Rest in Peace & Power, Mavis Best, who passed away on November 14 at the age of 83. “Best was instrumental in overturning the infamous “sus law”, one of the worst manifestations of British racism in modern history. The law was the Vagrancy Act of 1824, drafted to exert social control over homeless people after the Napoleonic wars. Section 4 gave police the right to apprehend people suspected (hence “sus”) of “intent to commit an arrestable offense.” “As a result of a confected mugging scare in the early 1970s, police began to apply the law disproportionately & almost arbitrarily towards young Black people, especially in London. Under sus justifications, Black youths as young as 12 were routinely arrested for activities as innocuous as waiting for a bus or looking in a shop window. In many cases, these youths – predominantly male – were taken off the street and physically assaulted, either in the back of a police van or at the local station. Often they would be detained for days, without their families’ knowledge.” “And often they would be wrongly accused of a crime such as theft or conspiracy, in which case it became their word against the police’s. More than 90% of convictions in sus cases were on the strength of police testimony alone. When Black youths were taken into custody, Best & other local women took it upon themselves to get them back. “I used to go down to the police station & say: ‘Come on. I demand that you let these kids out. I want to take them home,’” Best once told an interviewer. “Because by then their parents were so debilitated by the whole thing that they couldn’t do anything.” “Under Best’s leadership, the Scrap Sus campaign also issued leaflets, ran stalls at public events & drummed up support from the local press and other community members. They would scan the newspapers daily & demand corrections to stories misrepresenting the Black community. She would organize & attend demonstrations, often being dragged away by the police herself.” Text: The Guardian. Thank you to Ms. Stella Dadzie for sharing an article about the radical activism of Ms. Best with our executive director, @drjaimeeswift. #blackwomenradicals #mavisbest