In March, 1972, Winston Trew and three other black men were confronted at the Oval underground station, London, by a group of seven white men claiming to be policemen, who accused them of "nicking handbags." An argument broke into pushing and shoving, and then escalated into a fight. When police arrived they were arrested as it turned out the white men they were fighting were themselves undercover policemen. They described their experience in the police station as a 'night of dread.' After a 5-week trial at the Old Bailey the 'Oval 4' were found guilty of attempting to steal, theft, and assault on police. All were jailed for 2 years. In 1973 they were released from prison after a 'successful Appeal.'
The Oval 4 episode is an eye-opening event because it not only illustrated the character and contours of Black Power activism in Britain in the 1970s--resistance to police violence and corruption and judicial collusion--it also debunks the myth that the 1960s was the only period of Black Power activism in Britain.
Praise for BLACK FOR A CAUSE ... NOT JUST BECAUSE ...
..".a profoundly original book ... there's nothing else like it."
-Chris Searle, Morning Star Online
"A brilliant book ... This is the first I have read on the modern history of Black people (in Britain). It is important that Black identity is dealt with in such an honest and powerful way."
-Professor Emeritus Geoff Palmer, Heriot Watt University, Scotland
..". makes for compelling reading... Possibly the first book on the British Black Power movement written from the inside."
-Harmitt Athwal, Institute of Race Relations, London