A nigger in the new England’

‘Sus’, the Brixton riot, and citizenship

Bibliographic Data

ID12915787
AuthorsNicole M Jackson (0000-0002-0257-3537, Bowling Green State University, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume8
Issue2
Pages158-170
Publication date2015-04-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAfrican and Black Diaspora An International Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1752-8631 • E-ISSN: 1752-864X
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17528631.2015.1027330
OpenAlexW2015426726
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited7

In April 1981, Black youth in the South London neighborhood of Brixton participated in a two-day riot that resulted in numerous injuries and widespread property damage in an already economically depressed area. Immediately after the event, many politicians, including new Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, labeled the ‘disorder’ as wanton lawlessness; a framing that has, in many circles, scholarly and popular persisted. However, activists at the time attempted to locate the Brixton riot within a history of institutional racism endemic to all levels of English society. This paper situates the Brixton riot within the context of Section IV of the 1824 Vagrancy Act, which shaped the lives of Black youth in the 1970s and early 1980s, and demonstrates the level to which Black people were historically marginalized in English society in the post-World War II period

Citizenship · Context (archaeology · Criminology · Framing (construction · Lawlessness · Political science · Politics · Racism · Sociology · Vagrancy · Australian History and Society · Gender Studies · History · Homelessness and Social Issues · Law · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies

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