter]
Frank. A beautiful evening.
Thank you very much.
- [Frank] I hope you're walking.
- No, I'm flying. [laughs]
[Aunt Betty]
Goodnight, goodnight.
When all the girls
in town feeling bad ♪
No more Yankees in Trinidad ♪
They going to close down
the base for good ♪
Them girls have to make out
all they could ♪
Brother is now they park up in town ♪
In for a penny, and in for a pound ♪
Believe me it's competition for so ♪
Trouble in the town
when the price drop low ♪
So when you bounce up
Jean and Dinah ♪
Rosita and Clementina,
round the corner posing ♪
Bet your life is
something they selling ♪
And if you catch them broken ♪
You can get them all for nothing ♪
Don't make a row,
the Yankees gone ♪
Sparrow take over now ♪
- [thunder rumbling]
- [kids laughing]
Hey, I sorry, yeah.
I miss the bus now.
See, this is why I don't wait for nobody.
I said meet me at two.
You better be here for two.
Look, just fifteen minutes, now.
No excuses, man.
Now we're late, and I'm never late.
The government believes
the British state,
with over a million Black people
living here now,
is in grave danger.
Yeah, Roddy speak truth, now.
But that shouldn't come
as a surprise to any of us here.
I think the Black Panthers
need to actively prepare
in order to defend the Black institutions
and businesses
that can come under threat.
Like Frank Crichlow
over at the Mangrove.
C'mon, man, Frank is not
interested in the movement.
What you mean?
We have nothin' but love
for the man, Frank, all right.
But that man blood
run purer than politics.
If you can call
an inveterate gambler pure.
[Altheia] No, listen.
[Rothwell]
You're wicked, you, you know.
Frank is a charming and gentle person
who doesn't realize
what he has done for our community
in simply providing us the space.
The Mangrove is now a focal point
for Black people
to come and sit, talk, and exchange views.
That is a rare and precious gift.
Damn right.
And that Betty make the best roti.
[laughter]
But seriously talking,
we need to defend ourselves
against Powell
and his Rivers of Blood nonsense,
before that stream winds
its way to our door.
Guy need to wind himself into the sewer,
damn rat.
Talking foolishness.
[music playing]
Ladies first, yeah.
You know how long I've been waiting?
All complaints go through
the old lady of the house.
[soft chuckles]
[sudden, overlapping shouts]
Come on. Against the wall!
Up! Get up, you Black bastard!
- Don't fucking move!
- Where's your warrant?
[thud]
Frank! Frank!
[Frank] Betty!
[policeman] Where do you
think you're going? Get down!
Get fucking down!
[Aunt Betty]
Kendrick!
[screams]
Kendrick!
Kenny! Kenny!
[overlapping angry shouts]
Don't fight the police.
Don't do it!
Kenny! Kenny! Kenny!
[children laughing]
[Frank] If Scotland Yard
can't accept responsibility
for the raid on my restaurant,
then I have to make a report
of an illegal entry
on Friday evening of last week.
What happened?
Notting Dale CID carried out the raid,
and you can't tell me why?
It take you three days to find out who,
and now you can't say why?
The Dangerous Drug Act?
What does that have to do with
a legitimate restaurant, man?
Chuts, it's stupidness!
They're outside right now,
you know, Frank. Two of them.
Shit!
I said no trouble inside this place.
No trouble, it's a restaurant!
You want to eat?
You come here to eat?
I come here to offer my support
and the support of the Black Panthers.
But, yes, I want to eat, thank you.
I'm sorry. It's a stress.
[Altheia] Nothing to say sorry for.
Just as long as you ain't run
out of crab and callaloo.
So, what are you writing?
Pamphlet.
Black Dimension.
It's going to focus on the community
and the Police State in West London.
Especially that brute Pulley.
I like the sound of that.
Hold on.
The Black Panthers can do a press release.
I don't want the Mangrove
to have a reputation
for what the police do and done.
I lived all that bother at the Rio.
This is a restaurant,
a respectable restaurant,
and I want to keep it that way.
Ain't to say I ain't grateful
for all your offering of support,
but I can't make no complaint, ya know?
It's a restaurant, not a battleground.
I hear you.
- Food is good.
- Yeah?
You know, in the Ifa tradition
of the Yoruba,
Ogun is the energy whose machete
is used to clear the path.
Ogun is the energy of iron,
and Ogun is the energy of the steel pan.
Why you mention Ogun?
Why you say that?
Dunno.
Perhaps I feeling a little of that energy.
You pan?
Once or twice, a long time ago.
Okay. Well, let we agree.
You can have your Panther
meetings upstairs
as long as you agree to play in
the Mangrove steel band this carnival.
Oh, gosh! As long as you can't change
your mind when you listen me try?
- No, no. You want pan?
- I want pan.
- You want pan now?
- No, no.
- Look, look, look, look, look, look.
- Settle yourself. We made an agreement.
Look, we have everything
you need, you know.
[Caribbean music playing]
[happy chatter and laughter]
[indistinct happy chatter]
[music continuing]
[indistinct happy chatter]
Yes! He was gone for five minutes.
Five minutes!
[music continuing]
Whoa! She's special!
[music continuing]
[partyers chanting]
[Altheia] No, no, no, no, no.
I have to save some time.
[indistinct remark]
[music continuing]
[partygoers chanting]
[music continuing]
Gentlemen.
Some lead for your pencil.
- Royce.
- Cheers, gov.
Cheers.
Not married, are you?
No.
Got a girlfriend?
No. I'd like one though.
Well, we better find you one.
- That'd be nice.
- Well, I hope you settle in.
You're in a foreign country
now, aren't you.
What do you mean?
We all look after each other here.
Ooh!
Oh.
[Royce laughing]
- What?
- Quick game.
- What have I done?
- Ace of Spades.
- You know the rules.
- What rules?
No one told him?
Well, that's not very fair, gents.
Rules are rules.
Whoever draws the ace of spades
has to go out and nick
the first Black bastard they clap eyes on.
Nick him for what?
You'll learn.
[telephone rings]
[wiper squeaks loudly]
[engine revs]
[tires screech]
This is urgent. What's your name?
[duty officer] Who are you, more like?
I am Frank Crichlow,
and this is Mrs. Manning.
She son, Kendrick Manning, is missing,
and we have reason to believe--
How long's he been missing?
- Well, he disappeared from--
- I didn't ask you. Did I?
How long?
Kenny's supposed to reach home
at nine. Nine o'clock.
Six hours?
No, that don't make a missing person.
- I know something happened to my boy.
- How?
Hey, let me tell you something.
Kendrick Manning vanished
on Tavistock Gardens,
leaving his family's
food shopping on the street.
- Eh? I can repeat it for you!
- All right, all right.
- Take a seat.
- No. I insist on seeing him!
You having trouble understanding?
Take a seat, I said!
I understand everything you said.
Frank, Frank, Frank.
Calm down, calm down.
[duty officer]
Calm down!
Come, let we sit down, let we sit down.
We're right here.
Come, let we sit down.
[officer]
That's it.
Davis, do we have any visitors?
Oh. Yeah, perfect timing.
Looks like he had a fall.
[loud screams and shouts]
Calm her down. Out!
[Royce]
Calm down, madam!
[overlapping shouts]
You need to calm down!
I see you, you devil!
- Hey, Frank, let it go.
- Everyone out. Out!
[duty officer] Go back
to wherever you come from!
[door slams]
How's your tea?
[light laughter]
How many you thinking
about doin' this time?
I'm going for a bigger run.
[sudden loud shouting]
[Barbara] Hey!
What's going on?
[overlapping shouts]
Hey, hey, hey, hey!
You can read, can't you?
- Get out of my house!
- Shut up, you whore.
Fuck you, you're dead.
[Darius]
Come on! Come on!
[Barbara screaming]
[Barbara]
You'll regret this!
You're the one who's gonna regret it.
Get out. Get out.
Smash that for us.
[Barbara]
Get out of my house
[overlapping shouts]
[Barbara] Get out!
Get out.
[thundering footfalls]
Police!
[overlapping shouts]
[policeman]
Get up against the fucking wall!
- Stay down!
- [man] I haven't done nothing.
Kendrick! Don't resist.
Shut it, you fucking
Black bastard. Shut it!
[Jim Reeves: "After Loving You"]
Who want to play me for the Mangrove?
[chuckles] You're joking or what?
No, I serious. Number 8,
All Saints Road. What you saying?
[card player]
Look, nobody ain't gonna take that.
[Frank] All right, it's my business.
Come on! What, and I can't give it away?
Mangrove man.
Him listen?
Who do good for jumbie
is them jumbie does frighten.
Me want to hail out the good
you make for the people.
Nothin' go unseen.
But the Mangrove's a burden
you're gonna have to carry yourself.
That a truth!
[laughter]
Go on, man.
[laughter]
Play the cards.
Pulley will sue me for criminal libel
as long as my Black skin
is in Notting Hill.
I actively encourage you to go and live in
the North of England.
In East Lancashire.
Yeah, that could work. I could come
and visit you all the time, maybe--
Pulley will still be able to sue
my Black backside in East Lancashire!
Tunapuna.
Trinidad.
I'll go home.
[Barbara] You can't do that, Darcus,
'cause I'll never get to see you, will I?
At this moment in history,
you could inspire a revolution.
Yeah, and how we gonna
afford to do that, then?
You selfish git!
[Darcus sighs]
[indistinct chatter]
Excuse me, sorry.
Just let me get set up, Frank.
I will send them up in a minute.
All right, listen up, boys.
This is Mr. Stedman.
I brought him down here
to help with the police.
So, listen, and listen carefully.
Go ahead, Mr. Stedman.
Now, if you get stopped and searched
You mean when.
Yes.
I mean, as a citizen of this country,
you are legally entitled
to insist on having a lawyer present
before you say anything.
But how is we supposed to say something,
if you is saying we ain't
supposed to say anything?
You're supposed to say something,
fool, you just don't say nothing.
[Stedman] I can see I haven't
explained it too well.
I advise you to say nothing
other than to remind them
you have the right to remain silent
and require a lawyer present
before you say anything else.
- So we is supposed to say something.
- Yes, look, the system is
The system?
The system crooked as
a damn ram's horn, that's what it is.
[door slams]
[Aunt Betty]
We were waltzing together ♪
To a sweet, sweet melody ♪
When they called out
"Change partners" ♪
And you waltzed away from me ♪
- Hey, you remember!
- [laughter and applause]
[Aunt Betty]
Me heart fell for that!
- [pounding at door]
- [man] Open the door!
[low]
Tell them we're closed.
[loudly]
We're closed!
Police! Open the door!
Hey, hey, hey, hey!
What you doing?
Don't touch me!
Don't touch me!
[policeman]
Put your hands up against the wall.
[Frank] Let go of me.
- Frank!
- Betty!
Get your hands off me.
- Frank! Frank!
- Betty! Betty!
[small bell dings]
Warrant.
I don't care for no blasted warrant.
What in God's name
is going on in here?
You serving drinks without
a license, at this hour?
Tea. We're drinking blasted tea!
You're breaking the law of this country,
that's what's happening.
Who d'you think you are?
Opening up a restaurant,
thinking your some sort of chief.
I opened this place for people
to come and go,
no matter who they are.
And that's all well and good.
But the problem is your menu.
Certain things have to be added
in order for you to continue
with your establishment.
We only serve spicy cuisine here!
Ahh. You see, you people
don't really understand, do you?
You come over here
with your bright clothes,
you sleep with our women,
make like you're a big shot.
But guess what?
It isn't happening.
Not on my watch.
Pulley, stop! Pulley!
You bastard! What is wrong with you?
You devil!
You are a devil! You are a devil!
What's wrong with you?!
You're a devil, Pulley!
[men] Leave him alone!
Leave him alone!
Shall we go and face the music?
Crichlow?
Which leaves me to ask the question,
was the Mangrove
used as a night café?
I find that it was.
I do not feel it's necessary
for it to be open
if customers
can knock and be let in.
It's also not necessary to prove
that money has changed hands.
The defendant is fined £25
and must pay for the legal costs
of all those involved. Next.
[low] Hey.
I want a transcript
of what the judge just said.
Biting your fingernail.
What you thinking?
Nothing, Tanty.
Oh. Crapaud, smoke your pipe.
Why you lying?
Don't play with me, child.
Me head hot.
Seems like we reaching
the end of the road, you know?
One raid lead to another raid
lead to another raid,
then they use that as an excuse
to give me a different type of licks.
They taking away
the alcohol license now.
The police in cahoots with the council,
the council with the damn judge,
the judge with the police.
And the customers
not stepping foot in here.
Too frighten.
They ain't coming day or night.
Why the police harassing us
in this place, eh?
The business buss.
Well, you don't put water
in your mouth to spill it out, eh?
Me don't have nobody to cook for!
The place is like a jumbie ballroom!
I ain't know why I bothering.
[Mrs. Tetley]
Frank? Frank?
[water flows in sink]
[Aunt Betty sighs]
Oh, Miss Tetley.
Dorothy, if you come with your
belly hungry, you're in luck.
Betty in need of a mouth to feed.
I come for give you this.
Every Sunday since me
come-a England,
me a-save a little thing.
Thinking about going back
Jamaica, one time.
- I can't do that.
- The Mangrove is part of this story,
and me need to say this.
This-a the place
what make me know
this really my home
from home now.
And everybody in the community
say that them need this place, too.
So this for you.
If me stay, me a-gon' cry.
Just know, Frank--
this make me happy.
Probably nothing but a shilling.
[door closes]
Elizabeth Crichlow!
Get your dirty fingers
off that thing there.
And you sit there
with your face screw up?
[calls] Dolston?
What?
We closing down the restaurant.
Yeah, boy. But we keeping
the Mangrove open.
Twenty-four hours a day open.
Yeah, you hear me correct.
I want poker games. Dice.
As many tables as the police ain't broke.
But we keeping this place open
by the hook or by the crook.
You gone cuckoo?
Close down the kitchen, and what?
You can still use your long broom
to sweep up in the corner.
Yes, what you want, boy?
Wanna seat
at the big table downstairs.
Listen, we don't have no drugs
in here, you understand?
You think me stupid enough
to bring drugs in here
when them raid four times
in the last six weeks?
Nine times.
See? What cat can handle that?
Look, that's a man's nine
lives right there, Frank.
[overlapping chatter]
[poker chips clatter]
[man]
Come again. Come again.
[man #2]
Mnh-mnh-mnh.
Fucking business, no.
[rock music playing on car radio]
[Frank]
What in hell, this boy.
Stop, stop. Pull over, pull over.
Hold up. Pull up, pull over.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
[brakes squeak]
Hey.
Hey.
Leave the boy alone, man.
You all right, Benson? Yeah?
Marsha. Go up to the Mangrove
and get Mr. Stedman, okay?
Go. Go!
What's wrong with you, man?
Why you stop the boy?
Are you interfering with police business?
Yes! Why you stopping the boy?
He matches a description.
Description? What description?
Pulley. There's a robbery
in progress.
We've gotta go. Sir.
Just your luck.
Go and get your rass out.
- Shut up, you twat!
- Go on, go!
Why'd he stop you? Huh?
- No reason.
- No reason?
[police siren wails]
[sighs]
Come, we go. Come.
Come.
[Darcus]
Trinidad has been remade, Frank.
I saw it. I heard it.
The revolution has changed the very
rhythm of the people's speech.
They-- they talking
with greater deliberation.
They-- they pausing
before speaking and such.
It's as if it has provoked
an unconscious social patience that
it-- it-- it was truly
something to behold.
[telephone rings]
Yeah.
Yeah. It is a complete harassment
on this restaurant.
A complete harassment
on a Black business.
They are trying to destroy it.
And all the people,
they're afraid to come!
We've made complaints.
We've made
complaints to the Home Office.
To my embassy. And now to you,
my local Member of Parliament.
Because the botheration
continue and continue,
and I know it is because
I am a Black citizen of this country,
which is why I am
being discriminated against!
[sputters] Proof? What more proof
do you need, man? Chuts, man!
All development come
from self-movement.
Not because of external forces
acting on the organism.
What shit you talkin'?
Your strategy of relying on the white
establishment will never work, Frank.
Not-- Darco, not now.
Look, I see a man before me, right,
a man of-- of great patience and humility
who, unbeknownst to him,
has become a leader of his people.
CLR James have it written.
"These are new men."
He say, "New types of human beings,
because these men have perspective.
They are leaders,
but leaders who are rooted
deep among those they lead."
Now, he speaks of you, Frank.
He does too.
But I see this leader
suffering the consequences
of a state-sponsored attempt
to close down his business.
My brother, this government
will never take up its responsibility
to you and this community,
not unless it sees people on the street.
Let us organize a demonstration.
We're not in Trinidad now, boy.
This is Notting Hill.
This is Notting Hill.
This place, the Mangrove
it is Notting Hill.
Whether you can recognize so or not.
This is the front line.
The Mangrove the--this--
this is community,
the Black community is your community.
The Black community
who rely on the Mangrove
just as much as you rely on them.
Take it to the street.
Take it to the street, Frank.
They'd just use it as an excuse
to take down the whole damn thing.
That is the truth.
If we hold a demonstration, right,
you stand to lose the restaurant
you have spent your life building.
They might use it to shut down
the Mangrove permanently.
But a demonstration
is the right thing to do.
Self-movement.
Yeah, we march.
[overlapping chatter]
Who that? Who that?
[car horn honks]
[man]
Watch it, man!
Hi.
So, what you have in that bag?
Just been at the butchers.
- Yeah?
- It's a surprise.
[cheers and applause]
[man]
Hands off the Mangrove!
[Frank]
Hands off the Mangrove.
[all chanting] The pigs, the pigs!
We gotta get rid of the pigs!
The pigs, the pigs!
We gotta get rid of the pigs!
The pigs, the pigs!
We gotta get rid of the pigs!
The pigs, the pigs!
We gotta get rid of the pigs!
The pigs, the pigs!
We gotta get rid of the pigs!
The pigs, the pigs!
We gotta get rid of the pigs!
What our mother country seeks to do
is not just to close down a restaurant
but to close down what they see
as a space
where Black people
can put up some kind of resistance
to day-to-day harassments by the police.
And I believe the Mangrove
not only serves as a negative
in putting up that space for Black people,
but I believe it serves
as a positive purpose
in that people in the community
have a place to call our own.
And we as Black people
have lacked that
since we were invited here!
So this attack
on a Black establishment
and our right to gather
is not an isolated event
but a sustained campaign
against Black people
by the British State,
and today we are saying
enough is enough!
[crowd cheers]
[Altheia and crowd chanting]
Black power! Black power!
Black power!
Black power!
So let we go and march,
and let we march peacefully!
[cheers and applause]
Brothers and sisters.
It has been for some time now
that Black people have been caught up
in complaining to police about police.
- [crowd shouts agreement]
- That's right.
Complaining to magistrates
about magistrates.
Complaining to judges about judges.
[shouting agreement]
We must become the shepherds
of our own destiny.
[shouting agreement]
What our objective is today,
what it's going to continue to be,
a concerted, determined attempt
to prevent any infringement on our rights.
[crowd shouts agreement]
- Hands off!
- Black people!
- Hands off!
- Black people!
- Hands off!
- Black people!
- Hands off!
- Black people!
- Hands off!
- Black people!
[chanting continues]
[chanting continues]
[chanting continues]
[Darcus] Where is Pulley?
Where is Pulley?
[all chanting]
Where is Pulley? Where is Pulley?
Where is Pulley?
Where is Pulley?
Where is Pulley? Where is Pulley?
Where is Pulley?
Where is Pulley?
Where is Pulley? Where is Pulley?
[chanting continues]
Where is Pulley? Where is Pulley?
Where is Pulley? Where is Pulley?
Where is Pulley?
[Altheia] Wait, wait, wait.
What's going on?
Wait, wait, wait!
Shut your mouth, you fucking
[indistinct shouts]
Move them. Move them.
[overlapping shouts]
[policeman] Shut the fuck up!
Hold on, hold on, hold on!
Get off me!
[policeman] Get back!
[policeman #2]
Shut the fuck up!
Get in there, lads.
[chanting]
Black power, people power!
Black power, people power!
Black power, people power!
Black power, people power!
Black power, people power!
Black power, people power!
Black power, people power!
Black power, people power!
Black power, people power!
Black power, people power!
People power!
[chanting continues]
Get off me, all right?
[indistinct shout]
[all shouting]
Get back, you fucking spade!
Back off!
Come on. Go, go, go.
[policeman]
Fucking nig-nog!
[man]
What'd he say?
What?
No, get back. Get back!
Let's go. Go!
Black Power!
What the hell's going on?
Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on.
Black Power! Black Power!
[Frank]
I told you.
[Altheia] Listen, don't touch me.
Don't touch me!
[policeman]
Bloody savages!
[whistle blowing]
[all shouting]
[policeman] Take your fucking sign
and fuck off!
What the fuck are you doing?
- [woman] Barbara! Barbara!
- [man] Barbara! Barbara!
Get off me!
[policeman] Get down on the floor.
You fucking Black bastard!
Why are you doing that? Eh?
Are you mad? Eh?
Get off me. Get off me.
Hey. Eddie!
- Altheia!
- Eddie!
Altheia!
Take your fucking hands off her!
Take your hands off her!
[siren wails]
[policemen shouting]
[Pulley] Come on, boys.
In you come. In you come.
In you come.
All right, boys.
[overlapping shouts]
Out, the fucking lot of you
Black bastards. Come on.
[PC Pulley] All right, Frank. It's Frank!
You're nicked.
Why're you doing this, man?
[Pulley]
What, you're not happy to see me?
We done nothin' wrong, man!
[Barbara] Ian.
I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I've had
to bring him with me in the end.
[Ian] Don't worry about it.
No, no, it's no trouble, not at all.
- [kisses]
- Hello. Hello. Hello.
So I thought the Old Bailey
was for proper criminals.
You know, like bank robbers,
murderers and that.
It's only a courtroom,
if you think about it. Nothing more.
Yeah, but we were
already found innocent.
The last magistrate threw the charges
straight out of court. And now this.
It's been nearly a year,
and we're already back
to where we bloody started,
only this time at the Old Bailey.
I mean, what's it all about, Ian?
Well, you're on the front line
of change, Barbara.
So they want to try to make
an example out of you.
But they can't do that, can they?
- Well
- Can they?
I mean I don't even understand
who's doing this.
So, the Director of Public Prosecutions
has introduced a new charge
of riot and affray.
It's a very serious charge indeed,
and I'm afraid they're not obliged
to explain themselves, to anyone.
But, with your permission,
I intend to make it much more unpleasant
for them than it has to be for you.
No. No, I'm I'm not interested
in playing silly games.
I've got this one to worry about now.
I can't have him ending up
like me.
I won't.
If the two of us get sent away
It just makes me sick to think about it.
I know. I know, I know.
- I thought you were retired, anyway.
- [Ian laughs]
No. I was never retired, honestly.
And plus, the revolution's coming,
so I certainly never intended
to be practicing law when it did.
Yeah, well, it's a nightmare, innit?
Well, maybe we're about to wake up.
Wake up?
I just wanna wake up now, Ian.
Hi! I hoped never to see us all together
in one place again.
No offense to anybody,
but what is with this?!
How can this be
allowed to happen, eh?
[Rothwell] Ay, relax man.
Where is the father, eh?
[Barbara]
Oh, don't ask me, mate.
Sorry, I'm Ian McDonald.
I'm representing Barbara,
for those that don't know.
Um, I hope you don't mind
if I just jump in.
Um, the trial, as I'm sure
you're all aware,
is taking place at the Old Bailey,
somewhere normally reserved
for only the most serious of crimes--
murder, terrorism and treason--
so, this is just another example
of intimidation.
- Oh. Hello, Mr. Croft.
- You look ridiculous.
Oh, thank you. Early retirement's been
very kind to me. I highly recommend it.
I'm delighted to see you here.
Makes me feel safer already.
You don't need to worry, this is
the finest legal system in the world.
[laughter and jeers]
How you can trust the system
when one judge say
you're innocent of the riot and affray,
only for them to bring the charges
then back!
That don't make no sense!
Five years!
The counsel tell me to plead guilty
and accept five years jail time.
- What?
- For real, boy.
So I said I'll spend five years
with your wife.
[laughter]
What are you talking
about his wife for, eh?
But concerning legal proceedings
and all that skullduggery
British courtroom is designed to keep
the defendant shackled to ignorance.
I say no more.
Not in my name.
I spent enough time at the bar,
so Darcus Howe
going to represent himself.
Which bar you been to, the Red Lion?
You wanna go-a prison?
I studied law, you know, Rhodan.
This case isn't just about you.
It's nine defendants, Darcus.
You're making a decision
that will affect everyone.
[Rhodan] Me say no.
Actually, that's a brilliant idea.
Darcus self-representing,
that's brilliant.
It's-- it's the perfect way to challenge
the court's archaic setup
and really take your message
inside that building.
- No, it's brilliant.
- [baby fussing]
Self-representing means being
able to cross-examine witnesses.
Think about that.
Make objections in the courtroom.
But, most importantly,
it allows you to speak directly
to the jury
in a manner that I for one couldn't.
I telling you, him talking
a set of shit to the jury
is never gonna help nobody.
I agree with Darcus.
I will also represent myself.
Ah-ya-yee!
Nobody listen to me.
- I think that's a good idea.
- No, listen! Listen!
We need to challenge the system.
Is a system where the judge
wearing a dress,
the lawyer all put on a dress,
and they all wearing a wig.
But the men are all
just himself to himself.
They speak only himself to himself!
We mustn't be victims,
but protagonists of our stories.
And what better way
of representing ourselves
than self-representing ourselves.
He's right!
Hold on! Everybody
turn crazy or somethin'?
It's not a game we're playing here now.
This is our lives!
We are facing ten years in prison!
The legal system is
designed for experts.
You're harming yourselves
by pursuing this course.
You'll have to learn
how to cross-examine witnesses.
It's going to be a lot
of extra work for you.
Doesn't matter.
We can all work together.
Listen, all of you heading
to the jailhouse. Not me, no sir.
I agree with Mr. Gordon.
This is a grave mistake.
I wish you luck,
Mrs. Jones-LeCointe.
No, no, no.
We don't need luck, mister.
We need justice.
We need more than that.
We need more than that for true.
[indistinct reactions]
[Rothwell sighs]
Oh, God, man.
[Rhodan] Yes, man.
Over here. Name?
Mr. Darcus Howe, acting counsel.
Says you're in the dock
down here. Up arms.
If you were to make
a more thorough investigation,
you'll find that I am in fact
acting counsel.
I should be treated as such.
Sorry, is there--
is there an issue here?
I can confirm that Mr. Howe
is acting counsel.
Self-representing, are we?
First time for everything.
So you'll be wanting
to search me too then, yes?
No, sir.
That won't be necessary.
Right. Thank you, Darcus.
This way.
Self-representing?
- No.
- Let's have the bag.
[court officer]
Up arms.
Round you go.
Thank you.
Name?
Altheia Jones.
Self-representing.
[crowd] Mangrove nine are innocent!
The police should be on trial!
The Mangrove nine are innocent!
The police should be on trial!
The Mangrove nine are innocent!
The police should be on trial!
The Mangrove nine are innocent!
The police should be on trial!
The Mangrove nine are innocent!
The police should be on trial!
The Mangrove nine are innocent!
The police should be on trial!
[dials telephone]
Clerk of the court.
Uh, Mr. Mendel,
please ensure that
none of the protesters
are admitted this morning.
I don't care if they have tickets.
[indistinct chatter]
Okay. Everyone, everyone.
Now, as you all know,
Altheia and Darcus
will be representing themselves
in court today,
meaning that they will be able
to cross-examine witnesses,
make submissions to the judge,
and so on.
My role, as well as defending
Barbara,
will be to act as a sort of
bridge for those less familiar
with the legal witchcraftery
that's practiced in this building.
So, I'd like to start by bringing
everyone up to speed on His Lordship,
Judge Edward Clarke.
Now the good news for us
is that he's an old,
cantankerous, upper-class bully.
And Mr. Short Back and Sides,
that's a good thing, is it?
Yes, it is, because it means
he won't like being wound up.
But wind him up, we must,
and wind him up, we will.
I'm struggling to understand
how you consider
antagonizing the judge
to be a viable strategy.
That's just the start, Mr. Croft.
We also have to find ourselves
an all-Black jury.
- [defendants murmuring]
- A Black jury?
Yes, okay, if you want
to pass these round.
We pay a pound
for a list of all the proposed jurors.
Make sure everyone's got one.
Wimbledon, Ealing and such?
Doctors, civil servants
don't understand our struggle.
You're damn right!
Their mind's made up already.
Listen, some of them got to be Black.
But if every one of us exercises
our right to reject seven jurors,
that's seven-nines.
Sixty-three.
We've got sixty-three attempts.
[Altheia] Exactly.
Look, ain't no matter.
The system is rigged, me-a tell you.
The judge man a bully.
You think him let a single Black man
on the jury? Hear me, counsel.
All a-youse better start listening to him
instead of running up your mouth.
Well, with all due respect, Rhodan,
and to you too, Mr. Lock,
I actually think that mouthing off
might be our best strategy.
We are here to defend our lives,
so we are going to be loud
and we are going to be decisive.
[murmurs of agreement]
[indistinct chatter]
Step aside, please sir.
Um, I have my ticket. Look.
If you'd like to step to one side, please.
But
It's my wife on trial.
- No, you have to let me in.
- Sir.
Step to one side.
You tell all need to have a ticket.
Look, it's right here.
You blasted ragamuffin.
And you-- You only standing there
not saying nothin'.
You see how they treating me.
And the ticket right here!
And you only standing there
like some macco.
Man, take your fucking ticket.
[indistinct chatter]
[pounding on door]
Silence. Be upstanding in court.
All persons
who have anything to do
before My Lords and Ladies
the Queen's justices,
draw near
and give your attention.
God save the Queen.
[sighs]
[Judge Clarke] Good morning.
Mr. Hill, are we ready to proceed?
Good morning, My Lord.
Almost ready.
Before jury selection, we will
discuss access to the courtroom.
And the defense will then raise concerns
about the composition of the jury.
Thank you, Mr. Hill, thank you.
Um. Good morning, Your Lordship.
My Lord, some relatives were prevented
from entering court this morning.
I'm a little disturbed that
at the very beginning of this case,
the very people who need
to hear what happens
suffered at the door of the court.
The public do not have
unreserved access to my courtroom.
"My courtroom," Your Lordship?
In this instance, my courtroom.
The officers have every right
to keep out
those who are not playing
an essential part in this case.
But, Your Lordship, such is
the public interest in this case
that might I actually suggest
a few extra seats be made available
somewhere at the rear of the courtroom.
I think we can squeeze a couple in.
[Mr. Mendel] You need know,
I issued the instructions myself.
And it's not a matter I wish
to continue discussing in this courtroom.
Well, justice must be seen to be done
by members of the public, surely?
For Christ's sake,
get a hold of yourself, man.
On the matter of extra seats,
your application is denied.
When the jury have been sworn in--
My husband was refused admission
to the public gallery,
even though he had a valid ticket.
That is the luck of the draw,
as with most things in life.
What do the defense have to say
about selection of the jury?
Ah, yes, My Lord. Um
on behalf of my client
and the rest of the defendants
sat, rather uncomfortably,
in the dock today,
I am making an application
for an all-Black jury to be appointed.
The decision to grant
this application would be hailed
throughout the world
as a great victory for liberty.
And why on God's earth
would I agree to that?
Well, an all-Black jury is required
in this case, Your Lordship,
because they are the only
persons who qualify,
in the conditions of our modern society,
as equals of the defendants.
And are you implying that a white jury
would not treat the defendants fairly,
as they are required to do by law?
Oh, no, no, no.
Not at all, Your Lordship, no.
Only that, with a white jury, you
cannot guarantee
against persons prejudicing the defendants
solely because they are Black.
My Lord, as my esteemed colleague
Mr. Howe here has enlightened me,
my request is based
on the common law of England,
which has existed for over 700 years.
Stretching as far back
as the Magna Carta,
which was in 1215,
there's a great swathe
of historical examples
that give precedent that a man
should be tried by his peers,
or his equals.
So, what I am asking for
is something
that I am perfectly
entitled to under British law.
I'm not asking for an extension
of the law,
nor am I asking the court
to make any special concessions.
I am grateful for your argument,
but your application is rejected.
[murmuring]
Would His Lordship consider expanding
on the reasons for his judgment?
I do not regard these circumstances
so exceptional
that I should give my reasons.
My Lord, I have no precedence to state,
but I have a sense of justice.
Need I repeat myself?
The application is rejected.
Move on.
[spectators murmuring]
Uh, My Lord, I'd ask the court
for a short adjournment
so that I might consult
with the defendants.
Your request is rejected.
A lot of very simple things are already
becoming complicated in this case.
Do not make inflammatory remarks,
Mr. McDonald.
I am trying to keep things simple
because there are unrepresented
defendants in the dock.
Do not do it again.
Of course.
[spectators murmuring]
Take the Bible in your right hand.
- I swear
- Challenge!
- Take the Bible in your right hand.
- Challenge!
- Take the Bible in your right--
- Challenge.
Exercising my right, My Lord.
Challenging the jury may be
within your judicial rights,
but I do not want this trial
to deteriorate
into a Black and white contest.
If you are going to challenge,
I ask you to do it
before the swearing-in begins.
Understood?
[Altheia] Of course.
Take the Bible in your right hand.
Challenge!
My Lord, you've just said
that all challenges
must be lodged
before the oaths commence.
As was the case. Challenge upheld.
You may leave the court.
My Lord.
Mr. McDonald! I said upheld.
[Croft] You're not doing anyone
any favors by behaving like that.
Well, once Altheia and Darcus
get going, Mr. Croft,
I'm gonna seem positively timid.
I'm just warming the old bastard up.
[Frank]
The judge wanna purge all-a we.
I see it in the eye, plain as day.
[Altheia] Every request we make,
he rejects straight up.
[Rhodan] Just a little sparring, man.
Me wanna join in.
[Barbara]
British justice. What a joke.
It's a disaster, isn't it, Ian?
[Darcus]
No! It's not a disaster, no.
See, we just made a judge
at the Old Bailey
discuss race in his courtroom.
He didn't want to do that.
He want to pretend this is
a case about violence,
about criminals, about malcontents.
But we have made it about what it is--
about the color of our skin.
It's a victory, uh?
[laughs]
It's our first victory!
[Altheia] Darcus is right.
It might not be pretty,
but we keep it going.
An idea float eventually by itself. Hm?
Me have a idea.
For real.
On Sunday the 9th of August
in North Kensington
a demonstration took place
against the police
which degenerated
into totally inexcusable
and unacceptable violence.
There may be some in here
who believe that they have been
the victim of injustice
at the hands of the police.
But there are others who,
like parasites,
feed on these beliefs,
and seek to turn them
to their own advantage,
encouraging
and sometimes deliberately creating
hate, mistrust and violence.
Ladies and gentlemen, this was not
just a flamboyant demonstration
that got out of control.
The Crown will prove
that this demonstration
was led by those intent on fanning
what they knew to be
an emotional situation.
They egged on the violence
and deliberately joined in.
These defendants are all guilty
of the serious criminal offense
riot and affray.
My Lord, I detect a certain vagueness
in the way the prosecution has
brought this new charge of affray.
As a famous philosopher once said
I am giving you enormous
latitude here, Mr. Howe.
Sit down before I find you
in contempt of court.
And take that ridiculous hat off.
Will you please proceed, Mr. Hill.
Thank you, My Lord.
[Toots and the Maytals:
"54-46 Was My Number"]
[man] Pulley!
[spectators murmuring]
Would you like to take
the affirmation or the oath?
The oath.
Please hold the Bible
and read the oath out aloud.
I swear by Almighty God
that the evidence I shall give
shall be the truth, the whole truth
and nothing but the truth.
[Mr. Hill]
Please state your name and rank.
Police Constable Frank Pulley.
PC Pulley, when did you
join the police force?
Seventeen years ago.
And in all that time, how many complaints
have been made against you?
No more than is normal.
Uh, maybe seven or eight
official complaints.
None of them have been substantiated.
And how many times
have you been commended
for service to Her Majesty's
police force?
A few times.
More than a few.
My Lord, my understanding
from you is that questions
are to be focused
on matters concerning the trial.
[Judge Clarke] Madam,
I think the jury will understand
that this is a member
of the Metropolitan Police
and is to be respected as such.
As long as the defendants
are afforded the same privileges
as PC Pulley, Your Lordship.
Mr. MacDonald,
sit down and be quiet.
Mr. Hill, please continue.
Thank you, My Lord. Do go on, PC Pulley.
About my commendations.
In 1968, I received
the British Empire Medal
for gallantry whilst on duty.
Thank you.
Uh, can you describe your role
on the day of the demonstration?
[clears throat]
At 2:15 p.m., myself and three other
police constables,
PC Dixon, PC Royce and PC Johnson,
went to the Mangrove
in an observation van.
For what purpose?
For the purpose of identifying people
who were involved in the demonstration.
We arrived just before Howe
addressed the crowd.
What did he say?
We were going back and forth
in our vehicle,
so I couldn't make any note
of what he said.
So the demonstration then set off
from All Saints Road
in the direction of Notting Dale
police station, correct?
Correct, with Howe and Crichlow
leading the way.
I did see them also leave
the main procession
to try and get more people to join in.
Millet was selling newspapers.
I saw him approach a Black woman
with a half-caste child,
and and she said to him,
"Go away and leave us alone, man.
You stupid troublemakers."
[Hill]
Did you hear his response?
Millet told her,
"You better think Black, baby,
or you die with the white pigs
when the time comes."
- [man] Liar.
- [woman] No!
[man #2] All lies!
[overlapping shouts]
Did you see what started the fighting?
I did not, no.
I saw Crichlow and Howe
talking together
before joining the main fight.
Please describe their actions
for the courtroom
as you recorded it.
They were acting like savages.
Howe was encouraging the mob
and standing on a brick wall
screaming, "Kill the white pigs."
I saw Crichlow throw
a piece of wood right at an officer.
Him and LeCointe,
both throwing bricks and bottles.
[Altheia]
How's Darcus coping in all this?
Yeah, okay. I think he's nervous
about his coming speech.
Not that Darcus. Darcus Junior.
Oh. [soft chuckle] Yeah.
Oh, yeah, he's teething,
you know, so he's not sleeping.
[voice breaking] What if he's taken
into care? Like I was?
It's not going to happen.
Well, it will if both of his parents
get sent away. It will.
I'm scared too, you know.
But we have to have faith.
Faith in the British justice system.
[laughter]
Yeah.
Yeah, there's a thought.
At least they can't take
yours away from you.
Not whilst it's in there.
And they can't take yours either.
Not whilst he's in here.
[chatter, laughter]
[music playing]
You gon' eat a little, Frank?
Just now.
[sighs]
What you're doing' is a good thing,
you know.
Might not feel like it, but
it is.
Everybody come together over this.
- Have so much food--
- I can't go to the jail-house, Dol.
Justice stay upon your side, eh?
My backside, maybe.
[sighs]
Dice fix you up, man.
A game later tonight.
No.
But don't make me stop you
lose your pension.
You me pension, Frank.
You and everybody else.
[Dol sighs]
[baby crying]
- [continues crying]
- Shh.
- Can you take him a minute, please?
- I can't, I working.
- Yeah, well I'm working too.
- Look,
I can't hear myself think! I'm--
I'm--I'm trying to prepare
for cross-examining Pulley.
Can you just shut up!
[whispers] Come on.
[bangs on table, objects clatter]
[baby continues crying]
[breathing heavily]
I have it. I have them this time.
[low chatter]
My Lord. I am defending myself
against some very serious allegations
made by PC Pulley
and three other police officers
who were stationed in a van.
I would like to start
by stating my intention
to question the credibility
of this witness,
PC Frank Pulley.
[Judge Clarke]
Noted. Now is your opportunity.
May I ask, PC Pulley
if you think anybody who goes
to the Mangrove restaurant
is already corrupted?
[Pulley] Yes, I believe so.
[spectator chuckles]
So frequent visitors, like the local MP,
Mr. Bruce Douglas-Mann,
are corrupted?
- Is this what you are suggesting?
- I don't know the local MP.
Are you suggesting I am corrupted?
I have been to the Mangrove
on several occasions.
I should think you are, yes.
I know the place to be a haunt
of criminals, prostitutes,
- ponces and the like.
- [defendants exclaim]
Well, I put it to you that
all your comments on this case,
all the information you put to the jury,
is rooted in prejudice.
It's rooted in experience of an area
I have served as a police officer
for a considerable length of time.
- When did you join the police force?
- 1954.
Almost the same time
as Detective Inspector Stockwell
joined too?
Yes.
And yet you are a constable still?
- [defendants laugh]
- That's correct.
May I be so bold as to ask why you
have never risen through the ranks?
I left school quite young.
Truth is, I've never been able
to pass the police examinations.
[laughter]
My Lord,
I cannot see the relevance.
[Judge Clark] Mr. Howe, please keep
to the incidents of August the 9th.
[Darcus] Very well, My Lord.
Police Constable Pulley,
you made a statement that at
the beginning of the demonstration,
during the speeches,
that the crowd had started chanting.
[spectators murmuring]
I ask you to compare your statement
with that of your three
other colleagues present
who had made no mention of chanting.
They hadn't said they couldn't hear.
There is a difference.
Did you and your other colleagues
in the observation van,
did you write your statements
at the same time,
- in the same room?
- Yes, we did.
When you work in the same room,
that's normal.
Is it quite normal, too,
to decide together
what to put in and what
to leave out of your statements?
I'm not sure where you're going with this,
but we did no such thing!
Of course not.
Far be it from me to imply such chicanery.
PC Pulley, can you please confirm
that this is the size of the slit
in the observation van?
That's roughly the same, I guess, yeah.
Very good guess, PC Pulley.
This is roughly the size of the slit.
Two by eight inches.
Not much bigger
and not much smaller.
It is your testament
that you, PC Dixon, and PC Johnson
were all looking through this same hole
at the same time.
Correct?
[scattered laughter, murmurs]
I'm sorry. Is that correct?
Yes, that's correct.
I would like to know, PC Pulley
how it is possible
that even two men could look through
this same hole at the same time?
[loud chatter]
[Judge Clarke] Quiet, at once!
It's possible if you--
It's possible if they both look
through one eye.
[loud laughter]
[Darcus] So, where was your face,
PC Pulley?
Next to PC Royce or next to PC Dixon?
Eh? Was it like this?
Or like this?
Where was your face, Pulley?
My Lord, please direct Mr. Howe
to address the witness correctly.
[Darcus] Constable Pulley, you know
why you are now being ridiculed?
The image of four police officers
behaving in such a manner
is worthy of ridicule, is it not?
[spectators murmuring]
It could make
a stuffed bird laugh.
Could make a stuffed bird laugh.
PC Pulley, I suggest
that substantial and important
parts of your evidence
are deliberate lies.
- [man] Yes!
- Deliberate and conspiratorial lies,
designed to have my freedom
taken away from me!
- [loud chatter]
- [man] You're a liar, Pulley.
[man #2] A liar.
So, where exactly was your face then?
Like this? Or perhaps like this?
Where was it?
I don't remember.
You don't remember.
No.
PC Royce,
thirteen times you say you don't
remember or you can't say.
PC Pulley said 33 times
he didn't remember.
PC Johnson, 28 times.
About 70 times the three of you
say you can't remember.
You were put in a van
to observe and record,
from beginning to end,
in order to provide information
that would give the truth
as to what took place.
I suggest
you failed distinctly
in your responsibility
to observe and record.
Let me ask you again.
Where was your face, PC Royce?
Where was your face?
If you do not accept responsibility now,
history will bestow it upon you.
Pulley's signaling at the witness!
I seen him! Royce taking instruction
upon the witness stand!
Is a breach-a court, a court breach!
Constable Pulley,
this is a very serious allegation.
I must ask that you leave
the courtroom at once.
Is only that? Shouldn't a crooked man
be locked up or something?
Will the defendants
sit down at once!
Mr. Pulley.
You will not return until your
fellow officers in the observation van
have all given their evidence.
You should consider yourself lucky
that no further action will be taken.
[derisive chatter]
[Darcus] No further questions,
My Lord.
- [chatter continues]
- Backside.
Should have been banged up if you ask me!
Least been given some licks!
But if you hadn't shouted at the judge,
we'd have had a much better chance
at a sterner punishment.
Don't give me a six for a nine
'cause you is workin' for me.
[Altheia] Brother,
no hot up you head now.
- [Darcus] Gonna cool down, boy?
- It's all right for you.
The cunumunu supposed
to be working for me!
Me done. Me don't need no counsel.
Go on!
Get out my eyeball range!
Rhodan. Where you go to, boy?
I'll represent myself!
If them two can, me can too.
No disrespect, yeah,
but you sure you up for that?
Altheia and Darcus,
they put in the work, you know?
And if you vex at the judge,
that could do you more harm,
that could do all of we more harm.
Frank! It's every man for him own self.
Eh! It's them and we.
[The Specials: "Skinhead Moonstomp"]
[bailiff]
Be upstanding in court.
[typing]
[man speaking indistinctly]
[male witness] I swear by Almighty God
that the evidence I shall give
shall be the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth.
[female witness] I swear by Almighty God
that the evidence I shall give
shall be the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth.
[overlapping, indistinct
courtroom testimony]
[Hill]
State your name and rank.
[Wheeler] PC Charles Wheeler.
- [Hill] Where are you stationed?
- [Wheeler] Notting Dale police station.
[Hill] And how long have you been
serving in the Metropolitan police?
[Wheeler]
It's been about five years now.
[Hill] And in those five years,
how many complaints
have been made against you?
[Wheeler] None. None at all.
[Hill] None.
And how many commendations?
[Wheeler] I've had three.
[Hill] Could you please tell the court
what the first commendation was for?
[Wheeler]
I was involved in a rescue.
[Hill]
A rescue. What sort of rescue?
[Wheeler]
A father had abducted a--
It's all so repetitious and irrelevant!
- Where is the justice?
- Sit down!
- No! No, I won't.
- Sit. Down!
The officer has nothing
to do with the case!
It is a complete waste of time!
Where is the justice?!
The officer has nothing
to do with the case!
The officer has nothing to do
with the case!
[all chanting] The officer
has nothing to do with the case!
I am warning you,
take control of your client!
-[chanting continues]
- [shouts indistinctly]
[spectators] The officer
has nothing to do with the case!
The officer has nothing
to do with the case!
The officer has nothing to do
with the case!
[chanting continues]
[all stomping]
[chanting continues]
has nothing to do with the case!
[chanting continues]
Silence! Silence!
If any of the defendants--
[Rhodan] Whatever, man!
It's a bloodclot conspiracy!
If any of the defendants
continue to disrupt these proceedings,
they will be taken downstairs!
Is that understood?
To let emotions settle,
we will continue with the Crown's
witness after an adjournment.
- [Barbara] God's sake!
- [Frank] Justice!
- [man #2] Bumbaclot!
- [Barbara] It's typical!
[man #3] Come on, now.
Come on down.
Clear the court.
- Ian!
- Yes?
- Talk to me, boy.
- I said clear the court!
- [indistinct shouting]
- Hey! Take your hands off him!
- [Darcus shouting]
- [Ian] Darcus! Do not resist!
Don't resist! Darcus--
[indistinct shouting]
What's wrong with you?!
[shouting continues]
Get in there! Get in here!
- That's enough!
- Get in there!
[Frank] You skunts!
What's wrong with you?!
- [shouting continues]
- You skunt!
Come on, then!
Come on, then. Fight me, come on!
- [shouting continues]
- [cell door slams]
- All of you, come on! Fight me!
- [kicking door]
Fight me!
You savages!
All you wicked men, you're wicked!
You dirty mothers, nana's skunt!
You skunt!
All you wicked men.
What's wrong with you?
What's wrong with you?!
[breathing heavily]
Yeah! Come on!
Come on! Come on!
Your dirty nana's skunt!
You skunts!
All you wicked, you wicked men!
You dirty, nasty skunt!
You skunt!
What's wrong with you?!
Shh.
[closes viewing slit]
[thudding]
[bailiff]
Let the court be upstanding.
- Your Honor.
- It's "My Lord" or "Your Lordship."
Yes, Mr. Howe?
My Lord
I want to bring a matter
to your attention.
Before the break. I was trying to speak
to my co-counsel, Mr. MacDonald--
as acting counsel,
I'm perfectly entitled to do this--
when a prison officer
suddenly went berserk,
manhandling me worse than
if I were a convicted prisoner.
So I said, "Hold on. Please let me
have a few words with him."
Whereupon he dragged me to the top there,
slammed me down the stairs.
I am now concerned
about my physical well-being,
which I had presumed safe
at the Old Bailey.
Are there any witnesses
to these allegations?
I can confirm that Mr. Howe's version
of events is correct, My Lord, yes.
My Lord, my client Frank Crichlow
was also manhandled by court officers.
- [low murmurs]
- [Justice] Thank you, Mr. Woodley,
but that is quite enough on this matter.
Mr. Howe, this should not have been
discussed in front of the jury.
The jury must not be concerned
with external matters
that have nothing at all to do
with this case.
Please, find a way to purge this
from your minds.
Your sole considerations are with those
events that happened last year
on August the 9th on Portnall Road.
My Lord. This is a matter
of the utmost seriousness,
and all we are asking is that
it should be dealt with accordingly.
And that is precisely what
this court intends to do,
but according to the law.
I insist that you apologize
for your rudeness.
I'll apologize to His Lordship
when His Lordship apologizes
to Mr. Howe.
Mr. Mendel, after the break,
I suggest all court officers be replaced.
I see the matter ending there.
[spectators murmuring]
The aerobic and anaerobic organisms
transmitted by the mouth
when human teeth pierce
or lacerate the skin
can cause cellulitis, an infection that--
[Altheia] Thank you, Dr. Chadee.
Where in your statement
do you mention punctures
or lacerations to the skin?
Nowhere in your statement.
You only talk of bite marks
and indentations to the skin.
Now, can you tell the courtroom
how many days after the demonstration,
and my subsequent arrest
on the 9th of August,
was it before you examined
the police officers?
And if you need any sort of help,
it is written clearly
at the top of your statement.
[softly] Four days.
Sorry, so we can all hear.
Four days later.
Four days later.
Thank you.
So my question is this:
In your expert medical opinion,
how much time do you have once
these bite marks, these indentations,
have been inflicted, to precisely
identify when they were made?
[chuckles softly]
Oh, gosh. You're quiet.
It's not a trick question.
Shall I repeat it for you?
Three hours. About three hours.
- [gasps, murmurs]
- And so, after three hours
it is no longer possible to tell when
the bite marks were made, correct?
I've been accused
of biting a police officer
who was examined by you
four days after the events, Dr. Chadee.
Four days!
Someone is obviously lying
in this courtroom. Is it you?
My Lord, I must object to the phrase
used in the line of questioning.
[Judge Clarke] Please rephrase
your question, Miss Jones-LeCointe.
Seems like a fitting way
to end the prosecution's case
if you ask me, My Lord.
[laughter, applause]
No further questions.
Dr. Chadee, you may stand down.
Now that the prosecution's case
has come to an end,
we will adjourn for a few days
while legal submissions are made.
I would remind you
[whispers] What they gonna do
to try and get us this time?
[Clarke] these proceedings with
anyone, or to read about it in the press.
- You are dismissed.
- Forgive me, My Lord,
but it is evidently clear that
there are pronounced contradictions
and inconsistencies
between the Crown and prosecution.
Therefore, if it please Your Lordship,
the defense submit
that the prosecution's case
should not proceed,
that there is no case to answer,
and that these matters
should not be left with a jury.
Much as there is a temptation to remove
your presence from this court,
I find there is a prima facie case
to be made.
I reject your submission.
[bailiff]
Be upstanding in court.
[door closes]
I'll-- I don't wanna go to jail.
The only crime you've committed
is to give a space to these people.
You're a law-abiding citizen,
your premises were overrun
by a bunch of agitators.
What are you really sayin', man?
I can't help these people, Mr. Crichlow,
but I can help you, if you plead guilty.
Is what he tellin' you, Frank?
Hmm?
Look how you're screwing up your face.
Is what he tellin' you to do?
Plead guilty.
Plead what?
Is that what you said for real?
Mrs. Jones-LeCointe,
these are very serious charges,
and now that you all have to give
testimony on the witness stand,
- I think it highly likely
- Oh, shut your--
you will be found guilty!
- [all shouting]
- All of you wicked! You flippin'--
- What you say? Plead what?!
- Guilty!
All of you better take
this frickin' man out my face.
Move out my face!
Is that what you gonna do?
You can't be doing that.
Not now. You can't, Frank.
He trying to divide us.
For 400 years people like him
trying to divide our people,
undermine us!
This trial is another way of doing that,
of destroying a strong
Black movement in this country.
We have to stick together.
As a collective.
The Mangrove Nine. As a people!
It's what you telling me, boy!
That's all that matters!
I don't get it.
You want to sit in a courthouse
for the next six weeks
so we can get more time in jail?
I don't want go to jail. You understand?
These people, they're like vampires!
You think you beat them, but they keep
coming back and back, again, again.
It's like a silver bullet ain't enough.
You have to stick them through the heart.
Then get the garlic, then chop off
their head too. It's never enough!
The best we can hope for is a draw.
A draw!
The system rigged! It's rotten!
And what are we fighting for, huh?
For what, Altheia?!
For my unborn child.
[whispers] That's what.
[sniffling] All of this
all of our fight
it counts beyond us here.
This trial is more than
just about our freedom.
What is being called into question
in this case is the right of anybody,
not just us as Black people,
but the right of anybody to demonstrate!
I'm not just here defending myself,
we're trying to defend all of us.
But if we fold now, and we let--
and we let them take over
and we give in to them,
they will take it all from us.
And they will take it
from our children, too.
We are the example,
and we must bear this responsibility.
But please, if all you want
to take your plea,
you take it.
As is your right to.
[footsteps recede]
[car passes]
[sighs]
What's the matter?
- Nothing.
- Come back to bed.
[sighs]
[Hill]
So where were you then?
[Frank] I told you, Portnall.
Speak up, Mr. Crichlow.
If I can't hear you,
how can the jury be expected to?
I was on Portnall Road.
Where the fighting was?
So you went there deliberately
to get involved in the fighting,
which had by then, you say,
already started?
No, I told you, I already knew
where the march was headed.
Because you organized the demonstration.
Because I was on
the organizing committee, yes.
But it was an accident
that we meet when we did.
So, let me get this correct.
You knew exactly where
the march was going,
but it was just an accident that you
joined up with it again when you did?
- The whole thing was an accident.
- An accident?
Even the Chief Inspector say so.
- You don't know Notting Hill?
- Possibly not.
You understand nothin'.
What I would strongly suggest,
Mr. Crichlow,
is that you were at the heart
of the disturbance
and one of its chief agitators.
Well, like I said,
you understand nothin'.
[Hill]
You already knew PC Pulley?
What you yapping, man? Everyone know
the heavy mob in Notting Hill.
Uh, so please describe PC Pulley's
standing in the community.
His standing? What--
[laughter]
[Rhodan]
Oi! Forgive me, members of the jury.
I find it difficult to control myself
when the prosecutor chat
about the stature of Pulley.
I have known that man for ten years,
and no bigger bully, no greater thug,
no greater gangster plant him big foot
in the Notting Hill in all that time.
- [laughter]
- No, sir.
Mr. Gordon, I am once again granting
an enormous amount of latitude here.
[sucks teeth] Channa man.
[laughter]
[Justice Clarke]
Mr. Gordon.
I was not holding the pig's head
at that point.
[Hill]
What were you holding?
A placard that said,
"Hands off Black people."
And then a man came
and snatched it away from me.
A white man, tall and heavily built.
He looked like a lunatic.
I asked him what the hell
he thought he was doing,
but he just broke the placard
over his knee,
so I tried to get it back from him.
You tried to get it back
from him, even though, as you say,
he looked like a lunatic.
Not afraid of loons.
Been surrounded by 'em all my life.
So you attacked the man.
No, I did not.
Before I knew it, I was being arrested.
Did you resist arrest?
'Course I resisted arrest.
Done nothing wrong, had I?
Did you ask where
the demonstration was going?
No. I hung around to show my solidarity.
You see, I wasn't too concerned
with where it was going
because I'd always intended
to get myself down to prayer meeting
down at Acklam Road at 3:30.
- [man] Hallelujah!
- Yeah, man.
[laughter and murmurs]
But whilst on All Saints Road,
did you join in with the chants?
No, I did not. Although it is true
that me daughter,
she did like the one that went,
"The pigs. The pigs.
We have to get rid of the pigs."
Mr. Caboo, please take the stand.
[clears throat]
I am not Roy Caboo,
as identified by the arrest warrant.
My name is Godfrey Millett.
- Wha--
- But in fact and truth,
Millett is only my slave name.
I myself deny all the charges
made against me.
I do also deny saying to a Black woman,
"Think Black, baby, or die with
the white pigs when the time comes."
I am innocent of all the charges.
[woman] Yes. Yes.
[spectators murmuring]
[Hill]
Over the past eleven weeks,
you have heard expressions
of passion, of emotion,
and perhaps of prejudice.
There was nothing illegal in police
searching the Mangrove restaurant.
They were acting within the law.
And yet, members of the jury,
you are here being asked
if you accept the testimony
of the Metropolitan policemen as truth.
The prosecution invites you
to say that you do
because they are officers of the law
in whom you can, and should,
place an absolute trust.
There is no gray area about PC Pulley.
PC Pulley is either telling the truth,
or he is totally dishonest.
Do you really imagine
that police officers would take the risk
of making up evidence?
Of course not. They wouldn't dare.
The prosecution contends
that this demonstration
organized and inflamed by the men
and women in the dock before you today,
was violent in manner and in tone.
It was mounted generally
and specifically against the police,
and in favor of what is called
"the Black community."
[groans, murmurs]
We have heard from distinguished witnesses
who described a "screaming mob"
that were "behaving like savages."
Like savages.
The prosecution says that
you can rely on the testimony
of an experienced police officer,
and, difficult as it may be,
that you are bound to accept his evidence
and faithfully to return
your verdict of guilty.
That is the case for the Crown.
[low chatter]
- [man] Shh! Shh!
- [gallery quiets]
- [man] Go on, Darcus!
- [Judge Clarke] Silence.
"The time is out of joint.
O cursed spite!"
That ever a Black people
"were born to set it right."
[murmurs of agreement]
[sniffs]
We say it's closing time.
[man] Yeah, man. Closing time.
But in a certain sense,
the matter has just begun.
For I believe that this case
has opened issues
which are likely to decide
the shape and future
of British society, I believe,
and Europe.
I believe that this case
has opened issues.
It has seared the consciousness
of the Black community
to an extent that the history of Britain
cannot now be written without it.
[murmurs of agreement]
I want to make myself abundantly clear.
Whatever verdict you come to,
I mean it when I say
I don't care.
I don't care because I believe
history is on my side.
That if riot and affray carries
that maximum sentence,
the sky is the limit.
I don't care, I don't care
I don't care!
[chatter, cheering]
I stand accused of riot and affray.
No. I stand here accusing those
who've been involved in conspiracy.
That's my position.
It's closing time.
Now you have heard an awful lot
about the Mangrove.
It has been portrayed by the prosecution
as an ordinary restaurant
with licensing problems.
How ignorant can people get?
How superficial and surface-like
can people be?
Ah, it's not his fault.
His masters' fault.
Black people are criminals,
ponces, and prostitutes.
That is a myth that has been
created about us.
That was a statement that was made
by one police officer
who gave evidence during this trial.
But I submit to you that Notting Hill
is a very unique community
where many people
from the West Indies live.
It is a community that was born
out of a resistance
to a series of backward attacks
from the police
that had nothing to do with
the advanced ideas and values
going around in the 20th century.
It has something that was located
somewhere in the stench
of British colonialism.
His masters again.
In defending themselves
against attack, a community is born.
And wherever a community is born,
it creates institutions that it needs.
[man shouts encouragement]
Frank Crichlow.
He wasn't conscious of the fact that
he was forming a community restaurant.
But that sense of community,
born out of struggle in Notting Hill,
was so profound that
there was no other way for it to be
but a community restaurant.
[man] Oh, yeah.
[Darcus]
We created the Mangrove. We shaped it.
We formed it to satisfy our needs!
The Mangrove is ours. It is ours!
It's not Frank's!
He lost it to the community,
he knows that.
And so
when the Mangrove
came under attack from the police,
not once, not twice, but three times,
members of the jury--
three times!--
we said, "No more."
I have been forced to take a stand,
and to take a stand, I will.
[scattered applause]
They prefer to call a riot
an affray inquiry
instead of an inquiry into the police.
They prefer that, but let it be, eh?
It's closing time.
It's closing time.
History will take its course,
so frequently a brutal one,
and we will continue to resist
intelligently and reasonably.
That is what the demonstration was about.
An intelligent and reasonable
resistance
to certain concrete facts.
Members of the jury.
After what has been
an unusually wearisome case,
a long eleven weeks in court,
at last comes the time for you
to consider your verdicts.
There have been many attacks on people
during this trial.
The prosecution accused of prejudice.
And you, the jury, told that
only two among you,
the two Black members,
are in a position to judge.
If any of the counsel have overstepped
the bounds of propriety in their remarks,
you should not hold that
against the defendant.
You have sworn on oaths to try this case
on the evidence you have heard.
Do not count uniforms,
and, most important,
do not take into account
the color of anyone’s skin.
[inhales deeply]
[exhales]
[thudding]
Silence. Be upstanding in court.
[Mendel] Will the first defendant,
Mr. Crichlow, please stand.
Will the foreman of the jury please stand.
Have you reached any verdicts
upon which you are all agreed?
[Foreman] We have.
[Mendel] On count one,
the charge of riot,
how do you find the first defendant,
Mr. Crichlow?
- [Foreman] Not guilty.
- [excited chatter]
[Mendel]
On count two, affray,
how do you find the first defendant,
Mr. Crichlow?
[Foreman] Not guilty.
[excited chatter]
[Mendel] Will the second defendant,
Mr. Howe, please stand.
On count one, the charge of riot, how do
you find the second defendant, Mr. Howe?
[Foreman] Not guilty.
[excited chatter]
[Mendel]
On count two, affray,
how do you find the second defendant,
Mr. Howe?
[Foreman] Not guilty.
[excited chatter]
[Mendel] Will the third defendant,
Miss Beese, please stand.
On count one, the charge of riot, how do
you find the third defendant, Miss Beese?
- [Foreman] Not guilty.
- [excited chatter]
[Mendel]
On count two, affray,
how do you find the third defendant,
Miss Beese?
- [Foreman] Not guilty.
- [cheers, laughter]
[Mendel] Will the fourth defendant,
Miss Jones-LeCointe, please stand.
On count one, the charge of riot,
how do you find the fourth defendant,
Altheia Jones-LeCointe?
- [Foreman] Not guilty.
- [Barbara crying]
[Mendel]
On count two, affray
[Judge Clarke]
This has been a very unpleasant
experience for everyone concerned.
Regrettably, what this trial has shown
is that there is evidence of racial hatred
on both sides.
The penalties I am going to impose
on the four defendants
guilty of the lesser charges
are imposed in a spirit of
this particular season of the year,
which should be a season
for promoting peace and goodwill
to all men.
- [reggae music playing]
- [Frank] Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
- I wasn’t sure, you know.
- Congratulations.
- [Frank laughs]
- Congratulations, big man.
Barbara.
[woman] Yes, Frank!
- Mrs. Tetley, you reach?
- Reach long time.
Lovely.
[bottle clatters]
[sighs]
We have three jury inside of there,
and they celebratin'
with us!
You told me.
I never see the like.
We might have won the battle, Frank,
but we'll see about the war.
I can't suffer another winter here, boss.
I going back home.
This we home, Dol. The Mangrove.
I going back inside.
[Granville] Yes, Frank! [laughs]
- Granville?
- Liming at last!
Respect, Frank.
Respect, brother.
Hey little roll on the dice
to celebrate?
- I will catch ya soon yeah, Granville.
- Eh.
[Toots and the Maytals:
"Pressure Drop"]