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{{Short description|
{{for|the Scottish footballer|Bernie Grant (footballer)}}
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|caption = Grant's funeral
|office = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] <br> for [[Tottenham (UK Parliament constituency)|Tottenham]]
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'''Bernard Alexander Montgomery Grant''' (17 February 1944 – 8 April 2000) was a
== Biography ==
=== Early years and education ===
Bernie Grant was born in [[Georgetown, Guyana|Georgetown]], [[British Guiana]], to schoolteacher parents, who in 1963 took up the UK Government's offer to people from the crown colonies to settle in the
=== Political career ===
In the mid-1960s, he was, for a period, a member of the [[Socialist Labour League]], led by [[Gerry Healy]]. This later became known as the [[Workers Revolutionary Party (UK)|Workers Revolutionary Party]]. He quickly became a [[trade union]] official, and moved into politics, becoming a Labour councillor in the [[London Borough of Haringey]] in 1978.
When the [[Second Thatcher ministry|Conservative government]] introduced "rate capping", Grant led the [[rate-capping rebellion]] in the borough in 1984.<ref name=BBC2000 /> This created division in the local [[Constituency Labour Party]], but through this split, Grant became the Borough of Haringey leader in 1985.
Grant was associated with the [[Socialist Campaign Group]], and spoke out against police racism.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://tribunemag.co.uk/2021/06/the-radical-legacy-of-bernie-grant|title=The Radical Legacy of Bernie Grant|first=Emmanuel|last=Onapa|magazine=[[Tribune (magazine)|Tribune]]|date=11 June 2021|access-date=7 February 2023}}</ref>
As council leader during the 1985 [[Broadwater Farm riot]], in which policeman [[Death of Keith Blakelock|PC Keith Blakelock]] was murdered, Grant was brought to national attention when he gave a speech outside Tottenham Town Hall, saying "The police were to blame for what happened on Sunday night and what they got was a bloody good hiding."<ref name="Oxford">{{cite book |title=The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations |date=1999 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-860173-9 |page=348 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Oxford_Dictionary_of_Quotations/o6rFno1ffQoC |access-date=23 October 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Almanac"/><ref name="Weekly Worker">{{cite news |url=http://www.cpgb.org.uk/home/weekly-worker/331/changing-man?searched=bernie+grant&advsearch=allwords&highlight=ajaxSearch_highlight+ajaxSearch_highlight1+ajaxSearch_highlight2 |first=Dean|last= Woodward |title=Changing man: Bernie Grant February 17 1944 – April 8 2000 |work=[[Weekly Worker]] |publisher=[[Communist Party of Great Britain (Provisional Central Committee)|Communist Party of Great Britain (PCC)]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130423203414/http://www.cpgb.org.uk/home/weekly-worker/331/changing-man?searched=bernie+grant&advsearch=allwords&highlight=ajaxSearch_highlight+ajaxSearch_highlight1+ajaxSearch_highlight2 |date=13 April 2000 |archive-date=23 April 2013 }}</ref> His comments brought swift denunciation from the Labour Party leadership, and the then Conservative [[Home Secretary]], [[Douglas Hurd]], called him "the high priest of conflict"; several British newspapers also dubbed him "Barmy Bernie". He claimed that he was merely explaining to a wider audience what the feeling on the estate was like. Grant claimed his words had been taken out of context, but offered an apology to the family of PC Blakelock.{{cn}} There is conflicting information over whether Grant condemned the violence of the rioters the following day.<ref name="The Guardian">{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2000/apr/09/uk.politicalnews1 | work=The Guardian | location=London | title=Farewell to a firebrand | first=Sarah | last=Ryle | date=9 April 2000 | access-date=26 April 2010}}</ref><ref name=BBC2000>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/706403.stm |title=Bernie Grant: A controversial figure |work=[[BBC News Online]] |date=8 April 2000 |access-date=8 April 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.berniegrantarchive.org.uk/gallery/1980.asp |title=Bernie Grant Archive |publisher=Bernie Grant Trust |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090107035254/http://www.berniegrantarchive.org.uk/gallery/1980.asp |archive-date=7 January 2009 }}</ref> To some, Grant was an extremist, yet he supported the prosecution of 45 people subsequently charged with riot and affray.<ref name="Cashmore">{{cite book |last=Cashmore |first=Ellis |title=Dictionary of Race and Ethnic Relations |date=1996 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-15167-2 |page=326 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Dictionary_of_Race_and_Ethnic_Relations/dMR259jZoF0C |access-date=23 October 2022 |language=en}}</ref>▼
▲As council leader during the 1985 [[Broadwater Farm riot]], in which policeman [[Death of Keith Blakelock|PC Keith Blakelock]] was murdered, Grant was brought to national attention when he gave a speech outside Tottenham Town Hall, in which he was widely misquoted as saying "The police were to blame for what happened on Sunday night and what they got was a bloody good hiding
The controversy did not prevent him from being elected as MP for Tottenham at the [[1987 United Kingdom general election|1987 general election]], one of the UK's first [[Black British people|Black British]] MPs, all of them members of the [[Labour Party Black Sections]] movement, being elected at the same time as [[Diane Abbott]] and [[Paul Boateng]], as well as Britain's first [[British Asian]] MP since the 1920s, [[Keith Vaz]]. Grant later stood for the [[deputy Leader of the Labour Party (UK)|deputy leadership of the Labour Party]], but was unsuccessful.▼
▲The controversy did not prevent him from being elected as MP for Tottenham at the [[1987 United Kingdom general election|1987 general election]], one of the UK's first [[Black British people|Black British]] MPs since the Liberal [[Peter McLagan]] in the 19th century, all of them members of the [[Labour Party Black Sections]] movement, being elected at the same time as [[Diane Abbott]] and [[Paul Boateng]], as well as Britain's first [[British Asian]] MP since the 1920s, [[Keith Vaz]]. Grant later stood for the [[deputy Leader of the Labour Party (UK)|deputy leadership of the Labour Party]], but was unsuccessful.
In 1989, he established and chaired the Parliamentary Black Caucus, modelled after the [[Congressional Black Caucus]] of the United States. The organisation was committed to advancing the opportunities of Britain's ethnic minority communities.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/04/03/world/british-mp-s-form-caucus-to-advance-rights-of-minorities.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |title=British M.P.'s Form Caucus to Advance Rights of Minorities |first=Sheila |last=Rule |date=3 April 1989 }}</ref>
=== African Reparations Movement ===
In 1993, Grant co-founded and chaired the [[African Reparations Movement]] (ARM UK) to campaign for the movement for [[reparations for slavery]] and racism. ARM UK was formed following the [[Reparations for slavery#Abuja Proclamation and ARM (1993)|1993 Abuja Proclamation]] declared at the First Pan-African Conference on Reparations, in [[Abuja, Nigeria]], convened by the [[Organisation of African Unity]] (OAU) and the Nigerian government. On 10 May 1993 Grant tabled a motion in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] that the House welcomed the proclamation and "calls upon the international community to recognise that the unprecedented moral debt owed to African people has yet to be paid, and urges all those countries who were enriched by enslavement and colonisation to review the case for reparations to be paid to Africa and to Africans in the Diaspora; acknowledges the continuing painful economic and personal consequences of the exploitation of Africa and Africans in the Diaspora and the racism it has generated; and supports the OAU as it intensifies its efforts to pursue the cause of reparations." The motion was sponsored by Grant, [[Tony Benn]], [[Tony Banks, Baron Stratford|Tony Banks]], [[John Austin-Walker]], [[Harry Barnes (Labour politician)|Harry Barnes]], and [[Gerry Bermingham]]; an additional 46 Labour Party MPs signed to support the motion, including [[Jeremy Corbyn]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=10 May 1993|title=ABUJA PROCLAMATION - Early Day Motions|url=https://edm.parliament.uk/early-day-motion/5521/abuja-proclamation|access-date=2020-07-09|website=edm.parliament.uk|publisher=UK Parliament}}</ref> ARM UK, in a "Birmingham Declaration" of 1 January 1994,<ref>Quoted in [https://stopthemaangamizi.com/tag/1st-august/page/2/ "Why We March on 1st August"], stopthemaangamizi.com.</ref> called upon:
{{Quote|text=all people of Afrikan origin in the Caribbean, Afrika, Europe, the Americas and elsewhere to support the movement for reparations and join forces with a view to forming a strong united front capable of exposing, confronting and overcoming the psychological, economic and cultural harm inflicted upon us by peoples of European origin.|author=|title=|source=}}
Grant's approach to reparations included demands for the return of looted African cultural heritage (such as the [[Benin Bronzes]]) and that the British government should financially support those who wanted to return to their country of origin.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1993-10-07|title=Grant isolated over repatriation: Parties distance themselves from black MP's comments|first= Will |last=Bennett|author2=Colin Brown|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/grant-isolated-over-repatriation-parties-distance-themselves-from-black-mps-comments-will-bennett-1509086.html|access-date=2020-07-10|newspaper=[[The Independent]]|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Keough|first=Leyla|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TMZMAgAAQBAJ&q=bernie+grant+&pg=RA2-PA36|title=Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience|date=2005|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-517055-9|editor-last=Appiah|editor-first=Kwame Anthony|author-link=Kwame Anthony Appiah|language=en|chapter=Bernie Grant|editor-last2=Gates|editor-first2=Henry Louis}}</ref>
=== Personal life and death ===
Grant
==Legacy==
Grant's widow, Sharon, was on the shortlist to succeed him as the official Labour candidate for Tottenham, but was beaten by the 27-year-old [[David Lammy]], who won the [[2000 Tottenham by-election|by-election]] in June 2000.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.davidlammy.co.uk/da/13246 |first=David|last= Lammy |title=A Tribute to Bernie Grant |publisher=Davidlammy.co.uk |date=10 October 2000 |access-date=27 July 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822004614/http://www.davidlammy.co.uk/da/13246 |archive-date=22 August 2016 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>
[[File:Bernie Grant Blue Plaque on the old Tottenham Town Hall.jpg|thumb|alt=Blue plaque reading: "Bernie Grant 1944–2000 Trade Unionist, Council Leader, Member of Parliament and People's Champion held legendary surgeries here 1987–2000". Inscribed around the border is: "Nubian Jak Community Trust / Haringey Council / Unison / Lee Valley Estates"|Blue plaque dedicated to Grant at Tottenham Old Town Hall]]
In September 2007, in Tottenham, [[Haringey Council]] opened the [[Bernie Grant Arts Centre]] in his name.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.berniegrantcentre.co.uk/index.php?pid=8 |title=About Bernie |publisher=Bernie Grants Arts Centre |date=21 September 2015 |access-date=27 July 2016}}</ref> On Sunday, 28 October 2012, a blue plaque, organised by the [[Nubian Jak Community Trust]], was unveiled at [[Tottenham Town Hall|Tottenham Old Town Hall]] in tribute to Grant.<ref>{{cite web|first=Bruce|last= Thain |url=http://www.haringeyindependent.co.uk/news/10013603.Hundreds_turn_out_for_Bernie_Grant_plaque_unveiling/ |title=Hundreds turn out for Bernie Grant plaque unveiling |website=Haringey Independent |date=29 October 2012 |access-date=27 July 2016}}</ref> On 5 December 2017, a portrait of Grant was unveiled in Parliament.
In March 2019, the Labour Party launched the Bernie Grant Leadership programme, which was created to train and equip BAME Labour members.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Bernie Grant Leadership Programme|url=https://labour.org.uk/members/take-part/bernie-grant-leadership-programme/|website=The Labour Party|access-date=2020-05-08}}</ref> [[Dawn Butler]] wrote on the launch that "This national programme is about empowering more Black, Asian, minority ethnic members to take on leadership positions in the Labour Party, develop skills and join a network of talented members and community activists across the country
▲In September 2007, in Tottenham, [[Haringey Council]] opened the [[Bernie Grant Arts Centre]] in his name.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.berniegrantcentre.co.uk/index.php?pid=8 |title=About Bernie |publisher=Bernie Grants Arts Centre |date=21 September 2015 |access-date=27 July 2016}}</ref> On Sunday, 28 October 2012, a blue plaque, organised by the [[Nubian Jak Community Trust]], was unveiled at [[Tottenham Town Hall|Tottenham Old Town Hall]] in tribute to Grant.<ref>{{cite web|first=Bruce|last= Thain |url=http://www.haringeyindependent.co.uk/news/10013603.Hundreds_turn_out_for_Bernie_Grant_plaque_unveiling/ |title=Hundreds turn out for Bernie Grant plaque unveiling |website=Haringey Independent |date=29 October 2012 |access-date=27 July 2016}}</ref> On 5 December 2017, a portrait of Grant was unveiled in Parliament. The portrait was commissioned by the Speaker's Advisory Committee on Works of Art. Drawn in 180 hours using pencil and charcoal by hyper-realist artist Kelvin Okafor, the portrait joined the Parliamentary Art Collection.{{fact|date=October 2021}}
▲In March 2019, the Labour Party launched the Bernie Grant Leadership programme, which was created to train and equip BAME Labour members.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Bernie Grant Leadership Programme|url=https://labour.org.uk/members/take-part/bernie-grant-leadership-programme/|website=The Labour Party|access-date=2020-05-08}}</ref> [[Dawn Butler]] wrote on the launch that "This national programme is about empowering more Black, Asian, minority ethnic members to take on leadership positions in the Labour Party, develop skills and join a network of talented members and community activists across the country," saying that Grant "campaigned tirelessly for the elimination of racism both in Britain and across the world.... He was a champion of his community, a dedicated constituency MP and has encouraged a generation of BAME leaders."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Butler |first1=Dawn |title=Why Labour is launching the Bernie Grant Leadership programme |url=https://labourlist.org/2019/03/why-labour-is-launching-the-bernie-grant-leadership-programme/ |website=LabourList |access-date=7 May 2020 |date=28 March 2019}}</ref>
Grant's archive is held at the [[Bishopsgate Institute]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://berniegrantarchive.org.uk/ |title=The Bernie Grant Archive |access-date=27 July 2021}}</ref>
==References==
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[[Category:2000 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of Heriot-Watt University]]
[[Category:Alumni of
[[Category:Black British activists]]
[[Category:Black British MPs]]
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