OY SMITH, 17-year-old West Indian Schoolboy, of Portnall Road, Paddington, is lying critically ill in London’s Whittington Hospital, fighting for his lite A victim of a cowardly attack by racialists, this young boy is being treated for suspected brain injuries. A member of the local Young Socialists in North Kensington, Roy was beaten up on Saturday evening, February 13th, when returning home from a YS dance in the local Barlby Road Schoo!. Roy and two of his friends were asked by three men to give them a light for their cigarette. Emerson Moore—another coloured boy — and a friend of Roy’s, said: “Before we could answer one of the men shouted: ‘lead’ and then I was struck with an iron bar.”’ Suddenly out of the shadows other groups of men appeared, one of them swinging a milk bottle which he threw at 18-year-old Arihur Rollins who was trying to help Roy. All the attackers were white, all were armed with either iron bars, milk bottles, axes or a pick. Roy fell to the floor, bleeding pro‘usely after being struck by one pick - wielding hooligan.
-coloured people.
Another coloured boy, 15-year-old Brian Hayes, was taken later to St. Charles Hospital with a suspected fracture of the left arm. Young Socialist members who were at the dance reported that during the evening cars were patrolling the area and the occupants asked people: “Has there been any trouble with the wogs.” On the Sunday, Dave Greenberg, an active Young Socialist in that district, received three anonymous telephone calls telling him: “You'll get what we gave the wogs.” That there is no doubt that this attack was organized and that local Fascist hoodlums were involved. This is the area where negro Kelso Cochrane was murdered on a hot June night in 1959 and was also the scene of violent race battles in the autumn of 1958. To this day the murderers of Cochrane have never been arrested. After eight days, Roy’s assailants are also still free. The attack is not just made against
Its aims would appear to be to stop coloured youth associating with Left wing organizations and to intimidate YS branches from joining up with coloured youth.
—Bob Pennington