The New Cross Fire was a devastating house fire that killed 13 young black people during a birthday party in New Cross, southeast London, on Sunday, 18 January 1981. Some were shocked by what they perceived as the indifference of the white population, and accused the London Metropolitan Police of covering up the cause, which they suspected was an arson attack motivated by racism; the protests arising out of the fire led to a mobilisation of black political activity. Nobody has ever been charged in relation to the fire.
Read more about New Cross Fire: The Fire, The Aftermath, The Inquests, Commemoration
Famous quotes containing the words cross and/or fire:
“Life is a bridge. Cross over it, but build no house on it.”
—Indian proverb, quoted in Bruce Chatwin, The Songlines, ch. 30, “From the Notebooks” (1987)
“Their beauty sets them aside
from other men and from women
unless a woman has that cold fire in her
called poet....”
—Denise Levertov (b. 1923)