Windrush: An Update
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the Windrush Scandal is STILL a scandal. It is a scandal that has destroyed families: impoverishing them, separating them, causing them both mental and physical distress. It is a scandal that has claimed lives. If you’re not sure what I’m talking about you can read my posts about the scandal here, here and here. Given that such an egregious scandal is still ongoing, you would think it would be dominating the national conversation but oh no. You would think that it would at least be a feature during a General Election campaign, but there was barely even a whisper. You would…
#GE2019: Anti-Semitism and the Erasure of Minority Voices
The General Election is this week. Despite the fact that there are plenty of candidates standing for other parties, the reality facing us is that the real competition is between Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party and the Conservatives, ‘led’ by Boris Johnson. This has been, in my opinion, one of the nastiest election campaigns in recent history, and as such I have actively tried to stay away from it as I knew where my vote was going the minute the election was called. But among the many, many aspects of this election campaign that have seriously disturbed me, there is one issue that has really done so more than others, and…
National Windrush Day has passed. Where do we go from here?
Saturday 22 June saw the arrival of the UK’s first official Windrush Day, a day commemorating the arrival of British citizens from the Caribbean on the Empire Windrush in 1948, and celebrating the immense contribution the Windrush generation has made to British society and economy for the last 70+ years. Windrush Day also brought with it the announcement of a memorial dedicated to the Windrush generation in Waterloo station, where many members of the Windrush generation first arrived in London. The announcement was met with a mixed reception, with members of the community questioning the choice of location, criticizing the lack of consultation and, quite rightly, wondering where was…
The Windrush Scandal Isn’t Over: CALL TO ACTION
Last year, the news of the Windrush scandal shot into mainstream political discourse and, rightfully, became a subject of national outrage. Members of the Windrush generation – Caribbean people and their children who were invited here as British citizens to help rebuild Britain and fill labour shortages after World War II – suddenly found themselves being deported, fired, losing access to their benefits or pensions, losing their homes, access to healthcare and even access to their bank accounts. Some, who had travelled abroad to see friends or family, found themselves unable to return to the UK, stranded in the countries they’d gone to visit. Why? Because Theresa May, our soon-to-be former Prime…
Windrush Scandal: Why the Personal is Political
Below is an adapted version of a sermon I delivered at St. Peter de Beauvoir Town Church in May 2018. I know that everyone will know what the Windrush scandal is and how it came into being as there has been a lot of coverage of it in the news, so I won’t go into any detail about its history. Instead, I will start off by reinforcing the reality of the situation for those affected by the scandal – the impact of this injustice should never be forgotten. Despite numerous promises, platitudes and assurances from various government officials, scores of West Indians are in limbo, either stranded in the…
