Linton Kwesi Johnson

Part of the reason I'm in NZ is the great Linton Kwesi Johnson. Met a Kiwi lass while living in London in 1980s. I played her his briliant Reggae Fi Peach, his tribute to Kiwi teacher Blair Peach, killed by cops during the Southall riots in 1979. She loved it and I took her to a gig of his and, well the rest is history and I'm now living 12,000 miles away. It seems his lyrics are, sadly, still relevant



Everywhere you go its the talk of the day
Everywhere you go you hear people say
That the Special Patrol them are murderers (murderers)
We can't make them get no furtherer
The SPG them are murderers (murderers)
We can't make them get no furtherer
Cos they killed Blair Peach the teacher
Them killed Blair Peach, the dirty bleeders

Blair Peach was an ordinary man
Blair Peach he took a simple stand
Against the fascists and their wicked plans
So them beat him till him life was done

Everywhere you go its the talk of the day
Everywhere you go you hear people say
That the Special Patrol them are murderers (murderers)
We can't make them get no furtherer
The SPG them are murderers (murderers)
We can't make them get no furtherer
Cos they killed Blair Peach the teacher
Them killed Blair Peach, the dirty bleeders

Blair Peach was not an English man
Him come from New Zealand
Now they kill him and him dead and gone
But his memory lingers on

Oh ye people of England
Great injustices are committed upon this land
How long will you permit them, to carry on?
Is England becoming a fascist state?
The answer lies at your own gate
And in the answer lies your fate
 
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I knew him a little as I lived about 50 yards from him we'd both often drink in a late-night watering hole on Railton Rd. Was always a little starstruck as he had been a genuine hero of mine. Very serious man, who likes a pint of Guinness and a bet.
 
"Forces of Victory"

His best by far.(y)
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"Fite Dem Back"

We gonna smash their brains in
Cause they ain't got nofink in 'em
We gonna smash their brains in
Cause they ain't got nofink in 'em

Some a dem say dem a niggah haytah
An' some a dem say dem a black beatah
Some a dem say dem a black stabbah
An' some a dem say dem a paki bashah

Fashist an di attack
Noh baddah worry 'bout dat
Fashist an di attack
Wi wi' fite dem back
Fashist an di attack
Den wi countah-attack
Fashist an di attack
Den wi drive dem back
We gonna smash their brains in
Cause they ain't got nofink in 'em
We gonna smash their brains in
Cause they ain't got nofink in 'em
 
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"It is telling that, despite these instincts, the investigation was driven by the weight of the evidence to conclude that the fatal blow to Blair Peach was struck by a police officer whose actions were then concealed by his brother officers. A clear and unequivocal acknowledgement to that effect is now required from the Metropolitan Police, so that we can all be confident that the years of obfuscation and prevarication have been left behind for once and for all."

“The family, friends and community have waited for 31 years for some public recognition and acknowledgement that the police were responsible for Blair’s death. We call upon Sir Paul Stephenson to publicly acknowledge for the first time that a Metropolitan Police officer was responsible for the fatal truncheon blow that killed him. The whole police investigation into what happened on 23 April 1979 was clearly designed as an exercise in managing the fallout from the events of that iconic day in Southall, to exonerate police violence in the face of legitimate public protest. The echoes of that exercise sound across the decades to the events of the G20 protest and the death of Ian Tomlinson in 2009.”

www.inquest.org.uk

REPORT INTO DEATH OF BLAIR PEACH RELEASED AFTER NEARLY THREE DECADES OF SECRECY

27 April 2010
www.inquest.org.uk www.inquest.org.uk
 
I taught his son, Eric, English in Brixton in the 1980s. He was the coolest guy at Parents Evenings. He sauntered in, sat down at my desk and said, about Eric, "Is he still arsing around then?" A refreshingly different opening gambit to most parents I saw, who were convinced their kids were paragons of virtue and geniuses. I was pleased to report that he was not "still arsing around" and got a bottle of white Jamaican rum for my efforts.
I told this story at the end of my career to a group of English teachers, when we discussing famous people we'd come across in our teaching. To my amazement, none of them (aged between 25 and 50) had the faintest idea who Linton Kwesi Johnson was.
 
To prove my ignorance here I thought this thread was going to be about the Tories with their polling guru, ex chancellor and ex pm. I know that spelling is not correct.

It is much better though as a music thread:)
 
I knew his long time partner Celia (Stubbs) The police, after murdering him, watched her for the next 20 years. She never gave up in her attempts to uncover the truth, and in the end was vindicated.
 
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