14 SEPTEMBER
LONDON’S LORD MAYOR BANS EMPLOYMENT OF BLACK APPRENTICES
[ 14 September 1731 ]
On 14 September 1731, the Lord Mayor of London, banned the employment of black apprentices, with a proclamation declaring that
‘It is Ordered by this Court, That for the future no Negroes or other Blacks be suffered to be bound Apprentices at any of the Companies of this City to any Freeman thereof; and that Copies of this Order be Printed and sent to the Masters and Wardens of the several Companies of this City, who are required to see the same at all times hereafter duly observed.’1
The legal notification was hastily published after John Satie, born into slavery in Barbados, was able to apply successfully to become a Freeman of London. He had been brought to England many years earlier as a child and had become apprenticed to a London joiner in 1718, before finally earning his entitlement to become a Freeman in September 1731. The Aldermen of the City of London reluctantly recognised the legal strength of his case, but were determined that no such rights be conceded to London’s black population in the future.2
MI5 INDIFFERENT TO MURDER INCITEMENT AT LONDON NAZI HQ
[ 14 September 1933 ]
Today in 1933, the Daily Herald carried a front page headline reporting ‘Murder Incitement in London Nazi Club.’ The newspaper reported how a notice at London’s Nazi Party headquarters had displayed the photographs of thirty three prominent anti-Nazi German exiles, deemed ‘outlaws,’ with the instructions ‘if you meet one of these men kill him. And if he is a Jew then break every bone in his body.’3
REFUGEE DEPORTED BACK TO AFGHANISTAN EXECUTED BY THE TALIBAN
[ 14 September 2018 ]
On 14 September 2018, reports from Afghanistan confirmed that a 47 year old Afghan father of four, who had previously fled to Britain 16 years earlier, had been ‘shot dead by the Taliban.’ His murder followed his deportation back to the country. This had been carried out despite threats to his life. The Taliban posted a photo of his bullet ridden body on Facebook. Zainadin Fazlie had been granted indefinite leave to remain in 2015, but had been subsequently found guilty of a minor crime for which he had been given an eight week suspended sentence and, due to a recent change in the law, he was unable to appeal a decision to deport him. His wife, Samira, claimed his criminal behaviour had been a result of his poor mental health and she described how she had ‘begged’ the judge and the British government not to send him back, as it would be a death sentence. A Home Office spokesperson, when asked about the killing, merely responded that ‘we do not routinely comment on individual cases.’4
FOOTNOTES
- Cited in Peter Fryer, Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain, Pluto Press, London 2010 pp. 74-74.
- Andrew Lyall, Granville Sharp’s Cases on Slavery, Bloomsbury and Hart Publishing, Oxford and Portland, Oregon, 2017.
- ‘Murder Incitement in London Nazi Club,’ The Daily Herald, 14 September 1933, p. 1 accessed online in the British Newspaper Archive on 26 November 2018.
- May Bulman, ‘Afghan father who sort refuge in UK ‘shot dead by Taliban’ after being deported by Home Office,’ The Independent, 15 September 2018 accessed online at https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/zainadin-fazlie-deport-home-office-taliban-afghanistan-shot-dead-refugee-a8536736.html Also Ceren Sagir, ‘Father “shot dead by Taliban” after being deported,’ The Morning Star, 15-16 September 2018, p. 4 and ‘Meet Mr. and Mrs. Fazlie,’ The Worldwide Tribe, 19 September 2018, accessed online at url https://theworldwidetribe.com/mr-and-mrs-fazlie/
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