︎︎︎ THE POLICE INVESTIGATION OF THE NEW CROSS MASSACRE FAILED.
On the night of January 18th 1981, partygoers gathered at the Ruddock family house. The party was to celebrate the 16th birthday of Yvonne Ruddock and her friend, Angela Jackson. At around 5:40am on the morning of the 19th of January, a fire raged through the house, ultimately claiming the lives of 14 people.
This project presents an open-source reconstruction of the events that unfolded on that night and following morning. The information used comes from unsealed documents from the George Padmore Institute, the Black Cultural Archives, the National Archives, and open-source planning applications and satellite imagery. The efforts of the New Cross Massacre Action Committee (NCMAC), a coalition of Black organisations, richly informed this investigation.
Our research has been organised into five key questions. Through these questions we hope to expose how racism within different institutions such as media, the police, and the coroner’s office contributed to the inconclusive results around the New Cross Fire. By looking at a specific case with this set of questions, we can lay bare the racism that remains within those institutions.
This project presents an open-source reconstruction of the events that unfolded on that night and following morning. The information used comes from unsealed documents from the George Padmore Institute, the Black Cultural Archives, the National Archives, and open-source planning applications and satellite imagery. The efforts of the New Cross Massacre Action Committee (NCMAC), a coalition of Black organisations, richly informed this investigation.
Our research has been organised into five key questions. Through these questions we hope to expose how racism within different institutions such as media, the police, and the coroner’s office contributed to the inconclusive results around the New Cross Fire. By looking at a specific case with this set of questions, we can lay bare the racism that remains within those institutions.