Don’t dash hopes of the Windrush pioneers
Ministers must show that Britain is the just nation migrants like me thought we were coming to
On 1 September 1960, aged 10, I arrived with three of my siblings to a cold and unwelcoming Britain after a 4,000-mile voyage from Trinidad. My parents had landed 18 months earlier with my two younger siblings and set up home. It seems amazing today that four small children were allowed to journey unaccompanied on a passenger ship.
I was so excited as we docked in Southampton. Even the rain didn’t dampen my spirits as I made my way down the gangplank in my pretty dress, my hair in neat ribbons. But my joy wasn’t to last, as I realised I was going to be treated as a colour and not as a person. At school we were bullied. Only the sanctuary of the one room all eight of us shared kept me going.
At school in Trinidad I had been taught all about Britain, about its heroes, poets and history. I was told the Queen loved me and that I was British. Every day we sang God Save
the Queen. I wasn’t taught anything about how my people came to be in the Caribbean, how for centuries Africans were transported there as enslaved people. I didn’t know all this. Going to Britain was the equivalent of going to Disneyland.
My father had decided to seek work here, following in the footsteps of the 1948 Windrush pioneers, who had answered the call to come to Britain to help rebuild the country after the war. However the welcome they received was not what they expected. To quote one pioneer: “We could not get on a bus and go back home.”
They came with hope and optimism in their hearts, with a sense of duty to the Motherland. They were treated abominably in many ways, which was partly due to the lack of information from the government explaining why Caribbean people were coming to the UK. The most poignant memory many new arrivals have as they searched for accommodation were signs saying: “No coloureds, no Irish and no dogs.”
Today many of those Windrush children find themselves in the almost unbelievable situation of being threatened with deportation unless they can prove their immigration status. Like many, I have been deeply concerned by the insensitivity the Home Office has shown towards these elderly, vulnerable people. This situation should never have arisen and I am mystified as to why it was allowed to reach crisis point before the Government finally started to take notice of the cacophony of outrage.
The word amnesty implies wrongdoing, but these people have done nothing wrong. On the contrary: they have worked hard to the benefit of our great nation, so there should be an automatic status approval for anyone who was a minor and arrived in Britain from the Caribbean before 1973. The Government must do all it can to put right the hurt caused to these dignified and proud people. The fear and anxiety is not only cruel, it is dangerous. Many of them will be suffering from medical conditions which will be aggravated by stress.
Yesterday in the House of Lords, I asked the minister what was being done and he explained the Government has set up a dedicated task force to help with their applications. But that still means they will have to provide evidence about their right to be here, so not much has changed. They still have to go through an unpleasant process. The Government says it will take a maximum of two weeks, but I doubt this is realistic. These are old people, they forget things, they don’t have the internet. Would you put your granny through this?
This 70th Windrush anniversary year was meant to be a time for celebration, but these distressing events undermine it. I have been organising a Windrush Garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower show, to highlight the contribution of the Windrush Generation. Birmingham City Council took up the challenge and is creating the most wonderful display. I hope that by the time the garden is open, this situation will have been resolved.
I had to face adversity when I came to Britain and yet this month I will be awarded the Freedom of the City of London, which to me demonstrates how far this country has moved on. I have always believed Britain is a great country where fairness and justice prevail. So hopefully this sorry episode will focus minds on the importance of upholding these principles.