Mangrove: Police brutality & seasoned representation
By: Harish Sundar
Tags: Police Brutality, South Asian, Mangrove, West Indian, Immigrants

“These stories are timeless,” says Steve McQueen in a featurette speaking on his five-part anthology film series, each of which tells a different story about the lives of West Indian immigrants to the United Kingdom amidst the tumultuous, racially-charged atmosphere of the time. The series is titled Small Axe(BBC One), alluding to the Bob Marley song of the same name(“…if you are the big tree, We are the small axe..”). Mangrove, the first of these films, portrays the true story of the Mangrove Nine, a group of black activists who were tried for inciting a riot at a protest against the police, in 1970. The film shows how Frank Crichlow(Shaun Parkes), a Caribbean small business owner, seeks to establish the Mangrove restaurant as a cultural hub for the West Indian population of London, aiming to satisfy the community palette with authentic spicy cuisine. Unbeknownst to him, the restaurant outstrips its role as a hub for immigrants and serves as a focal point of resistance against the racism faced by the Black population of London, a racism all too familiar to Frank, as it is his very restaurant that faces the constant barrage of unsubstantiated police raids, a reflection of the racism inherent in the police system.

Des Willie/Amazon

The film does an excellent job in bringing to light several of the nuances of Civil Rights struggles that are often underrepresented, if not completely discarded, from the general historical record. Letitia Wright was cast as Altheia Jones-LeCointe, a Trinidadian physician and research scientist also known for her role as a leader of the British Black Panther Movement in the 60s and 70s. The first time Wright had even heard of the Mangrove Nine was when she was approached for the film, she says in an interview with the New York Times.

“it’s not in the textbooks at school. The stronghold of Black History Month [October] in the U.K. is American history … You have mostly — and I honor and respect them always — Martin Luther King and Malcolm X on the posters, but you don’t have the Altheias.”

McQueen’s historical narrative continues to portray details that aren’t as amplified in modern discourse on race relations in the UK. Mangrove satiates audiences with representation not only for West-Indian, but also South Asian viewers. In a frame adorned with brown-skinned men sporting turbans, Altheia is seen organizing with a group of Sikh trade unionists. The scene remarkably displays Altheia’s passion for justice, and how it is reciprocated by a group that has also borne the brunt of oppression and inequality.

“If colonialism is good for anything, it brought us together on this table.”

In 1971 the UK passed a new immigration act which added to the previous acts in 1962 and 1968 to further restrict immigration to the UK. This photo depicts young people with the Indian Workers Association marching in London against the 1971 Immigration Act. The photo was taken on 21st March 1971

Mangrove serves not only as a resounding reminder of the past, but also offers a stark comparison to the awfully familiar present . McQueen’s rendition of these “timeless” stories establishes a perspective of history that is crucial to understanding how we got to where we are today, and provides a beacon of hope with which we may navigate current struggles and troubling times to come.