Cherry Groce - discussion and memorial news

[Gramsci]

See here:

http://www.obv.org.uk/news-blogs/cherry-groce-passes-away-easter-sunday

The 1985 riots are not so well known as the 81 riots. Partly as that was a really grim time. At least with 81 riots there was a feeling afterward that things would change for better. I think the 1985 riot was the one that people would rather forget. It didnt lead to any positive changes.

By 1985 Thatcherism had struck home. Here is Guardian piece that gives context for the riots across the country.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/1985/oct/08/ukcrime.fromthearchive1

 

[Gramsci]

From Guardian piece:

Worse, there is a feeling of momentum, of gathering violence. Now, at Tottenham, the rioters have guns and knives as well as a hail of petrol bombs. One policeman is dead, and others lie direly wounded.

By the 80s there was more outright hatred of "Thatchers Army". A lot of people (Black and White) werent that sorry when that policeman got chopped up on the Broadwater farm estate. I remember one policeman in a doc years later saying this time around he could see the outright hatred in there eyes. And that perhaps the police had allowed themselves to be identified with the Thatcher government

Kind of summed up mid 80s Britain. Some people had done really well. Others had been well and truly screwed.

 

[GarveyLives]

Petition to grant legal aid funding for the inquest into the death of Cherry Groce (click for more)

 

[GarveyLives]

"Police failures contributed to the death of a mother whose shooting by an officer triggered the 1985 Brixton riots, an inquest jury has found ..."

Dorothy 'Cherry' Groce inquest finds police failures contributed to her death (click for more)

 

[Gramsci]

To follow up on GarveyLives post the Met have now apologized.

Took 26 years to get an apology.

In a statement the Met commissioner said: "Today, I apologise unreservedly for our failings. I also apologise for the inexcusable fact that it has taken until now, for the Met to make this public apology."

Metropolitan police chief Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe apologised "unreservedly" after accepting that the force's "actions and omissions" had put the family of an innocent woman, shot and paralysed by police in 1985, through "years of suffering".

The apology from the Met commissioner came after an inquest jury found a series of failings by officers led to the shooting of Cherry Groce at her home in Brixton, south London, with medical evidence showing her injuries contributed to her death 26 years later.

During the inquest it emerged police chiefs knew about a series of failings within months of the September 1985 shooting after they were exposed in their internal report. They included the fact that the search warrant to raid Groce's home was based on false information.

 

[friendofdorothy]

Is an apology 26 years too late any apology at all? And the police wonder why people won't trust them.

 

[GarveyLives]

"The police shooting of an innocent woman is disturbing enough, but her inquest brings up issues of community relations and access to justice ..."

Police failures over Cherry Groce's death raise deeper questions (click for more)

 

[GarveyLives]

Twenty nine years after Cherry Groce's shooting, events last week show the "lessons learnt" by the Metropolitan Police:

Elderly pastor suffers heart attack in police drugs raid (click for more)

 

[Gramsci]

Twenty nine years after Cherry Groce's shooting, events last week show the "lessons learnt" by the Metropolitan Police:

Elderly pastor suffers heart attack in police drugs raid (click for more)

What a bunch of muppets the cops are.

Cressida Dick who was in charge of operation that led to killing of the Brazilian in Stockwell has been going up the promotion ladder since that killing. I have been following her career as she regularly has been name in papers as top woman cop who is going places.

Truly nauseating but good piece her here.

The point is this kind of thing will happen again.

 

[GarveyLives]

"I [remember hearing] my mum saying in a faint voice that she can't breathe, she can't feel her legs, and she thought she was going to die."

Cherry Groce: Mum's police shooting 'robbed me of my childhood'

(Source: Cherry Close Foundation)

The Late Cherry Groce and her son, Lee Lawrence​

 

[editor]

The memorial has had the go ahead

Cherry Groce memorial in Brixton’s Windush Square to be unveiled this Autumn

Coinciding with the 35th anniversary of the shooting of Cherry Groce, the installation and construction of a memorial in her honour will commence in the coming weeks, with an unveiling ceremony pla…

www.brixtonbuzz.com

 

[Pickman's model]

I have been following her career as she regularly has been name in papers as top woman cop who is going places.

sadly she never went where she should have

 

[dessiato]

sadly she never went where she should have
View attachment 221146

There‘s a lot of coppers who would be i prison if they applied the same rules to themselves as they do to the general public.

 

[Gramsci]

The memorial has had the go ahead

Cherry Groce memorial in Brixton’s Windush Square to be unveiled this Autumn

Coinciding with the 35th anniversary of the shooting of Cherry Groce, the installation and construction of a memorial in her honour will commence in the coming weeks, with an unveiling ceremony pla…

www.brixtonbuzz.com

I have very mixed feelings about this.

A lot of talk from Sir Adjaye and Lee Lawrence about the community and "restorative" justice.

But the community were never asked about this memorial. Or what they wanted the memorial to represent.

I remember it coming up at a local Neighbourhood meeting. It was news to all those present.

So when Lee Lawrence is talking about "community" I ask myself who did he ask about this? Same goes for the architect.

Its a mystery to me how this got decided.

 

[Gramsci]

The memorial has had the go ahead

Cherry Groce memorial in Brixton’s Windush Square to be unveiled this Autumn

Coinciding with the 35th anniversary of the shooting of Cherry Groce, the installation and construction of a memorial in her honour will commence in the coming weeks, with an unveiling ceremony pla…

www.brixtonbuzz.com

Sir Adjaye says this:

The construction of this memorial will speak to restorative justice and will symbolize that what matters to the community, matters to London and the whole world.
This tragedy went too long in the public realm without acknowledgement and there is now renewed urgency and importance in finally facing this history.

So why is Sir Adjaye working for Hondo? If that is what he thinks.

 

[CH1]

Sir Adjaye says this:


So why is Sir Adjaye working for Hondo? If that is what he thinks.

There is a certain Private Eye quality to this.

 

[TopCat]

The memorial has had the go ahead

Cherry Groce memorial in Brixton’s Windush Square to be unveiled this Autumn

Coinciding with the 35th anniversary of the shooting of Cherry Groce, the installation and construction of a memorial in her honour will commence in the coming weeks, with an unveiling ceremony pla…

www.brixtonbuzz.com

That's so long overdue. Lots of cash to raise though.

 

[newbie]

I'm curious about who's going to water and care for it. A bunch of dead plants on top of a lump of concrete isn't going to be that inspiring.

 

[TopCat]

I'm curious about who's going to water and care for it. A bunch of dead plants on top of a lump of concrete isn't going to be that inspiring.

I volunteer to help.

 

[newbie]

I volunteer to help.

cool, maybe voluntary, community is the way it's intended to go.

 

[editor]

Update: Lambeth Council to fund extra £81,000 for Cherry Groce Memorial in Windrush Square after Foundation struggles to meet target

 

[CH1]

Update: Lambeth Council to fund extra £81,000 for Cherry Groce Memorial in Windrush Square after Foundation struggles to meet target

It would have been nice if those paying for this this had had some input into the design.

 

[editor]

It would have been nice if those paying for this this had had some input into the design.

I really don't like the design or the lack of consultation and I'm not sure if this is the best use of Lambeth's money right now given what's going on.

 

[urbanspaceman]

Aesthetically, I think it's monstrous. And it troubles me that this sculpture, erected in memory of a single person, thirty-five years after the event, so dramatically dwarves, overwhelms and diminishes the war memorial a few metres away. The shooting of Cherry Groce was terrible (but it was a stupid, incompetent accident), but no commentators have been able to discover anything of note that she did either before or after the shooting. On the other hand, the modestly proportioned war memorial commemorates the thousands of lives heroically sacrificed by men and women in WW2.

I wish that Lambeth would drop the humbug, and acknowledge the essentially political purpose of the Cherry Groce memorial - it's a big raised middle finger to the police.

 

[CH1]

Aesthetically, I think it's monstrous. And it troubles me that this sculpture, erected in memory of a single person, thirty-five years after the event, so dramatically dwarves, overwhelms and diminishes the war memorial a few metres away. The shooting of Cherry Groce was terrible (but it was a stupid, incompetent accident), but no commentators have been able to discover anything of note that she did either before or after the shooting. On the other hand, the modestly proportioned war memorial commemorates the thousands of lives heroically sacrificed by men and women in WW2.

I wish that Lambeth would drop the humbug, and acknowledge the essentially political purpose of the Cherry Groce memorial - it's a big raised middle finger to the police.

They could follow that through and put it outside the Police Station. There is a public square there. Currently the only conflicting monument is a drain cover saying the river Effra flows below.

 

[TopCat]

Aesthetically, I think it's monstrous. And it troubles me that this sculpture, erected in memory of a single person, thirty-five years after the event, so dramatically dwarves, overwhelms and diminishes the war memorial a few metres away. The shooting of Cherry Groce was terrible (but it was a stupid, incompetent accident), but no commentators have been able to discover anything of note that she did either before or after the shooting. On the other hand, the modestly proportioned war memorial commemorates the thousands of lives heroically sacrificed by men and women in WW2.

I wish that Lambeth would drop the humbug, and acknowledge the essentially political purpose of the Cherry Groce memorial - it's a big raised middle finger to the police.

This is hugely disrespectful.

 

[urbanspaceman]

This is hugely disrespectful.

Yes I agree, it seems so unbalanced and disrespectful to have such a modest memorial to all those thousands of servicemen and women, compared to the ugly ziggurat of the Groce memorial.

 

[Pickman's model]

Yes I agree, it seems so unbalanced and disrespectful to have such a modest memorial to all those thousands of servicemen and women, compared to the ugly ziggurat of the Groce memorial.

there's no need to parade your ignorance - that's not a ziggurat.

there are memorials up and down the land to 'the glorious dead'. there's certainly no shortage of them. and they are much remembered in national discourse. but the people killed in peacetime by the forces of the state, people like harry stanley, jean charles de menezes, diarmuid o'neill, ian tomlinson, mark saunders, blair peach, mark duggan - they have no memorial. and they should do, to have their deaths commemorated. while i think the design does leave something to be desired, nonetheless it is a very welcome addition to the 'public realm' of brixton. next let's have one to cynthia jarrett.

 

[urbanspaceman]

there's no need to parade your ignorance - that's not a ziggurat.

there are memorials up and down the land to 'the glorious dead'. there's certainly no shortage of them. and they are much remembered in national discourse. but the people killed in peacetime by the forces of the state, people like harry stanley, jean charles de menezes, diarmuid o'neill, ian tomlinson, mark saunders, blair peach, mark duggan - they have no memorial. and they should do, to have their deaths commemorated. while i think the design does leave something to be desired, nonetheless it is a very welcome addition to the 'public realm' of brixton. next let's have one to cynthia jarrett.

Given that Cherry Groce was the victim of gun violence, do you think it is fair that only she should be commemorated ? Since 1985. dozens and dozens of people in Brixton have been shot, some crippled, some killed. The difference is that the people on your list died through incompetence and negligence while, all the other casualties are the result of deliberate premeditated violence. Surely all of them should commemorated.

 

[CH1]

there's no need to parade your ignorance - that's not a ziggurat.

there are memorials up and down the land to 'the glorious dead'. there's certainly no shortage of them. and they are much remembered in national discourse. but the people killed in peacetime by the forces of the state, people like harry stanley, jean charles de menezes, diarmuid o'neill, ian tomlinson, mark saunders, blair peach, mark duggan - they have no memorial. and they should do, to have their deaths commemorated. while i think the design does leave something to be desired, nonetheless it is a very welcome addition to the 'public realm' of brixton. next let's have one to cynthia jarrett.

Cherry Groce was not killed - she was paralysed for many years. The Black serviceman memorial was created because people connected to the black people who died in the World Wars felt they had been forgotten. And it was paid for by the black community.

Cynthia Jarret - who died of shock being arrested for deportation in Tottenham, was a Tottenham perosn.
Quite right to have a Cybthia Jarrett memorial - in Tottenham. Cynthia Jarrett sounds like an early case of Windrush Scandal - something only recognised as a breach of civil rights in the last couple of years BTW.

You are correct to link the two in one way - Cherry Groce was shot a week before Cybthia Jarrett's manhandling resulted in her death- from not being able to breath I surmise.
BFI have a contemporary view of this, which I can;t remember if I saw. It does sounds like the sort of thing the Ritzy would have shown on its single large screen before it was captured by capitalism
BAFC’s key film Handsworth Songs, directed by group member John Akomfrah in 1986, was a response to the further waves of mass civil unrest that erupted nationwide – and specifically in the Birmingham district of the title – in 1985, following two incidents in which Afro-Caribbean mothers were victims. On 28 September, the police shot Dorothy ‘Cherry’ Groce in her Brixton home, paralysing her for life; a week later, on 5 October, Cynthia Jarrett died of heart failure during a police search of her home on Tottenham’s Broadwater Farm estate.

Handsworth Songs (1986)

www.bfi.org.uk

Maybe we should ask,the Ritzy to show it again for the opening of these monuments?