Floella Benjamin: in future, people will say "meet me by the Windrush Monument". This permanent place of reflection and celebration shows how the history of the Windrush generation and their descendants is now recognised as an important part of British history #WindrushDay
"You called and we came". This poem by Laura Serrant was read at the unveiling of the Windrush Monument, reflecting on the links between the Windrush generation and the history of the NHS, with both 75 anniversaries marked next year @75Windrush
lauraserrant.wordpress.com/2018/02/12/you…
The pioneering contribution of the late Sam King honoured today. A Windrush passenger, he co-founded the Windrush Foundation & campaigned for #WindrushDay from marking the 40th anniversary in 1988.
This 2013 picture in Windrush Square (renamed in 1998 for the 50th anniversary)
Bishop Rose @DoverBishop dedicates the Monument to the hope and resilience of the Windrush generation, with a prayer for our compassion to those who arrive as refugees today
"The Windrush Generation came as British citizens", the Duke of Cambridge notes. Many were not strangers to Britain, given the enormous wartime contribution to the RAF. "They volunteered, they did not have to come", he says.
The Royal family are proud to mark #WindrushDay says Prince William. He has learnt too that "history weighs heavily on the present" both in the Caribbean and in Britain too, recognising the wrongs of the Windrush scandal & continued discrimination today
"Today we have witnessed British history being made" says @FloellaBenjamin as Windrush Monument unveiled. The Windrush story is not defined by wrongs that are still to be righted, she says, though they must be, but by pride in the contribution & hope for our future #WindrushDay
Am interview with the late Sam King (2013) about the campaign for #WindrushDay on the 65th anniversary. Government recognised National Windrush Day from 2018, as part of its apology and response to the Windrush scandal
opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocra…
Sam King told me that being at the famous 1950 Lords Test two summers later "felt like the real moment we had arrived in England". He quietly sang Lord Kitchener's Victory Calypso - "Those little pals of mine/Ramadhin and Valentine" - as he recalled the moment in Windrush Square
The Reverend Michael King, his son, spoke last night in the @75Windrush web event about the importance of the 75th anniversary next year as an opportunity to engage across the generations and further increase awareness. Recording available on YouTube.
My @CapX commentary on the past, present and future potential of the Windrush story for understanding the making of the Britain we all call home
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