Black and Asian war dead lost to ‘pervasive racism’
UK Government apologises for failing to properly commemorate Commonwealth soldiers, writes Hannah Rodger
THE UK Government has apologised for failing to properly commemorate Commonwealth soldiers who died fighting for the British Empire during the First World War.
A report by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) found “pervasive racism” had led to at least 116,000 casualties, mainly of African, Indian and Egyptian origin, not being “commemorated by name or possibly not commemorated at all”.
In the Commons yesterday, UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace expressed “deep regret” about what had happened, and said there was
“no doubt” prejudice had played a part in the failure to recognise all those who died.
The commission, which is tasked with commemorating those who died in the two world wars, has also apologised over its findings.
Labour MP David Lammy called it a “watershed moment” and said the fallen soldiers must no longer be “whitewashed” out of the history books.
The CWGC published a report on the issue following a documentary,
presented by Mr Lammy in 2019, highlighting the missing and disproportionate memorials for Commonwealth veterans, compared to their white counterparts.
Mr Wallace told MPS he has “regret” about what he learned of the First World War in his education and promised to “rectify” the matter for future students.
Mr Wallace said: “On behalf of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the Government both of the time and today, I want to apologise for the failures to live up to their founding principles all those years ago and express deep regret that it has taken so long to rectify the situation.
“While we can’t change the past, we can make amends and take action,” he said, adding that there were cases where the commission “deliberately overlooked evidence” that would have allowed it to find the names of the dead.
Mr Wallace explained that there were examples of officials employing an “overarching imperial ideology connected to racial and religious differences” in order to “divide the
dead and treat them unequally in ways that were impossible in Europe”.
Mr Lammy said the findings constituted “most definitely a watershed moment in the life of this country” and called on the Government to provide resources to help young people across the globe know more about the efforts of those from the Commonwealth.
He told MPS: “All of us in the Chamber, and it is still the case in this country, when we think of the First World War we think of the Western Front and we think of the poems of Wilfred Owen and The Battle of the Somme.
“We do not think of where the first bullets were fired in the First World War, which were in fact in the East African Campaign in Africa.”
He continued: “There is no higher service than to die for your country in war and it is the case that every single culture on the planet honours those who die in those circumstances.
“It is a great travesty and a stain and a shame that this country failed to do that for black and brown people across Africa, India and the Middle East.”
Mr Lammy added: “Can I just ask the Secretary of State … because I do think further resources will be necessary, particularly in those countries to commemorate in the appropriate way, and the necessary resources to revisit the archives in those countries to find names where there are names but to appropriately commemorate where those names do not exist.
“We use the word whitewash for a reason. Let there be no more whitewashing.
“The unremembered will be remembered and future generations of young people in their own country and the Commonwealth will understand their sacrifice.”
Responding, Mr Wallace pledged funding and “the full weight of our defence diplomatic network” to ensure the efforts of Commonwealth soldiers can be better remembered.
The Defence Secretary told MPS: “Exactly as (Mr Lammy) said, the East African Campaign, the early salvos of the First World War. And was I taught that at school? No.
“How many in this House probably were?
“Almost none at all.”
While we can’t change the past, we can make amends and take action