In the Shadow of the SPG

Racist policing, Resistance,
and Black Power in 1970s Brixton
Tim Barker

A5 pamphlet

“The revolt of Brixton’s young blacks against the police did not begin in 1981...
thousands and thousands of young blacks have grown up in British society having
little contact with any other section of British society but the police and
courts...”

In the ten years before the Brixton Riot of April 1981, Brixton’s black youth faced
routine attacks by the local police, backed by regular military-style invasions by
the Special Patrol Group. But racism, harassment, beatings and arrest sparked strong
resistance...