A national day to celebrate the contribution of the Windrush generation will take place every year, the government announced last month.
This follows the recent scandal in which the Home Office was accused of wrongfully detaining, deporting or denying NHS care to members of the Windrush generation and their descendants who are unable to prove they are legally in the UK. Windrush Day will be on 22 June, the date in 1948 when the Port of Tilbury welcomed 492 people from the Caribbean who travelled from Jamaica aboard the Empire Windrush.
“The announcement of a national Windrush Day is a moment of great satisfaction,” says Arthur Torrington, the director of the Windrush Foundation. “It will cement in the national consciousness the important contribution of those who travelled from the Caribbean to Britain 70 years ago to build a better life and participate in making Britain a stronger nation. For years to come, Windrush Day will bring people together to celebrate this vital part of our shared history and heritage.”
But there are those who feel that more still needs to be done to support those affected by the Windrush scandal.
“This scandal relates to how sections of society have been talking about immigration,” wrote Labour MP Dianne Abbott recently in the Morning Star newspaper. “More accurately, it relates to how too many politicians, too many newspapers and too many commentators have been talking about immigration. The narrative that underlay the Windrush scandal was an increasingly negative view of migration and it was because of the rise and rise of the ‘hostile environment’.”
Cultural organisations are among those who have acted to pick up the pieces after the details of the Windrush deportation scandal emerged. They have also tried to promote a more positive view of immigration.
“Our situation is probably quite unique,” says Paul Reid, the director of the BCA. “We are borne out of community struggle with a strong self-help tradition. An organisation like this, when the issues become apparent, gets pulled into such discussions, and people come to us for advice, support and so on.”
Sophie Henderson, the director of the Migration Museum, says museums such as the one she runs could provide a sense that the “Windrush story is our story, in our national DNA and should be part of our collective memory”.
She adds: “It is essential that people who live here feel that they belong, and a cultural institution that shows that stories such as Windrush are an integral part of the national story can help to educate people about this history.
This follows the recent scandal in which the Home Office was accused of wrongfully detaining, deporting or denying NHS care to members of the Windrush generation and their descendants who are unable to prove they are legally in the UK. Windrush Day will be on 22 June, the date in 1948 when the Port of Tilbury welcomed 492 people from the Caribbean who travelled from Jamaica aboard the Empire Windrush.
“The announcement of a national Windrush Day is a moment of great satisfaction,” says Arthur Torrington, the director of the Windrush Foundation. “It will cement in the national consciousness the important contribution of those who travelled from the Caribbean to Britain 70 years ago to build a better life and participate in making Britain a stronger nation. For years to come, Windrush Day will bring people together to celebrate this vital part of our shared history and heritage.”
But there are those who feel that more still needs to be done to support those affected by the Windrush scandal.
“This scandal relates to how sections of society have been talking about immigration,” wrote Labour MP Dianne Abbott recently in the Morning Star newspaper. “More accurately, it relates to how too many politicians, too many newspapers and too many commentators have been talking about immigration. The narrative that underlay the Windrush scandal was an increasingly negative view of migration and it was because of the rise and rise of the ‘hostile environment’.”
Cultural organisations are among those who have acted to pick up the pieces after the details of the Windrush deportation scandal emerged. They have also tried to promote a more positive view of immigration.
London’s Black Cultural Archives (BCA) ran meetings and legal surgeries in April and May this year for people affected by the scandal.
Sophie Henderson, the director of the Migration Museum, says museums such as the one she runs could provide a sense that the “Windrush story is our story, in our national DNA and should be part of our collective memory”.
She adds: “It is essential that people who live here feel that they belong, and a cultural institution that shows that stories such as Windrush are an integral part of the national story can help to educate people about this history.
“The scandalous treatment of the Windrush generation is an example of what can happen – and might happen to other groups too – when stories such as these are not a valued part of our collective memory.”