When the US civil rights activist Malcolm X witnessed the racism endured by British Asians during a visit to Smethwick in the West Midlands in 1965, nine days before his assassination, he said: “This is worse than America. This is worse than Harlem.”
The short time he spent in Marshall Street, where a group of white residents were attempting to prevent black and Asian families from buying houses, and at a racially segregated pub, where he was refused service, drew international attention to the West Midlands town that the year before had elected the Conservative MP Peter Griffiths after he used the slogan: “If you want a nigger for a neighbour, vote Liberal or Labour.”
