womenwhokickass:

Doreen Lawrence: Why she kicks ass

• Activist, Writer, Mother
• Mother of Stephen Lawrence; a black teenager who was murdered in London (UK) at the age of 18 in a brutal racial attack in 1993
• Doreen cited the institutional racism of the Metropolitan Police in light of the treatment of her son’s case. She brought to light the unprofessionalism and incompetence shown by the police that were intrinsically linked to racist presumptions in relation to Stephen.
• In 1999, after years of campaigning, and garnering the support of many in the community, the media and politics, a wide-ranging judicial inquiry into the circumstances of Stephen’s death was established, rousing great interest in the Metropolitan Police’s attitude towards PoC. 
• She helped overturn double jeopardy law in the UK, allowing Stephen’s case to go to trial again and leading to the subsequent imprisonment of two of Stephen’s five attackers; David Norris and Gary Dobson.
• Doreen Lawrence continues to campaign for justice for her son as well as for other victims of racist crime. She has worked to secure further reforms of the police service.
• She also founded the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust, a charity of a multifarious nature and great community value that started out as means to help underpriveleged aspiring architects, as Stephen dreamt of becoming one himself. 
• She is a member of both the board and the council of a human rights organisation called Liberty, and is also  a patron of hate crime charity Stop Hate UK.
• Though Lawrence has recieved much praise and success for her charitable work and campaigning, she often stresses that she would give it all up to have her son back.

I remember this case—the police assumed the parents would be uneducated and docile and this heartbroken woman kicked their asses.

(via leonineantiheroine-deactivated2)