Rev Al Sharpton pays tribute to UK anti-racism campaigner Audrey Adams


Adams who died earlier this month after an illness became a respected campaigner following the racist murder of her son Rolan

8th March 2024
Written by: Lester Holloway

CIVIL RIGHTS icon Reverend Al Sharpton paid tribute to UK anti-racism activist Audrey Adams who died earlier this month aged 62 following an illness.

In a video address broadcast at the packed funeral on Wednesday (6 March), Rev Sharpton said Adams had “lived a life of dignity and integrity” following the racist murder of her son, Rolan Adams, in 1991.

Audrey Adams, a Black Panther activist in the 1970s, became an integral part of the anti-racist movement, helping to organise marches which led to the closure of the far right British National Party.

Around 450 people gathered at St Andrew’s United Reformed Church in Brockley, south-east London, as a white horse-drawn carriage carrying the coffin draped in a Jamaican flag arrived with a procession of mourners headed by two African drummers.

An overflow room streaming the service had to be used due to the number of people paying respects to a much-loved character who served in the campaign group The 1990 Trust before becoming a trustee of Operation Black Vote.

Rev Sharpton, who came to the UK in 1991 to support the Rolan Adams campaign for justice, said: “Many of us, all over the world, are proud to have known you.”

He added: “I’ve met, in my journey, many parents that stood up for their children. But the thing that struck me about Audrey and Richard [her husband] is their tenacity and durability. They never left the movement.

“And because of their persistence, Blacks in the UK are not safe [from racist attacks] but are better than we were in the early ‘90s, because of Audrey. It was a life well-lived. You touched all of us.”

The eulogy, delivered by leading Rastafari elder Ras Benji, told the story of how the shy, piano-playing child grew up to be a passionate campaigner for racial justice while also being a rock in her extended family.

She worked as a pensions clerk for London Transport and met her husband, Richard, at a Brixton street party.

In 1981, Audrey Adams took part in the New Cross Fire protest, as thousands demanded national attention be paid to the tragedy that claimed the lives of 13 children.

Ten years later, tragedy would strike her own family as a racist gang killed her son Rolan, then aged 15, in Thamesmead. Only one gang member stood trial, Mark Thornborrow, who was convicted.

Two years later, 18-year-old Stephen Lawrence was fatally stabbed by a racist gang in nearby Eltham.

Audrey Adams dedicated her life to campaigning for racial justice, and took part in three United Nations conferences looking at the state of inequality in Britain, two in Geneva, Switzerland, and one in Durban, South Africa.

She played a leading role in organising several visits of US civil rights leader Rev Jesse Jackson to Britain, and marches for racial justice across the country.

Her funeral was attended by many prominent figures, including Lee Jasper, Lord Simon Woolley, Marc Wadsworth, Rita Patel, David Weaver, Maxie Hayles, Rev Ivorlaw Bowman, Rob Neil and others.

Family members who took part in the service included her brother and sister Charles Richards and Jacqueline Gordon; her children Nathan, Lauren and Shanice; and many nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.

Her husband, Richard, told the mourners: “Audrey is the most rounded, complete woman I have ever met in my life. It is hard to reconcile her passing.”

Audrey Adams’ daughter Shanice added: “Several of my friends had my mum’s number and would call her from time to time as she was a safe maternal space for them to share.

“My mum’s life wasn’t easy; it was filled with trials and tribulations. Yet she achieved so many things in her life. As her sister recently said ‘Your mum achieved more than 200 men could collectively do in a lifetime.’”

Weaver said: “She was an indomitable spirit and has left a huge legacy. Many people run away from challenges; Audrey does not do that. Operation Black Vote will chronicle what she has done.”

Rev Bowman said: “Farewell to a saint. The ancestors will prepare to welcome our sister. Scripture tells us blessed are the dead that they may rest from their labours.

“Sister Audrey, you’ve done your best now the angels will do the rest. She leaves us to take her place in the citadel of the ancestors.”