25 Years On: The origins of UFFC from the archive

by Naomi Oppenheim, Heritage Coordinator, INQUEST

This blog was originally posted on INQUEST 24.10.2024

[BLM & Copwatch & UFFC poster for UFFC 2024] Images says Remembering those killed by the state 

This Saturday 26 October, the United Families and Friends (UFFC) will be meeting in London (Trafalgar Square) and Edinburgh (Bute House) at 12 noon. The same week that police officer Martyn Blake was acquitted of murdering Chris Kaba, it’s even more important to come together. United, we will remember those killed in custody and continue the fight for change.

25 years since the first annual procession memorialising those who died at the hands of the state, we encourage you to join UFFC and stand with bereaved families and friends in their ongoing struggles for justice.

INQUEST will be at the London event with a new banner created by bereaved families. A new banner created by Scottish families will be taken out in Edinburgh too.

Please be aware that several other protests are planned on the same day, including a fascist demonstration in support of Tommy Robinson and a counter-demo organised by Stand Up To Racism. UFFC are putting out advice for families and Black Lives Matter are organising stewards. 

UFFC 1999

[Negatives of 1999 march, UFFC archive] Photo negative of people holding a banner saying United Friends & Families Campaign No More Black Deaths in Custody 

At midday on Saturday 30 October 1999, a group of bereaved families and friends gathered at Trafalgar Square. Dressed in black, they marched with candles, banners and photographs of their loved ones to Downing Street to deliver a card and letter to Tony Blair, Prime Minister at the time.

On the card were the 78 names of Black people who died in custody since the murder of David Oluwale by the police in Leeds, in 1969. The letter demanded an independent public inquiry into how all of these people had died, as a means to ‘stop the killings’ by confronting the racism that connected these deaths.

This marked the first annual procession organised by the United Families and Friends Campaign (UFFC).

[Flyer, UFFC Archive, 1999] Yellow flyer from 1999 that reads ‘Remembrance Procession for all those who have died in custody’

Founding people and groups

UFFC began as a coalition of Black people whose loved ones died in police custody, prison or ‘psychiatric’ hospitals. According to their first newsletter (22 June 1998), the families and friends of Orville Blackwood, Brian Douglas, Joy Gardner, Shiji Lapite and Ibrahima Sey began meeting with the intention of ‘building a network for collective action’ to stop the ‘current pattern of institutionalised racist killings’.[1]

Some initial demands were:

• A full and independent public inquiry into deaths of Black people in custody

• All deaths in custody should be independently investigated

• The Police Complaints Authority be replaced by an independent body

• Police and Prison officers involved in custody deaths be suspended until investigations are completed

• Officers responsible for deaths should face criminal charges, retired or otherwise

• Legal Aid and full disclosure of the information be made to the relatives of the victims

For over a decade, UFFC was chaired by Brenda Weinberg. In 1995, Brenda’s brother, Brian Douglas, was hit over the head and killed by the police in South London. Brian was only 33 years old; he was a father and a popular music and sports promoter. An inquest jury found that Brian died by ‘misadventure’ and no disciplinary action was taken against either officer involved in his death.

[6th UFFC Procession, 2004. Photograph taken by Gilly Mundy. Sheila Sylvester, Brenda Weinberg, Pauline Campbell]

As the coalition evolved and more family campaigns joined, UFFC sought the support of INQUEST, Newham Monitoring Project, Migrant Media and Minkah Adofo (interviewed as part of INQUEST’s oral history project), amongst others. This collective of bereaved families and friends, campaigners and supporters organised together to build a network to plan protests and memorials; engage with the media and Home Secretary; and to establish a people’s tribunal.

The first picket, 1998 

The 1999 remembrance procession was not UFFC’s first public action. In 1998 UFFC picketed a conference called ‘Deaths in Police Custody: Reducing the Risks’ that was organised by the Police Complaints Authority (an earlier iteration of the Independent Office for Police Conduct). The PCA invited all stakeholders apart from families, claiming that the ‘families would be too emotional’.[2]

This was a prime example of the PCA ignoring recent demands from UFFC and longstanding calls from organisations like INQUEST to make the systems for investigating deaths in custody accountable. Yet again, the very body whose sole purpose was to investigate and hold the police to account, failed the victims of police violence.

[PCA picket, UFFC archive, 1998] Young people of colour standing with placards and a banner saying Movement For Justice by any means necessary 

And so, on 16 October 1998, people gathered outside the PCA conference at Church House in Westminster. Placards and banners sported slogans such as ‘MOVEMENT FOR JUSTICE By Any Means Necessary’, ‘Fighting Police Brutality’, ‘Fighting Racist Asylum Laws’.

Changes

For over 25 years bereaved people have been standing up and demanding to be seen and heard under the umbrella of UFFC. This unique coalition has created a growing community of connection and understanding for the bereaved; a platform to remember, with dignity, the people who have been killed; and a channel to expose the links between these deaths to a wider audience.

[Invitation to the People’s Tribunal, UFFC Archive, 2001]

It is this unshakable collective commitment that has laid the groundwork for important changes. While there is a still a greater need as ever to demand justice and dismantle the racist structures that make these deaths possible, many things have happened since 1998.

Here are a few wins along the way:

• People’s Tribunal in 2001

• Disclosure of evidence prior to inquests

• Legal Aid (non-means tested for Article 2 inquest as of 2022)

• Seni’s Law

• Inclusion of family voice in reviews e.g. Corston, Harris and Angiolini Reviews, followed by an unwillingness of government to implement recommendations

• Memorials: creation of so many beautiful banners, from individual family banners to INQUEST’s collective banners 

The beating heart of UFFC is the network of families that is continues to come together across England, Wales and, more recently, Scotland.

Expansion of UFFC 

Whilst deaths of Black people continue to be a primary focus of UFFC given the disproportionate number of Black people dying in police custody, UFFC is a memorial for all of those who have died at the hands of the state, from prisons to mental health units.

2020 marked the first Scottish Families & Friends vigil. Every year over 200 people in Scotland die in custody. Scottish Families & Friends will mark their fifth vigil this year, outside Bute House (First Minister Official Residence) in Edinburgh.

[Scottish Families & Friends vigil, Edinburgh. Photograph courtesy of Sarah Armstrong]

Please come out and show your support in London (Trafalgar Square) or Edinburgh (Bute House) on Saturday 26 October at 12 noon.

If you’re interested in finding out more about the history of campaigning against state violence, our archive is publicly available at the Bishopsgate Institute, more information here.

Please note this article is based on archive materials in the UFFC folder at INQUEST.

The funds raised by UFFC help families directly impacted, click here to donate to UFFC. 

[1] United Families and Friends Campaign newsletter, 22 June 1998

[2] 16 October UFFC advance notice