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
IDS has misunderstood the govt's Rwanda deal.
- He believes those whose asylum claim is valid would [& should] get to come back to UK. (He thinks this policy aims to sort refugees from 'economic migrants').
Many supporters of this scheme obvs don't know the basic proposal.
After so much talk over years of wanting 'genuine refugees' but not economic migrants, some supporters of govt intuitively guess this policy attempts to do that.
So don't realise these key points
* Deport people without assessing claims first
* If a valid claim, stay in Rwanda
We don't know what proportion of those who support the scheme believe it is about off-shore processing of UK asylum claims. If senior MPs think this - and are saying it on the radio too - there is a chance it is a widely held misconception of the proposal
National Windrush Monument, unveiled at Waterloo Station, June 22nd 2022. A symbol of a new era if recognition of the history of Windrush & a new foundation from which to build a vision of a shared past, present and future @75Windrush capx.co/the-rise-and-r…
Special Occasion: The Times editorial today supports the @75Windrush call for action for the 75th anniversary year made by a broad civic coalition on the Times letters page on #WindrushDay yesterday
New arrival: a child reaches out to the young girl depicted on the National Windrush Monument. Photograph by @JavierGarciaBPI on today's Guardian front-page.
Headline: "Johnson to tell Charles he is proud of [Rwanda] migrant plan"
Report: they probably won't talk about it, but it is not ruled out that they could. (It is thought the PM would argue the merits of his policy *if* it did come up)
Charles in Rwanda, reflecting on the genocide of the 1990s.
"Boris's Rwanda Rebuke to Prince Charles" splash.
Report: the Prime Minister has not rebuked Charles. He has said he doesn't agree generally with criticism of his policy.
Watching Lenny Henry's #caribbeanbritain on BBC 2. "What does integration really mean?" What does it mean to fit in? How much of my culture has Britain absorbed?, he asks. #WindrushDay
Edric Connor's Manchester United Calypso for the 1957 FA Cup final
Housing and fuel prices knock immigration out of the top 10 issues of public salience (though it is 11th) while EU/Brexit is 9th in the new @IpsosMORI issues index.
Fieldwork 8th-14th June. (Quite a few headlines on refugees. Prince Charles comments on 11th. Plane was scheduled for 14th/didn't go)
Covid is now 13th priority: more or less gone from public attention
A new racist trope has arisen in Britain in 2022: "they should send you to Rwanda".
Here it is being directed at Labour MPs Rupa Huq and David Lammy; London Mayor Sadiq Khan (replying to tweets on completely different issues) and to Conservative Home Secretary Priti Patel.
Sometimes both right-wingers and left-wingers) against anyone they dislike politically. Here are people saying it to Peter Bone (C) and Richard Burgon (Labour) & another saying all of the celebrities who signed a letter against the Rwanda scheme should be deported.