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Larry Fedja

Tippa Naphtali speaks – A Legacy for Mikey Powell

Mikey Powell remembrance bannersource: 4WardEverUK
published: 6 September 2018

Mikey’s cousin and prominent activist and social justice campaigner, Tippa Naphtali, has written the following moving article to commemorate the 15th anniversary of Mikey’s 2003 death in custody.

It was a lazy Sunday morning of 7th September 2003 when I received the devastating news from my sister that my cousin, Michael Lloyd Powell (known as Mikey), had died during a violent restraint by West Midlands police officers. This news was to mark the start of a 15-year journey that would have a significant impact on my life to this day.

Mikey was a hard-working and loving father of three boys, and was well-known and respected in the local community. He was experiencing a severe psychotic episode when police officers were called by my distraught aunt, Clarissa Powell.

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Larry Fedja

Event: Memorial event held 25 years after Joy Gardner’s killing

Joy Gardner Campaign
Joy Gardner Campaign – United We Stand

source: World Socialist Website
originally published: 3 August 2018

A well-attended memorial event, “Justice Denied—The Life and Times of Joy Gardner,” marked 25 years since the 1993 murder of Jamaican mother Joy Gardner by the British government’s Alien Deportation Squad (ADG).

Held in North London’s West Indian Cultural Centre, the event included a showing of Ken Fero’s documentary Justice Denied about Joy’s murder. The memorial was held by the United Families and Friends (UFF) campaign, set up in 1998 to expose deaths in police custody and prison.

The main speaker was Joy’s mother, Myrna Simpson, who is also interviewed extensively in the film. Justice Denied can be viewed on Vimeo here.

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Tippa Naphtali

Mental health triage scheme recognised internationally

Benjamin Zephaniah for 4WardEverUK & CI Sean Russell – The One Show 2014

source: West Midlands Police
published: 14 April 2018

A specialist emergency response unit which offers immediate assessments to suspected mental health sufferers in the West Midlands has been recognised internationally – after counterparts from Australia visited the region to learn about best practice.

The Mental Health Triage scheme sees West Midlands Police officers joined by psychiatric nurses and paramedics to attend calls from people who are believed to be suffering from mental ill health.

The successful police and NHS partnership means patients get on-the-spot assessments at their home or on the street and can be taken to safe health facilities for the support they need rather than held in police custody.

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