The Michael Powell Campaign
On 7th September 2003 my cousin, Michael Powell, died whilst in police custody, this was after members our own family called for assistance. The current legal status of the case means that the family is subject to the ‘sub judice’ rule, which restricts what can be said about the circumstances surrounding Mikey’s death. What details we can give can be viewed on the campaign website (details at the end of this message).
The family are currently seeking answers to the questions surrounding his death through the legal process. Mikey had never, ever been in any serious trouble in his life, although he did suffer from stress and depression, like many of us in this stressed out world. We are committed to ensuring that answers are found to the many questions surrounding his death.
We believe that there was no reason for Mikey to die. Whether or not the police actions were directly attributable to his death remains to be seen, however, we are concerned about the methods of restraint used on that fateful night. We will not stand by while this incident drifts out of mind, and we refuse to allow Mikey’s death to have been in vain despite its premature coming.
We acknowledge that there is growing unease and concern across Britain about institutionalised racism in the police force, and the even uglier reality of individual officers showing blatant disregard and even hatred for people of colour. The ever growing numbers of deaths in Police custody, (from many communities in Britain), concerns us all regardless of colour, race or ethnicity. We demand openness; transparency and we believe police cooperation should be at the very heart of investigations into deaths in custody. The Government must act on what it says are its own principles of equality for all and make sure that justice is seen to be done.
We were also very concerned to discover that only recently, it was uncovered that a number of police officers serving in the West Midlands Police force are alleged to be active BNP members. Such a disclosure does little to convince us and the wider community, that deliberate harm to people in police custody may be a myth. As many of us have seen from the ‘Secret Policeman’ documentary shown on (British) national television in October 2003; officers are graduating from Police training with outrageous racist attitudes fully intact.
I urge you to do just a little research into this case. Think of yourselves having a problem with a member of your family where you had to call the police, would you expect to end up with a dead brother, sister, mother, or father? Think about it and then do what you can. Check out our website and join our mailing list for updates on Mikey’s and other cases. This is about all of us; please don’t wait until it happens to your family.
No Justice, No Peace.
Benjamin Zephaniah
