This short film has been censored for classroom use, but it still contains strong language as well as some violent and upsetting scenes. Teacher review is recommended prior to use in class.
Duwayne Brooks: (Reconstruction):
Is that 122? That's a bus, you know, is that 122?
Stephen Lawrence (Reconstruction):
I don't even know what number that is.
Duwayne Brooks:
If straight ahead of me is 12 o'clock, where Steven's standing, then at 10 o'clock I remember this group of white boys shouting [BLEEP] and I just saw this guy strike down a blow which, I thought it was a weapon.
Duwayne Brooks (Reconstruction):
Go. Come on man. Come on Ste man. I'm telling you they're coming back, come on.
Duwayne Brooks:
He wasn't running properly, he was running lop sided.
Duwayne Brooks (Reconstruction):
Come on with me.
Duwayne Brooks (Reconstruction):
Oh.
Duwayne Brooks (Reconstruction):
Come on with me. No Ste man. Come on please, I'llpick you up. Come one Stephen, come on then, come on. No.
Duwayne Brooks:
The ambulance comes, they turn him over and pick him up, he is completely soaked in his own blood.
Male Ambulance Technician (Reconstruction):
Yeah. If you could just stay out of the way please, thank you.
TITLE SEQUENCE
Female News Reporter - Unseen (Reconstruction):
An 18 year old boy has been stabbed to death. Stephen Lawrence was killed as he waited for a bus with a friend in south.
Duwayne Brooks:
I spent the whole night in Police Station. I was consistently questioned about the [BLEEP]. What was that? Are you sure that wasn't a nickname? You sure you didn't hear more? They found it extremely difficult to accept that the word [BLEEP] was used and in my opinion they were doing their best to take away the racist element.
Male News Reporter - Unseen (Reconstruction):
Stephen Lawrence died, stabbed at a bus stop in Eltham. His father has called for.
Barry Nugent:
So many were rumours were flashing about, you know. Somebody called somebody a black name and a fight happened, who knows? I never heard nothing. I just a heard a shout or a scream. We're not racist in Eltham. Okay things happened but there's places in London that white girls aren't allowed.
Jamie Nugent:
There was, like, racist people round there who would start trouble for no reason. Obviously there was names flying about and everyone seemed to think it was the same people. I don't need to be blurting out people's names on here. But you know what I mean, never know what's gonna come from that.
Female, brown hair (Reconstruction):
Listen, I live on the estate right and there's some kid there who reckons that he seen some boys washing their clothes and cleaning up a knife.
Matthew Bickley:
The neighbourhood got involved instantly.
Female, brown hair (Reconstruction):
A lot of the people on the estate know who they are.
Matthew Bickley:
They'd done other acts of violence. I think they were kind of terrorising the community.
Female PC (Reconstruction):
What's your name?
Female, brown hair (Reconstruction):
Listen love, I'm really, you know what I mean, it's not. I can't tell you that, I can't tell you.
Stuart Lawrence:
The names, they were passed on to the police and questions could have been asked that weren't asked. Procedures could have been followed that weren't followed. My parents were made to feel that it wasn't important.
BBC News Reporter (Archive): :
Stephen is regarded as the fourth young victim of racial murder here in the past two years.
Male, blue pattered top with yellow collar (Archive):
We have talk and we have talk and I'm saying the talking is over, now is time for action. We have to take our. We have to deal with it ourselves. I mean we're saying.
BBC News Reporter (Archive):
What does action mean though, what kind of action?
Male, blue pattered top with yellow collar:
Action means by any means necessary.
BBC News Reporter (Archive):
The senior policeman who funs this area was telling me today that the advice he'd give you lot is to think seriously about joining the Police Force, he hasn't got enough.
[LAUGHS]
BBC News Reporter (Archive):
Do you have a good relationship with the police?
Male - Unseen (Archive):
No.
BBC News Reporter (Archive):
No.
Male, green top with grey hood (Archive):
They pick you up for nothing.
Lee Jasper:
When you were black and you were a victim of crime and you called the police, the tendency was that the police somehow would start to investigate you and everybody understood it, everybody knew it.
Male Reporter - Unseen (Archive):Last year a Home Office report confirmed that words like [BLEEP] were part of police culture. They were used it's said as a sign of group solidarity.
Male, holding newspaper in front of face (Archive):Believe me we've got nothing against the older police when they're not causing no trouble whatsoever, it's those little young silly CID men.
Clive Driscoll:
I do remember an incident where a female officer said to a lady who was pregnant with a Jamaican father, how do you feel about having a monkey inside of you. So I'm not going to sit here and say to you that she was sacked, but I'm not going to say to you everything was right.
Ben Bowling:
Between 1965 and 2000 the police were exempt from the Race Relations Act. The police had impunity to discriminate in the use of their powers.
BBC Panorama Interviewer (Archive):
If a police officer calls a black man [BLEEP], shouldn't he be dismissed?
Male, receding hair, grey at the sides, white shirt. (Archive):
No, why should a, no indeed not. It. Like everything else, why should he be dismissed for calling a [BLEEP]?
BBC Panorama Interviewer (Archive):
Because it's a term of abuse.
Male, receding hair, grey at the sides, white shirt. (Archive):
That's a matter of opinion.
Stuart Lawrence:
Institutional racism is the collective failure of an institution to provide a professional service to people due to their race and ethnicity.
Male - BBC Radio Reporter:
The Home Secretary has ordered a fresh enquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence. The new enquiry into the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence will make a further attempt to find out the truth.
Stuart Lawrence:
So it was in 98, we had the public enquiry into what had happened which was led by the Judge Macpherson.
Reeta Chakribati:
The Stephen Lawrence case couldn't be seen in isolation. You had a context of a much wider, general, suspicion from the black community towards the police.
Male, purple top, cross and chain around neck (Archive):
Please excuse us, we have enough of a problem.
Reeta Chakribati:
It became in a sense totemic of all that suspicion and mistrust and downright hostility that there was from the black community toward the police and many would say vice versa.
Sir Paul Condon:
The atmosphere within the enquiry was of a criminal trial with the police officers being the accused.
Male Voice - Inquiry Week 1:
The first of the identified issues, this is principally concerned with first aid given or not given at the scene. Did you have a first aid kit in the police car?
Female - Police officer, Inquiry Week 1:
To the best of my knowledge, yes.
Male Voice - Inquiry Week 1:
Was it taken out of the car that night?
Female - Police officer, Inquiry Week 1:
No.
Male, bald head, glasses. (Reconstruction):
It is fair to say, is it not, that no one, while you were there, tried to identify the wound?
Female - Police officer, Inquiry Week 1 (Reconstruction):
Not that I saw.
Male, bald head, glasses. (Reconstruction):
No police officer?
Female - Police officer, Inquiry Week 1 (Reconstruction):
Not that I saw, no.
Male, grey hair, glasses (Reconstruction):
You appreciated the seriousness of the stab wounds and you radioed the hospital, is that right?
Male - Police officer, InquiryWeek 1 (Reconstruction):
That is when I realised he'd been stabbed, yes.
Doreen Lawrence (Reconstruction):
We don't know if they could have saved him. By the mere fact that they didn't even try, they did nothing to help him, then you begin to think, what sort of people are they?
Female Reporter - News Archive:
Today, Inspector Stephen Groves, the man in charge of the initial enquiries arrived to give evidence to the public enquiry.
Unseen male voice from Colour of Justice:
When you sent to the scene Mr Groves: you did not treat this as a murder enquiry, did you?
Mr Groves:
I thought that what we were dealing with here was possibly a fight.
Unseen male voice from Colour of Justice:
A fight. This is one of your assumptions because it was a black victim, was it not?
Mr Groves:
No sir. You're accusing me of being a racist now and that's not true.
Duwayne Brooks:
I don't think they believed, well they didn't believe that we were just two black boys waiting to get on a bus.
Female voice - Unseen (Reconstruction):
They just ran out and attacked you.
Duwayne Brooks: (Reconstruction):
That's what I'm trying to tell you.
Female voice - Unseen (Reconstruction):
Why would they do that Duwayne?
Bill Mellish:
I think the officer on the night formed, wrongly, the opinion, this was a drug-related murder. And I think on that basis and perhaps one or two other examples branded the whole of the Metropolitan Police as racist. It's utter rubbish.
Unseen male voice 1:
During the course of Saturday the 24th, the investigating team received sufficient information to justify making arrests, had you not?
Unseen male voice 2:
We had sufficient information to give reasonable grounds, yes sir.
Unseen male voice 1:
Photographs, bin bags, removing clothing. By Monday the 26th you had plenty of evidence to effect an arrest, did you not?
Unseen male voice 2:
Yes.
Michael Mansfield:
The police in the first investigation, they had information within 24 hours, not only written information, but spoken information, about who was responsible, it was not developed and it allowed for the destruction of evidence and all the rest of it. As with everything British it's all, a little just below the radar and a nudge here and a nudge there, nothing said too expressly but actually there is this, you know, racism that does not speak it's name.
Imran Khan:
And that really is what racism is all about, it's not the animosity of a single individual, it's what's behind that individual. It's the system, the institution, society.
Doreen Lawrence:
And I always say that no child is born a racist, no child is born a racist.
Sir Paul Condon (Archive):
And the police service didn't kill Stephen. It was these racist despicable thugs who killed Stephen.
Bill Mellish:
Police were pilloried from beginning to end, day after day, after day, but we worked just as bloody hard for them as we for everybody else so it was doubly disappointing: For the first enquiry and for my lot, that we were unable to prove that.
Male, glasses, speaking from Parliament (Archive):
On the critical issue, institutional racism consists of the collective failure of an organisation.
Stuart Lawrence:
After Macpherson report it was clear that the police was being systemically racist towards us in the way that we were being treated.
Matthew Bickley:
Stephen's come to represent a wound that needs to be healed in our society. Racism exists on every side of the argument. I sit in a very unique position to see both sides and to have experienced it from both sides of, you know, I'm an outsider from both communities in many respects. I'm accepted in both communities. It's not a simple issue.
Video summary
This short film examines the effect institutional racism had on the investigation into the murder of Stephen Lawrence.
It shows how Stephen’s murder provoked an extensive inquiry into institutional racism within the police force, ultimately leading to a public inquiry that revealed the true extent of prejudice and corruption.
The night of Stephen's murder is described along with the experiences and emotions of his parents on finding out about their son's death.
This short film could be drawn on as part of the annual national Stephen Lawrence Day on 22 April. For more information visit the Stephen Lawrence Day website.
Please note that this short film has been censored for classroom use, but it still contains strong language as well as some violent and upsetting scenes. Teacher review is recommended prior to use in class.
Teacher Notes
Possible areas of enquiry:
The enquiry questions below can be used as a single lesson within a larger scheme of learning or big enquiry questions to inform a unit of work. In which case, this short film can be used as a stimulus to support any of these areas.
- Is justice always blind?
- Does racism still exist?
- How can institutional racism be tackled?
Before watching the film
This short film is suitable for students aged 14-18, however it would also be helpful for students to gain some background knowledge on the murder of Stephen Lawrence prior to showing the film in class.
During the lesson - Before watching the film
To begin, ask your students to become familiar with some of the key vocabulary that is used in the film or recap if they have already learnt these terms, such as understanding the difference between racism and institutional racism and the role and function of public inquiries.
To follow you can begin to ask the question of how can words have power?
Provide students time to think and feedback, and then begin to probe as to what words mean and how they might make individuals feel.
Then, in order to get students thinking and understanding some of the underlying issues raised in the film, ask them to note the different roles and responsibility of the police. This will help gauge how the police failed in their investigation.
While watching the film - Activity
It might be worthwhile to provide an activity sheet with a range of questions around the film so that students are able to pick up on some of the key points raised.
Task - students watch (00.00 - 01.31) and answer the following:
- Why was Stephen Lawrence killed? What tells you this is the main reason for his death?
- How did the police initially respond and were they fulfilling their role and responsibility?
Continue watching the film - (01.32 - 04.59)
Task - students watch (01.32 - 04.59) and answer the following:
- How did the community respond to the police investigation?
- What were some of the challenges community members faced?
- Why were many people frustrated with the police?
- How did black individuals in the community feel about the police and why?
Task:In a talking points activity that will get students thinking and understanding some of the underlining issues raised in this section of the film, have them discuss the questions below.
NB: This can be done in small groups or pairs for around 10 minutes. Provide students with a guideline on expectations for the discussion beforehand and appoint a chairperson if it is in groups, who will help facilitate the discussion in their small groups.
Talking points questions:
- Why might minority groups be reluctant to join the police?
- How might the police improve their relationship with the community?
- Why might representations of different minorities in institutions matter?
- Is the use of the ‘N’ word a form of abuse? And should you be fired if you use it?
- To what extent might a diverse police force help tackle institutional racism?
Continue watching the film to the end - (04.59 – 09.54).
While watching this section of the film, it might be a good idea to ask your students to note down the key failings from the police as identified in the inquiry.
After watching the film - Activity
Reflection task:
After watching this short film, allow time for review and feedback, as well as time for students to consider the impact and effects of racism, whether it still exists in society today and how it can manifest in our everyday lives.
This might allow students to consider ways of challenging racism. This can also link to the taking action and investigation part of the citizenship specification.
One way this can be achieved is to ask students to reflect on ways to tackle racism within a local context, plan how people can be more informed about the impact racism has on individuals and the community and ways to build mutual respect and tolerance.
Outcomes might include - creating a short speech, presentation, campaign or combination that provides clear steps to tackling racism and institutional racism.
Alternatively, this short film also lends itself to extended writing. See below for possible areas of exploration.
‘Better representation of minority groups is the only way to end institutional racism within the police’ how far do you agree?
In your answer consider:
- The role of the police and community relations.
- Ways to improve mutual respect and tolerance in society.
‘To build community cohesion, every individual must be respected and treated fairly’ how far do you agree?
In your answer consider:
- The challenges and benefits of living in diverse communities.
- Ways to build more cohesive communities.
This short film explores the impact of racism within society and supports understanding around GCSE citizenship concepts linking to living in the UK.
Particular topics whereby this short film will benefit students are: Identity, Diversity, Community Cohesion, Law and Justice.
This short film provides an honest look at police failings around the investigation of Stephen Lawrence and identifies the institutional racism that plagued the progress of the case and the impact this had on the wider community.
This is a powerful film that provides an opportunity for students to discuss and deliberate on multiple concepts and across multiple disciplines, such as, the multiculturalism unit within A-level politics and the study of crime within sociology.
By using the Stephen Lawrence case as a focus case study, it can allow for further investigation by students, linking to the citizenship action and investigation portion of the course specification.
This resource allows for greater synoptic links, as it intersects a range of topics/themes in ten minutes.
As such, this can be used to teach and introduce new concepts such as law and justice and identity, or as a revision tool to elicit students ability to link concepts across themes enhancing their synoptic skills.
Diversity and identity. video
A look at attitudes towards identity, diversity and immigration in British society before the murder of Stephen Lawrence.
Democracy and justice. video
A look at the public inquiry into the failures of the original murder investigation and the subsequent changes in the law that meant suspects could be retried.
