IT IS SAD TO ANNOUNCE THAT OUR BELOVED BROTHER LESTER LEWIS PASSED AWAY DECEMBER 2007. MAY THE ALMIGHTY I AND THE ANCESTORS GUIDE HIS SPIRIT THROUGH THE ETERNAL LIGHT AND LOVE. THIS WEBSITE WAS MADE FOLLOWING HIS WISHES OF PUBLISHING THE WORKS OF THE HACKNEY BLACK PEOPLES ASSOCIATION ON THE NET AND ARTICLES AND PICTURES OF INTEREST FOR THE BLACK COMMUNITY IN THE FIGHT AGAINST RACISM AND DISCRIMINATION. I WILL LEAVE THIS WEBSITE ONLINE FOR A WHILE AS A TRIBUTE TO HIS WORKS AND LIFE. IT WAS A GREAT HONOUR TO WORK WITH SUCH A REVOLUTIONARY SPIRIT. ETERNAL LOVE. REST IN PEACE DEAR LESTER LEWIS. Sister Lily Mihirete Amlak(Your sister in mind and spirit)
Copyright © 2004
NUBIART EDITORIAL: It was with great sadness that we learned of the passing of our elder and mentor Prince Ntum ba Azah / Lester Lewis in the country of his birth, St Vincent. He was the founder of Hackney Black Peoples Association, and a legendary Pan African activist, organiser and writer. He spent a period as a local councillor in Hackney with special responsibility for education and was a Race Equality Officer in Reading where many of his family still live. He was instrumental in the establishment of ‘Black History Month’ in the UK and in getting the Labour party activists Bernie Grant, Paul Boateng and Diane Abbott elected to the UK parliament in 1987. Lester was a source of knowledge and inspiration to Africans in London and internationally, for over 3 decades, and was at the forefront of a number of community-based and international campaigns, including the New Cross Fire Campaign, the Colin Roach Campaign, the Lift The Ban on Farrakhan Campaign; the campaign to reclaim African land in Zimbabwe and the Caribbean banana campaign. The HBPA was a first point of contact for Afrikans visiting London and was used for many commemoration, wedding and church services. We at Nubiart / Afrikan Quest are personally indebted to him for the practical help and advice he has given us. He provided us with documents and books and introduced us to several contacts that were willing to be interviewed in-depth for our radio programmes due to his recommendation. As well as inviting us to many meetings on a range of topics including Afrikans in Central America, Zimbabwe, Christianity, Yoruba cosmology and Kamitian morality and history he gave us the use of the HBPA premises for the launch of the Afrikan Scientist of Truth’s books – ‘Afrikan Science for the Massive’ and ‘No Sympathy!’. We also used the premises for the auditions and rehearsals of the Afrikan Quest video-drama ‘The Bird Family’ and to put on two dances. He will be greatly missed by us as someone you could go to for advice, contacts and also dispute resolution among Afrikan activists. May he rest in peace with the ancestors and our condolences go out to all his friends and family.
Website designed by Sister Lily Mihirete Amlak
