Rudy Narayan
{{Short description|Guyanese lawyer and activist (1938–1998)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Rudy Narayan
| honorific_suffix =
| image =
| image_upright =
| landscape =
| alt =
| caption =
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| pronunciation =
| birth_name = Rahasya Rudra Narayan
| birth_date = 11 May 1938
| birth_place = Essequibo County, British Guiana
| baptised =
| disappeared_date =
| disappeared_place =
| disappeared_status =
| death_date = {{death date and age|1998|6|28|1938|5|11|df=y}}
| death_place = London, England
| death_cause =
| body_discovered =
| resting_place =
| resting_place_coordinates =
| burial_place =
| burial_coordinates =
| monuments =
| nationality =
| other_names =
| siglum =
| citizenship =
| education =
| alma_mater = Lincoln's Inn
| occupation = Barrister
| years_active =
| era =
| employer =
| organization =
| agent =
| known_for = Civil rights activist
| notable_works =
| style =
| net_worth =
| height =
| television =
| title =
| term =
| predecessor =
| successor =
| party =
| movement =
| opponents =
| boards =
| criminal_charges =
| criminal_penalty =
| criminal_status =
| spouse =
| partner =
| children =
| parents =
| mother =
| father =
| relatives =
| family =
| callsign =
| awards =
| website =
| module =
| module2 =
| module3 =
| module4 =
| module5 =
| module6 =
| signature =
| signature_size =
| signature_alt =
| footnotes =
}}
Rahasya Rudra Narayan (11 May 1938 – 28 June 1998),[http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14222670 "Rahasya Rudra Narayan (Rudy Narayan), Barrister"], The National Archives. commonly known as Rudy Narayan, was a barrister and civil rights activist in Britain. He migrated to Britain in the 1950s from Guyana.
Narayan was a compelling, rigorous, and eloquent advocate who specialised in trials arising from conflicts between police and ethnic minority communities and enjoyed much success.{{Cite book |title=Reimaging Britain: 500 Years of Black and Asian History |last=Ramdin |first=Ron |publisher=Pluto Press |year=1999 |pages=294 |isbn=9780745316000 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eDRnAAAAMAAJ}} His trials included the Black Star Club, the Bristol Twelve, the murder of Donat Gomez, the Cricklewood Twelve, the Leeds Bonfire Eight, the Metro Four, the Newham Seven, the Scarman Inquiry and the Thornton Heath Sixteen. He defended some of the Black Panthers and defendants accused in the riots of Handsworth, Brixton, and Bristol in the 1980s.
Many of his cases revolved around police violence against the poor and vulnerable. He was considered to be a powerful speaker.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LeRSDwAAQBAJ&q=Rudy+Narayan&pg=PA191|title=Law and the Whirligig of Time|last=Sedley|first=Stephen|date=2018-05-17|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=9781509917105|language=en}} Michael Mansfield stated that Narayan "should have been the first black QC.http://search.ft.com/nonFtArticle?id=021130000313 {{Dead link|date=February 2022}} Narayan became aware that clients who asked for him were being told by their solicitors that he was not available. He protested and made public complaints against the racism that he saw in the legal establishment.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nZc9AAAAIAAJ&q=Rudy+narayan+public+complaints+against+the+%5B%5Bracism%5D%5D&pg=PA124|title=London Jewry and London Politics, 1889-1986|last=Alderman|first=Geoffrey|date=1989|publisher=CUP Archive|isbn=9780415022040|language=en}}
Early life and education
Rudy Narayan was born in Essequibo County, Guyana (then British Guiana), to Sase Narayan and his wife, Taijbertie. He was the ninth of his parents' ten children.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/book/law-and-the-whirligig-of-time/ch27-rudy-narayan|title=Bloomsbury Collections - Law and the Whirligig of Time|website=www.bloomsburycollections.com}}
He emigrated to Britain in 1953 and worked as a street cleaner, in a Brillo Soap Factory and in a Lyons Tea House, before joining the Royal Army Ordnance Corps. After seven years' service and promotion to the rank of sergeant, he left the British Army in 1965 and decided to become a barrister. He studied at Lincoln's Inn, where he was a founder and first president of the Bar Students' Union. He was called to the Bar in 1967 or later.{{cite news |title=Chapeltown News talk to Rudy Narayan|publisher=Chapeltown News Collective |date=August 1976}}
Career
He was a founder of the Afro-Asian and Caribbean Lawyers Association with Sibghat Kadri in 1969, and thereafter Ash Karim one of the trail blazers of the legal arena together they later renamed the Society of Black Lawyers.[http://www.blackletterlawpublication.com/profile/rudy-narayan "Rudy Narayan"] and fought several civil rights cases together at BLD. He set up the first voluntary legal advice centre in Brixton that led to the founding of the Lambeth Law Centre, was a part of the West Indian Standing Conference, and formed the South London West Indian Association. He was involved in establishing legal advice centres in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, London, and Manchester.{{cite web |title=Pulling together |url=https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/analysis/pulling-together/2308.article |work=Law Gazette|date=17 November 2007}}
After condemning solicitors, barristers, and judges in Birmingham as racist, he faced his first disciplinary hearing in 1974, accused of bringing the administration of justice into disrepute. He was reprimanded in 1980 for being discourteous to a judge, and then acquitted of professional misconduct in 1982, after claiming in a press statement that the Attorney General and the Director of Public Prosecutions were in "collusion with the National Front and fanning the flames of racial hatred" (although he was suspended for six weeks for other infractions). Nevertheless, complaints like his led to the creation of the Bar Council's race relations committee in 1984, and to an amendment to the Race Relations Act to prohibit race discrimination in the legal profession.
Narayan was elected as a Labour Party councillor to Lambeth London Borough Council in 1974, on which he served one term. He was selected as the Labour candidate for Birmingham Handsworth, but his selection was overturned when it was alleged that he made antisemitic remarks in one of his books. The selection was re-run, and Clare Short was selected in his place and won the successor seat of Birmingham Ladywood at the 1983 general election.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5JSJAgAAQBAJ&q=Clare+Short+Rudy+Narayan&pg=PA71|title=Race, Politics and Social Change|last1=Back|first1=Les|last2=Solomos|first2=John|date=2002-01-31|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781134885268|language=en}}
He was expelled from his chambers in 1984 after assaulting Sibghat Kadri, by then his head of chambers, at a conference.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LeRSDwAAQBAJ&q=Rudy+Narayan+expelled+from+his+chambers+in+1984+after+assaulting+Sibghat+Kadri%2C&pg=PA192|title=Law and the Whirligig of Time|last=Sedley|first=Stephen|date=2018-05-17|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=9781509917105|language=en}} Narayan tried to requalify as a solicitor but failed the Law Society exams. He returned to the Bar, but was disciplined for overbooking himself by accepting briefs for trials that were to run simultaneously, and was suspended for two years.[http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/council-inns-court-disciplinary-tribunal-council-inns-court-rudy-narayan-barrister-lincoln039s- "Council of the Inns of Court; Disciplinary Tribunal of the Council of the Inns of Court — Rudy Narayan, barrister of Lincoln's Inn"], The Law Society Gazette, 28 June 1989. He stood as a parliamentary candidate at the 1989 Vauxhall by-election, protesting that a white Labour Party candidate was standing in a largely black constituency, but he attracted only 177 votes and Labour's Kate Hoey was elected.
In 1991 he went back to Guyana, where he had hoped to set up a legal aid centre,Shaun Samaroo, [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2492&dat=19910514&id=_6VjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2iYMAAAAIBAJ&pg=593,560279&hl=en "Rudy Narayan wants to set up legal aid centre here"], Stabroek News, 14 May 1991, p. 11. but met little success and returned to Britain in 1994. After further disciplinary hearings, he was disbarred in 1994 for professional misconduct.[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/race-campaigner-narayan-dies-1168539.html "Race campaigner Narayan dies"], The Independent, 29 June 1998. He was accused of inciting violence after speaking outside Brixton police station in 1995, following the death of Wayne Douglas, a 25-year-old black man, in police custodyNick Cohen, [https://archive.org/details/cruelbritanniare0000cohe_o1k8/page/100 Cruel Britannia: Reports on the Sinister and the Preposterous], Verso, 2000, p. 100. (later shown to have died due to positional asphyxiation ).Peter Victor, Steve Boggan, James Cusick, [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/brixton-who-was-to-blame-1525741.html "Brixton: Who was to blame? Activists may face 'incitement' charge"], The Independent, 15 December 1995.
Narayan was a guest speaker at the 50th-anniversary celebrations of the NAACP's Legal Defence Fund in the U.S. The former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder paid tribute to Narayan at a conference organised by the Society of Black Lawyers in 1999 in London.
The BBC programme Black Britain aired after his death in 1998 noted that Rudy Narayan was known for his internationalism and distinctive oratorical style. It described Rudy Narayan as one of the most charismatic and controversial figures in both Britain's black communities and its legal history.
He published several works on legal themes: Black Community on Trial (1976), Black England (1977), Barrister for the Defence (1985), and When Judges Conspire (1989). He was the first chairman of Lambeth Law Centre. He also co-wrote an eight-part drama series, Black Silk, that was loosely based on his life in which he was played by Rudolph Walker. It was broadcast in 1985 on BBC television.[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0216454/ Black Silk (1985)], TV series, on IMDb.
Death and legacy
File:Rudy Narayan - 413 Brixton Road Brixton London SW9 7DG.jpg
He died aged 60 of liver cirrhosis at King's College Hospital[http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Outspoken+barrister+fought+for+black+rights%3B+OBITUARY.-a060776496 "Outspoken barrister fought for black rights" (obituary)], The Birmingham Post, 30 June 1998. in Lambeth, London, following a lengthy battle with alcoholism. He is survived by three daughters.
On the day of his funeral, the South London Press reported that "Brixton stood still to pay its respects." There were poetry readings in different venues in Brixton and the Mangrove Steel Band played outside St. Matthews Church where the funeral was held.
A plaque honouring Rudy Narayan was unveiled on 19 November 2010 at the site of the offices where he practiced law at 413A Brixton Road in Brixton, Lambeth, South London.[http://www.blacklawyer.org/?post=blue-heritage-plaque-for-sbl-co-founder "Remembering Rudy Narayan: Blue heritage plaque for SBL co-founder"], Society of Black Lawyers, 29 April 2011.[http://www.obv.org.uk/news-blogs/civil-rights-rudy-narayan-honoured "Civil rights: Rudy Narayan honoured"], Operation Black Vote, 15 November 2010. The plaque stated: "Rudy Narayan, 1938 – 1998, barrister, civil rights activist, community champion and 'voice for the voiceless', practised law here 1987 – 1994".[http://www.londonremembers.com/memorials/rudy-narayan "Plaque: Rudy Narayan"], London Remembers.
The Windrush Foundation held a public memorial for Rudy Narayan on 28 June 2018 as part of the Windrush 70 celebrations. There were tributes from Arthur Torrington of the Windrush Foundation, Yasmeen Narayan, Alex Pascall, Dennis Bovell, Keith Waithe, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Rudolph Walker, Peter Herbert and Marcia Willis Stewart.{{Cite web|url=http://love.lambeth.gov.uk/windrush/|title=Windrush70: A collection of events celebrating the Windrush generation {{!}} Love Lambeth|last=|website=love.lambeth.gov.uk|date=4 June 2018|language=en-GB|access-date=5 July 2018}} He was named a Windrush Champion by the Windrush Foundation in 2018.{{cite web |title=Remembering Rudy Narayan |url=https://windrushfoundation.com/news/remembering-rudy-narayan/ |publisher=Windrush Foundation |date=26 June 2018}}
Personal life
He married Naseem Akbar, a doctor, on 5 September 1969. They had two daughters – Sharmeen and Yasmeen – before divorcing. He then had a third daughter Sita. He married Saeeda Begum Shah on 26 March 1988, but they subsequently divorced.{{Cite book |title=Law and the Whirligig of Time |last=Sedley |first=Stephen |year=2018 |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=9781509917112 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RvWNDwAAQBAJ&dq=Saeeda+Begum+Shah+AND+%22Rudy+Narayan%22&pg=PT254}}
Bibliography
- {{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/3515444|title=Black community on trial|date=1976|publisher=Blackbird Books Ltd.|isbn=0901813028|location=London|oclc=3515444|language=en}}
- {{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/25275122|title=Black England|date=1977|publisher=Doscarla Publications|isbn=0950529605|location=London, England|oclc=25275122|language=en}}
- {{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/499442431|title=Black vs White: (Discrimination against immigrants).|date=1980|publisher=Kunj Publishing House|location=Delhi|oclc=499442431|language=en}}
- {{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/921030063|title=Passport to racism: a critique of the Conservative government's White Paper on British Nationality Law.|date=1980|publisher=New Life|location=London|oclc=921030063|language=en}}
- {{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/20428776|title=Barrister for the defence: trial by jury and how to survive it|date=1985|publisher=Justice Books|isbn=0950666424|location=London|oclc=20428776|language=en}}
- {{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/35738943|title=Blacks over England|date=1995|publisher=Justice Books|isbn=0951032410|location=London|oclc=35738943|language=en}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Narayan, Rudy}}
Category:20th-century British Army personnel
Category:20th-century English lawyers
Category:Councillors in the London Borough of Lambeth
Category:Deaths from cirrhosis
Category:English people of Indo-Guyanese descent
Category:Guyanese emigrants to the United Kingdom
Category:Labour Party (UK) councillors
Category:Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates