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Linton Kwesi Johnson: Live performance of ā€˜Di Great Insohreckshanā€™

Poet and musician Linton Kwesi Johnson performs his poem ā€˜Di Great Insohreckshan inspired by the New Cross Fire that killed 13 young black people during a birthday party in a house in New Cross, southeast London on Sunday January 18, 1981.
In the immediate aftermath of the fire, a New Cross Massacre Action Committee (NCMAC) was set up and Linton Kwesi Johnson was one of the organisers of the "Black People's Day of Action" which on 2 March 1981, saw around 20,000 people march through London, carrying placards that bore statements including: "13 Dead, Nothing Saidā€.
At the time Kwesi Johnsonā€™s poems were criticised for helping to create a generation of rioters and illiterates. Linton Kwesi Johnson laughs and tells Zeinab Badawi: ā€œI felt rather flattered.ā€

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Duration:

2 minutes