The film of the forgotten trial that changed Britain

Daniel Nelson

The trial of the Mangrove 9 is a key moment in Black British history, and of the push-back against institutional White British racism, yet it’s largely forgotten.

The magnificent Mangrove challenges that collective loss – or eradication – of memory.

The film is a courtroom drama, a social document, an inspiration.  It’s gripping, moving and intelligent.

Director Steve McQueen has captured the moment, the atmosphere, when a group of Black Londoners took on corrupt, racist Metropolitan Police and then the legal Establishment and won.

I could go on, but all I want to say is: See it.

The rest I’ll leave to an extract from the information that accompanies the release of the film:

“Mangrove tells the true story of Frank Crichlow, whose West Indian restaurant, Mangrove, a lively community hub in London’s Notting Hill, attracted locals, activists, intellectuals and artists. In a reign of blatant racial discrimination, Crichlow finds himself and his drug-free business the brunt of relentless police raids. In a bid to stop the discrimination and ruination of their community base, Frank and his friends take to the streets in peaceful protest in 1970, only to be met by police aggression. As a result, nine men and women, including Frank, leader of the British Black Panther Movement Altheia Jones-LeCointe, and activist Darcus Howe, are wrongly arrested and charged with incitement to riot and affray. A highly publicised trial ensues, leading to a hard-fought win.

… Crichlow opened the Mangrove in 1968 in Notting Hill’s All Saints Road, only the Notting Hill of 1968 was a very different one from the one portrayed in movies of recent years. Since World War II the area had largely degenerated with many slum landlords. Many immigrants including those who arrived from the West Indian islands from 1948 to 1971, known as the “Windrush generation,” sought cheap rent and community in the area. 

The Mangrove quickly became a sanctuary to the islanders. Frank himself was Trinidadian-born and simply wanted to run a good business. The cozy restaurant was dimly lit and served delicious West Indian fare such as stewed chicken with rice and peas to an eclectic mix of fellow migrants, intellectuals, activists and artists (Nina Simone, Vanessa Redgrave, Diana Ross and Jimi Hendrix are known to have frequented the café, as well as Bob Marley who played football nearby and would come to the Mangrove afterwards to eat).

The restaurant was much more than a late-night haunt for artists, it provided a home base for the Black community to support each other. It’s where people came for advice about housing and job applications, it was their anchor until the local Kensington and Chelsea Council removed Frank’s licence starting at 11pm, when much of his trade happened after midnight. Frank made a formal complaint of unlawful discrimination as the Council cited criminal patrons and activity such as prostitution as reasons for revoking the licence, but the police continued to turn up and raid the premises looking for drugs and causing havoc. The harassment became untenable. Frank was losing business, and the locals were losing the heart and soul of their community.

Frank Crichlow’s (Shaun Parkes) first resistance in this powerful story was resisting his leading role as a community activist. After all, he just wanted to run a great restaurant. Eventually, the Mangrove became a makeshift hub of community activism spread across three floors. Frank and his friends planned to protest on August 9th, 1970, but first they wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Edward Heath to explain how they were forced to protest “as all other methods have failed to bring about any change in the manner the police have chosen to deal with Black people.”

Executive producer Tracey Scoffield explains that, “One hundred and fifty marchers turned up and 300 policemen, which gives you some idea of what the police thought of the whole thing.”

… While varying accounts exist of how the initial altercation with police initiated, we know that bedlam ensued, and that numerous protestors and police were injured. In the aftermath, the police charged Frank and eight others, Altheia Jones-LeCointe, Darcus Howe, Barbara Bees, Rupert Boyce, Rhodan Gordon, Anthony Innis, Rothwell Kentish and Godfrey Millett. They became known as the Mangrove Nine.

One of the most surprising facts about the trial was the court in which the nine were tried, the Old Bailey, a high court reserved for treason and high-profile murder cases. Three of the nine defendants represented themselves so they could speak directly to the jury. But even then, the defendants used their right to question and dismiss potential jurors. They asked questions such as what the potential jurors understood by the term “black power.” Sixty-three were rejected. The final selection included two Black people.

Lawyer Ian MacDonald, was a formidable and profoundly inspirational figure in the establishment of anti-discrimination and anti-racist laws in the UK. It was his commitment to equality and race relations that led to his successful defence of the Mangrove Nine, some of whom attended his 80th birthday in 2019 and spoke of his eagerness to present their account of mistreatment and injustice. MacDonald passed away in November 2019. He was working on immigration cases at the time of his death.

The trial led to a historic ruling whereby the jury acquitted all of the nine of incitement to riot. Five were acquitted of all charges against them. The remaining four received suspended sentences for lesser offences, including affray and assaulting police officers.

Nonetheless, it was Judge Edward Clarke’s closing comments that cemented in stone the most significant hard-won triumph. He concluded, “What this trial has shown is that there is clearly evidence of racial hatred on both sides.” 

The Mangrove closed in 1992 and Frank Crichlow died in 2010.

Shaun Parks (Frank Crichlow) says, “Any story that is truthful at this time to do with the human condition is more important now than possibly it’s ever been. Or, it’s more important to get these stories out now than ever before, because I’m not altogether too sure that people see the truth as much as they used to even 30-40 years ago.”

Actor Letitia Wright says, “I think it’s really important that this story is being told today ... We are educated on the African American side, but many haven’t heard our side of things here in the UK. Mangrove is brilliant because we are able to educate the rest of the diaspora and the rest of the world about what was happening in the UK, much of which was hidden.”   

* Mangrove will be screened on BBC1 on 15 November.