Though the story may not have made headlines in American outlets, European and international media covered the story extensively.
Brian Kelley, for the Associated Press:
A civil rights group is urging U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to follow through on promises made to thousands of people of Caribbean descent who were wrongly targeted as illegal migrants in the so-called Windrush scandal.
The Black Equity Organisation submitted a petition signed by more than 50,000 people that criticized the “painfully slow” response by the government and the decision by Home Secretary Suella Braverman to scrap several recommendations for immigration agency improvements that her predecessor accepted.
“We urge your government to stick to the promises made — there is still an opportunity to show that you and your ministers are serious about righting past wrongs,” a letter to Sunak said. “To do anything less sends a clear message that the suffering of the Windrush generation was in vain and the hostile environment still exists.”
The group is named for the Empire Windrush, the ship that brought the first 500 Caribbean migrants to British shores in 1948 to help rebuild after World War II. Tens of thousands of migrants from the region who arrived legally in the U.K. until 1973 later found themselves facing a government crackdown on illegal immigrants.
Scores lost jobs, homes and the right to free medical care because they didn’t have the paperwork to prove their status. Some were detained and others deported.
And from Agence France Presse:
Britain’s government Thursday faced legal action by campaigners over its refusal to accept key recommendations by an inquiry into the “Windrush” scandal, which affected thousands of black post-war immigrants.
Interior minister Suella Braverman, a virulent critic of “woke” politics, in January refused to accept all of the changes previously promised by the Conservative government.
The group Black Equity Organisation, created last year to campaign for the civil rights of black Britons, said it was seeking a judicial review of the home secretary’s decision.
“The Home Office must be opened up to independent scrutiny and forced to honour the promises made in its name,” the group’s chief executive Wanda Wyporska said in a statement.
“Windrush survivors have been through enough and this latest twist in a shameful story adds insult to injury,” she said.
To learn more about the Black Equity Organisation, read their manifesto here, and take a look at this introductory video.
From the video’s notes:
BEO is a new independent, national Black civil rights organisation created to dismantle systemic racism in Britain, drive generational change and deliver better lived experiences for Black people across the country
Josh Leighton’s story for Metro.co.uk describes some of the current issues facing the “forgotten victims.”
Glenda Caesar, one of those who found their citizenship rights suddenly removed, is now an advocate for others affected. ‘A lot of the people I represent are traumatised and the waiting process is still traumatising them,’ she said. ‘There are still many people going through this, they are on the phone to me all the time.
‘Some are coming out of the woodwork because they didn’t know there were people like me and different organisations to represent them.
‘They have been frightened to come forward because they didn’t know who to go through or how to apply.’
The campaigner told Metro.co.uk she has a caseload of up to 40 people, including an 83-year-old woman living in Essex.
‘Her story is heartbreaking,’ Ms Caesar said.
‘The lady is blind and she had to get her priest to try and put in a compensation claim.
‘She’s an ex-nurse but has been refused an attendance allowance which will mean she has no quality of life, so I am trying to help her.
‘Some of those coming out of the woodwork can’t read or can’t write, some are elderly or some got into trouble when they were young and didn’t want to reveal themselves at first because of the threat of deportation until the law changed.
Member of Parliament MP Bellavia Janet Ribeiro-Addy spoke of the need for “an independent compensation scheme,” citing the failures of the Tory government.
RELATED STORY: Racism in Great Britain: ‘Windrush generation’ got a day, but pain and suffering hasn’t gone away
As noted above, early April also marks the anniversary of the 1981 Brixton Uprisings, as noted by history site Past Tense UK’s 2018 retelling of that tumultuous series of events in U.K history.
“Between 6.10pm on Friday, 10th April, 1981, and 11.34pm, on Monday April 13th April 1981, during a very warm early spring interlude, serious disorder occurred in the immediate area of Brixton, SW9, within the greater London Borough of Lambeth, when large numbers of persons, predominantly black youths, attacked police, police vehicles (many of which were totally destroyed), attacked the Fire Brigade and damaged appliances, damaged private premises and vehicles, destroyed private premises and vehicles by fire, looted, ransacked and damaged shops…” (Metropolitan Police Report on April 1981 Brixton Riot)
“All you fucking cunts, it’ll be your turn next, the whites will turn on you, come on you cunt, take a swing at me man to man.” (White policeman to black passers-by, Villa Road, Brixton, 11th April 1981.)
After more than a decade of repeated attacks, arrests, harassment, and racist provocations by the local police and the paramilitary riot squad, the Special Patrol Group, in April 1981, Brixton erupted in a massive uprising.
The riot – followed by more in July, part of a nationwide wave of disorder – shocked the British state. Though labelled ‘race riots’ by the press, in fact blacks and whites fought side by side, in the first anti-police riots for more than a century. The riot was a prelude to widespread uprisings in communities across Britain that took place in July.
In just under four minutes, the BBC covers the history.
More about the Brixton Uprising, including interviews with people who were there, can be found at The Black Cultural Archive.
Also in the U.K. last week, The Guardian reporters David Conn, Aamna Mohdin, and Maya Wolfe-Robinson covered an April 6 Palace statement on the Crown’s historical involvement in the transatlantic slave trade, which the writers describe as a “signal” of King Charles’ “first explicit support for research into monarchy’s slavery ties.”
King Charles has for the first time signalled his support for research into the British monarchy’s historical links with transatlantic slavery, after the emergence of a document showing a predecessor’s stake in a slave-trading company.
Buckingham Palace released the statement after it was contacted by the Guardian about the extensive history of successive British monarchs’ involvement and investment in the enslavement of African people.
The Guardian has published a previously unseen document showing the 1689 transfer of £1,000 of shares in the slave-trading Royal African Company to King William III, from Edward Colston, the company’s deputy governor.
Personally, I found myself agreeing with a Twitter response from attorney, activist, and author Dr. Shola Mos-Shogbamimu.
Quite simply, words from the new monarch (and U.K. government) have very little meaning, unless they’re backed up with meaningful actions and promises kept.
RELATED STORY: Caribbean Matters: Leaked Windrush report highlights U.K.’s long history of anti-Black racism
Join me in the comments for more, and for the weekly Caribbean News Roundup.
