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LESTER LEWIS (Prince Ntum ba Azah) founder of the Hackney Black Peoples Association, Pan Afrikan activist, indefatigable organiser, historian and writer has joined the ancestors in the country of his Birth, St Vincent & the Grenadines. He was diagnosed with Cancer.
Lester was a councillor in Hackney Council with special responsibility for education. He was also a Race Equality Officer in Reading where members of his family still live. He was instrumental in the establishment of ‘Black History Month’ in the UK and in getting Afrikan Labour party activists late Bernie Grant, Paul Boateng (current UK Ambassador to South Afrika) and Diane Abbott elected to the UK parliament in 1987.
Lester Lewis was a source of knowledge and inspiration to Afrikans in the UK for over three decades. He was at the forefront of a number of community- based and international campaigns, including the New Cross Fire Campaign, Colin Roach Campaign, Lift The Ban on Farrakhan Campaign, Campaign to Reclaim Land in Zimbabwe & the Caribbean Banana Campaign.
Lester Lewis was also chair-person of Hackney Black People Association.
HBPA was a first point of contact for Afrikans visiting London and was used for Afrikan commemorations, weddings, church services, community activities and public meetings. It was renown for hosting national and international speakers. He was a tireless organiser and a believer in connecting the local to the global & vice versa. HBPA played host to various groups & personalities from all over the Continent and Diaspora.
Indeed he was equally well known amongst activists on both sides of the Atlantic. He was a mentor to the next generation of Pan Afrikan activists in the UK and was always available as a political and historical resource person.
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He was a writer, commentator & an extra-ordinary net-worker. He is survived by his siblings in St Vincent and his family in Reading, UK.
Members of his political family will celebrate his life as one who fulfilled his destiny as a fighter for Afrikan liberation.
May his soul rest in peace with the Creator.
Ase.
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