Leighton Rhett Radford "Darcus" Howe (26 February 1943 – 1 April 2017)[1][2] was a British broadcaster, writer[3] and racial justice campaigner.

They were all acquitted of the most serious charges and the trial became the first judicial acknowledgement of behaviour (the repeated raids) motivated by racial hatred, rather than legitimate crime control, within the Metropolitan Police.

[8][9] His television work also included White Tribe (2000), a look at modern Britain and its loss of "Englishness"; Slave Nation (2001); Who You Callin' a Nigger?

[4] At the age of 18, after leaving QRC, Howe moved to England,[15] arriving on the SS Antilles at Southampton[16] on 11 April 1961, after a two-week journey, and taking a train on to London Waterloo station.

In 1969, he returned to Trinidad,[18] where his uncle and mentor, radical intellectual C. L. R. James, inspired him to combine writing with political activism.

A brief spell as assistant editor on the Vanguard, weekly newspaper of the Oilfields Workers' Trade Union, was followed by a return to Britain.

[23] He and four of his co-defendants were acquitted of all charges after a 55-day trial in 1971 at the Old Bailey, which included an unsuccessful demand by Howe for an all-black jury,[24] and fighting in the dock when some of the defendants tried to punch the prison officers.

[28] In 1977, Howe was sentenced to three months' imprisonment for assault, after a racially motivated altercation at a London Underground Station, but was released upon appeal after protests over his arrest.

[35] Howe appeared on the discussion programme Midweek (on BBC Radio 4) to promote the documentary on 19 October 2005 and, live on air, became involved in an angry debate with American comedian Joan Rivers.

(Paul Yule, 2006) was a reflection on his life and a search for his West Indian identity in the face of strident calls for assertions of Britishness by the political elite.

Instead of a legitimate interview, Morris hurled a volley of degrading insults at him, before quickly apologising and claiming to have mistakenly read out the introduction to Robert Elms.

[50] On 20 April, his funeral service was held at All Saints Notting Hill Church, following the cortege's procession through Brixton, with wreath-laying at the Railton Road building where the Race Today collective was formerly based.

[57][58] Actor Malachi Kirby portrays Howe in the Mangrove episode of Steve McQueen's 2020 film anthology/television miniseries Small Axe.

[59] Linton Kwesi Johnson wrote about Darcus Howe in the song “Man Free” on his 1978 debut album Dread Beat an' Blood.

[30][60] In March 2023, a special memorial edition of Race Today dedicated to Howe was published, linked to what would have been his 80th birthday and coinciding with the launch of the magazine's on-line archive at an event organised by the Darcus Howe Legacy Collective,[61] hosted at Goldsmiths, University of London,[62] at which journalist and broadcaster Gary Younge was the keynote speaker.