Brixton will tomorrow (21 December) be the scene of a funeral tribute to Pam Owolade and her life as an anti-racist activist, and much more.
Born in Croydon in 1936, she lived through Second World War bombing and went on to be a anti-racist activist and campaigner for council services in Lambeth.
She also worked as a teacher and, in Leicester, helped to organise unemployed workers and campaigned against nursery closures.
Her funeral tomorrow takes place at West Norwood Crematorium at 12.30pm and will be followed by a memorial gathering at Fitch Court, off Effra Road, from 2 to 4pm.
In a letter to the Guardian newspaper in 1999, she said: “As a white pensioner with black children and grandchildren, I have endured 35 years of racial prejudice.
“We have suffered not only racialist attacks (nothing upsets these thugs more than happy mixed-race families and multi-cultural areas), but both open and institutionalised racism in every area in our lives – police, courts, housing, social benefits, NHS, education, charities, employment and services.”
Pam Owolade was an active member of the Movement for Justice by Any Means Necessary.
Her son, Alex, figured in a notorious episode in the history of Lambeth council. In 2004 an employment tribunal ruled that he had been sacked unfairly by the council after exposing racism in its housing department. Despite the ruling and a £5,000 compensation payment, the council refused to give him his job back.
A public inquiry exposed racist bullying, victimisation, sexual harassment and other unprofessional conduct in the council.
Fitch Court, 59-63 Effra Road, SW2 1DD; Entrance on Masey Mews.
