In 2021, an unflinching public exhibition “War Inna Babylon: The Community’s Struggle for Truth & Justice (1981 to the Present)” organized by Stafford Scott (of Tottenham Rights) and independent curators Kamara Scott and Rianna Jade Parker about anti-Black racism opened at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts on the heels of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities aka Sewage Sewell report. In 2023, Stafford Scott and history school teacher Lucy Capes (BSix, London) piloted a course of the same name as part of the “Knowledge is Power” program (with just under 50 students on average voluntarily attending the sessions). In June 2024 they presented the course at a summer conference for history school teachers from across the UK to a welcome reception and history curriculum possibilities. Nimo Ali, one of the students on the course, has written a review of the course published below.
In the world of social justice, the UK’s continued struggles with police prejudice and brutality highlight deep-rooted problems of institutional and systematic racism. Not only does the inhumane death of Mark Duggan in 2011 underline the harsh realities faced by Black communities, but incidents beyond Brixton and Tottenham serve as stark reminders of the injustices these communities have been fighting against for generations. Despite this, the media often neglects these injustices, or worse contributes to them, and Black British history remains broadly absent from school curricula.
It mattered to me then that I had the wonderful opportunity to take part in a four-part course with long-time community activist and guest professor of Forensic Architecture Stafford Scott, called War Inna Babylon: The Community’s Struggle for Truth & Justice (1981 to the Present). The course involved four sessions of deep analysis into pivotal moments in British history and how they are not taught in schools. In these sessions, we covered Brixton 81, the uprising on Broadwater Farm in 1985, and the Tottenham riots of 2011. We did this by using architectural analysis, campaign materials, government reports, film footage, and newspapers to understand how these events took place and how they were portrayed in the media
The unclear death of Mark Duggan and the role of the media
One of the most interesting sessions for me included the investigation into Mark Duggan’s death by Forensic Architecture (FA), a research agency investigating the incident that we analyzed with Stafford Scott. I chose to focus on this session as I dug deeper into the case after the session and into the work of FA. The death of Mark Duggan was a driving force in the Black British community to challenge not only police brutality but also the portrayal of Black people’s deaths in the media. But how did it start?
On 4 August 2011, 29-year-old Mark Duggan, a father of six, was under police surveillance in North London as part of an operation to tackle gun crime as he was suspected of having been illegally transporting a firearm. He was a passenger in a minicab when armed officers from Operation Trident, a controversial special UK policing unit focused on gun crime within Black communities, forcibly stopped it. During the stop, Duggan was shot and killed by the police, as the officer who shot him reported feeling threatened by him, allegedly seeing Duggan holding a gun.
During the session, we learned that the exact circumstances of Duggan’s death are still unclear, as the police officers involved had incoherent accounts of the incident. What they had in common, was that none of them reported how the gun ended up seven meters away from Duggan. Thanks to FA, through their use of 3D modeling, data mining, and virtual reality we saw the different possible scenarios regarding the reason for Duggan’s death, as the officers all retold different versions of how the gun ended up on nearby grass. Luckily, we had a follow-up session with Stafford Scott at the FA offices at Goldsmiths, University of London to see and interact with the methods they used and to experience the process first-hand.
The earlier reports of Duggan’s death depicted him as a “gangsta,” with major news outlets editing pictures (below) of him creating a problematic narrative. While Duggan was allegedly gang-affiliated, the news outlets falsely reported that an individual had opened fire on a police officer, with the Guardian describing it as “an exchange of fire.” This was later proven false, as Duggan had never opened fire, and some even speculated that the officers had planted the gun due to the inconsistent accounts of how the weapon ended up far from the crime scene. Additionally, an injury to a police officer caused by the incident was later proven to be from another officer, highlighting how the media’s narrative was once again biased and untrue.
This was not the first time that British media and news outlets had used tactical language and editing to distort a situation, as seen in their tendency to depict Black people as either gang-affiliated or dehumanize them by not naming them. Plus, the picture of Duggan used by the UK media to report the case was a photograph of him at his daughter’s grave with a grief-stricken expression. They manipulated this image by zooming in on his face and perpetuating the narrative of him being a dangerous gang leader.
As a result, the London Riots of 2011 had been sparked as this case was the catalyst for the Black community to revolt against injustice and the constant harassment they faced by the police. It first started as protests at Tottenham police station on August 6, but as time went on, protesters were met with several violent clashes from police, leading to riots where police cars and busses were destroyed.
“Plus, the picture of Duggan used by the UK media to report the case was a photograph of him at his daughter’s grave with a grief-stricken expression”
Why do courses like War Inna Babylon matter?
While in these sessions, I got to see how different news outlets I consume daily have painted a harmful narrative and continue to do so in a way that is often ignored and not properly seen. By reading how the victim’s family felt during the incident and other events we covered, I saw not only how victims and families were affected but also the communities they were a part of. The first three sessions were focused on significant events in Black British history and the details behind them. During each session, we used family testimonies of the victims, government reports and newspapers detailing the catalysts but also the long-term causes of riots and uprisings.
Thanks to these sessions, I learned about history that is not being taught or heard. Both sides of history must be heard, and it is powerful that this program does exactly that. While conversing with Stafford Scott, who was leading the sessions, I heard and saw first-hand how these riots and uprisings affected communities as he had worked directly with these cases and was there when they happened. It made me realise how important it is for Black history to be taught and highlighted as many people have no idea of these incidents happening and are not educated on the systematic oppression happening right in front of their eyes. It is vital that not only Black history is taught but also appreciated as many people had lost their lives fighting for justice. Thanks to those before us, policies harming Black lives and communities have been changed and removed.
“Many are taught some of the Black histories that happened in the US yet somehow, we are not taught the UK history of Black ‘marginalized’ communities whose members are still active and living among us“
It was eye-opening to many in these sessions with one student commenting, “It’s astonishing to hear how people living alongside us today lived in a completely different world when they were growing up.” Another student reminded me about how we are educated on the struggles of Black people in the US, saying, “We think of it as something that happened away from us, only in the USA. However, this session was proof that it did indeed happen close to all of us, and it is also the reason there are still struggles with the police system in the UK.” This highlights how important it is for these events to be taught nationally as many are taught some of the Black histories that happened in the US, yet somehow, we are not taught the UK history of Black “marginalized” communities whose members are still active and living among us.
The personal accounts of those who were a part of these events and communities serve as powerful evidence of how important it is to add Black history into the curriculum and how ignored it is. We are often taught history through the eyes of the ones in power and the “victors,” yet we are completely blind to those who suffered at the hands of those authoring these books. There is a dire need for change and that change needs to happen now so that future generations are educated about systematic oppression and do not repeat the same mistakes of the past. More importantly, Black history needs to be taught so that it is not forgotten and hidden behind the version that is appealable and appeasable to the wider (and Whiter) society.
Special thank you to Knowledge is Power, Stafford Scott, and Forensic Architecture for making history by educating on the unspoken Black history and emphasizing the need for it to be taught nationally.