Thread by @WindrushLives

On the heels of yday’s revelations from @cheamfields re racism in the Home Office, here is an **old article** by a senior member of the government’s Windrush Cross Government Working Group. This person was vetted (presumably) and appointed [1/11]

drjoealdred.info/a-story-of-und…

to this post, in which he is expected to advocate FOR Windrush victims and facilitate justice for them, by @ukhomeoffice. [2/11]

To be clear, we don’t know if Bishop Aldred would still stand by all of the views expressed in this post, which dates to June 2018. But some of the views expressed here are not of the type likely to change. For example: [3/11]

“I have little or no truck with those who assert that the current circumstance is ‘through no fault of their own’ with reference to those of my fellows who remained undocumented after all these years.” [4/11]

“It cannot seriously be argued that anyone presenting themselves as ‘of the Windrush Generation’ should be taken on their word alone. A simple reality is that wherever in the world one lives securing residency documentation is a basic civic responsibility, not of,” [5/11]

“the government, but of the individual. Failure to do so exacerbates migration existence and potentially renders vulnerable self and descendants come the day of a ‘hostile environment for illegal immigrants’.” [6/11]

“If you live in a racialised environment and your colour places you potentially on the ‘wrong’ side of the colour-line, even more reason to secure your base.” [7/11]

“It is possible to be misled by current signals. It is as though the whole country has come down with a bout of sympathy, pity, towards the ‘Windrush Generation’ who are threatened by a wicked government wanting to deport them all after all they have done” [8/11]

“to build up the country.”

That is one continuous passage from the linked post.

We describe those views as of a type unlikely to change because they aren’t stats- or evidence-based. They are sentiments and judgments, particularly the disdain for undocumented citizens. [9/11]

Again, we don’t know if the good Bishop continues to hold these views. Perhaps he’s had revelations since writing this.

Neither is this an attack on him per se - though we disagree profoundly with just about everything quoted, he is entitled to his incorrect views. [10/11]

The question has to be this: how or why on earth does @ukhomeoffice think it appropriate to appoint someone who has expressed these views to a group intended to *advocate for victims*? [11/11]