Claudia Jones

THE Notting Hill Carnival was launched in direct reaction to the Notting Hill race riots that lasted for several weeks.

A mob of hundreds of white people began attacking West Indian restaurants in Bramley Road. Over two weeks, pitched battles occurred, with more than 140 people being arrested.

The riots are said to have been sparked after a white Swedish woman, Majbritt Morrison, was assaulted by a group who had seen her arguing with her Jamaican husband Raymond Morrison at the Latimer Road Underground station.

She was assaulted for being a “black man’s trophy” by a group of white boys who struck her with an iron bar, according to reports.

The Notting Hill Carnival

The riots caused tension with the Metropolitan police who were criticised for not taking the black community’s concerns seriously.

It was a direct reaction to these high tensions that Claudia Jones founded the Notting Hill Carnival in 1958.

The festival celebrated Caribbean culture and history, open to all who wanted to attend.

I imagine Claudia would have hoped that almost 70 years on the country would have moved on. But we have seen with the recent rioting across the country that nationalist and racist paranoia is still firmly entrenched in British society.

This carnival, let’s remember Claudia – the Trinidad and Tobago-born Communist and ardent anti-imperialist who dedicated her life to bettering the lives of the working classes.

This year’s event takes place on Sunday – which is the day of the children’s day parade – and Monday.