The Daily Vox
, was gunned down by US police. Angelo Louw, who recently handed his grandfather’s archive over to the Trevor Huddleston Memorial Centre in Sophiatown, reflects on a time when communities worked with the police for protection, and weren’t terrorised by them.
By Angelo C Louw
I’ve always known my grandfather to be a hero, long before I knew who he really was to the community.
My cousins all attended school in Bosmont, and would always tell me how their teachers would threaten to call Sgt Louw (as he was affectionately known) whenever their classes got unruly. It always astounded me how much respect everyone around had for him, and that he seemed to be just as much a pillar to an entire community as he was to our family.
Sergeant Edward Louw was a police officer at the Sophiatown Police Station during the 1960s.
As the co-founder of South Africa’s first firearms association for Black people he helped combat gang violence.
To commemorate his contributions, his grandson, Angelo Louw, has donated his archive.
Award-winning activist and documentarian Angelo Louw has donated his grandfather s archive to the Trevor Huddleston Memorial Centre, to commemorate the notorious policeman s contribution to the history of Sophiatown.
Louw s grandfather, Sergeant Edward Louw, joined the police force at the Sophiatown Police Station to combat gang violence that erupted in the 1960s. Sgt Louw was also a co-founder of South Africa s first firearms association for Black people.