Society
Urban life - Darcus Howe pays tribute to an unsung heroine
Published 27 March 2006
Miss Annette was fearless at a time when cowardice paralysed efforts for change
Hundreds gathered to mourn the death of Annette Liburd, an unsung heroine who spent her life challenging the racism that scarred the lives of those who joined the procession from the tiny Caribbean island states to settle at the heart of industrial production in Leeds.
I met Annette in the 1970s. Word had reached us at the Race Today collective in London that storm clouds were gathering at the Earl Cowper Middle School in Chapeltown. Parents were angry that the headmaster had made racist remarks, and were concerned about the miseducation of their kids. Despatched to the scene, I witnessed a full-blown school strike led by Caribbean migrants. It was swift in execution - and victorious, too.
Annette Francis (as she was then), a trained teacher, sparkled. She was fearless at a time when cowardice tended to paralyse community efforts for change. "This is not our country and we can't change anything" was the mantra of the day. Annette's attitude was the opposite, encapsulated in the slogan "Here to stay - here to fight".
She was a terrific public speaker, stylish and uncompromising about her African and Caribbean heritage. She was founder of Uhuru Arts and the Afro Brotherhood, both of which aimed to politicise the black community on its cultural inheritance. Young men and women addressed her affectionately as "Miss Annette".
I stayed at her home many times in the course of my campaigning work. We would talk into the still of the morning, with me attempting to dispel her instinctive mistrust of whites who offered their support. "Yes, Annette," I would say, "but we cannot proceed alone; we need alliances."
I wept when I heard of her passing. The state-sponsored workers of the race relations industry dare not speak Annette's name. They have undermined everything she stood for, scorning independent community campaigning and replacing it with nothing but howls of displeasure at the way we have chosen to live our lives.
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