https://socialistaction.org/2018/05/02/windrush-scandal-exposes-governmental-racism-in-britain/
Windrush scandal exposes governmental racism in Britain
/ 22 hours ago
May 2018 Windrush
By ANN MONTAGUE
— LONDON — Every day here in Britain there is more news about the
Windrush scandal. Workers arriving in the United Kingdom between 1948
and 1973 from Caribbean countries have been labeled the “Windrush
Generation.” This refers to the ship HMT Empire Windrush, which first
arrived in England in June 1948, bringing workers primarily from Jamaica
and Trinidad and Tobago to rebuild Britain as a result of labor
shortages after World War II.
Many brought children with them. The influx ended with the passage of
the 1971 Immigration Act, which said that people who were Commonwealth
citizens (coming from British colonies) before that time could remain in
Britain. The Migratory Observatory at Oxford University estimates there
are 500,000 people residing in Britain who arrived from a Commonwealth
country before 1971.May 2018 Windrush ship
Now they are being told that they need evidence of their status in order
to keep their jobs, get treatment from the National Health Service, rent
property, and remain in the country. However, the Home Office failed to
keep paperwork on the new residents; landing cards of Windrush
Generation people were destroyed. Moreover, numbers of young people came
to Britain while listed only on their parents’ passports.
Many who came to Britain as children have been told they have to leave
the only country they have known. Every day a new tragedy hits the news.
People who are in the middle of cancer treatment are told that their
benefits have ended; others have lost their jobs, and some have already
been sent to countries they never lived in.
Prime Minister Teresa May and her Conservative Party (Tories) are under
the gun for immigration policies that are being held responsible for the
suffering of the Windrush Generation. These policies are explicitly
based on creating a “hostile environment” for immigrants in Britain.
May answered criticism by accepting that there might be flaws in the
implementation of some aspects of the policies but not with the policies
themselves. But this was not enough, as the victims continued to explain
publicly the injustice of their cases.
The Labour Party pressured for the resignation of Amber Rudd, the Home
Secretary responsible for implementing the policies. Labour Party
Members of Parliament (MPs), some of whom are part of the Windrush
Generation, are taking the lead in organizing rallies in the communities
where many of the victims live. They are supporting a mass petition
drive, which so far has obtained over 130,000 signers, calling for
amnesty for the Windrush Generation and demanding a halt to all
deportations.
Amber Rudd resigned the night before the large Stand Up to Racism rally
on April 30 at Westminster. She had been claiming that there are no
targets for the number of people to be deported. But in a letter that
she wrote to the prime minister in January 2017, which was leaked to The
Guardian, she said that deportations would increase by 10 percent.
Rudd has been replaced by Sajid Javid, who has pledged to make sure that
members of the Windrush Generation are treated with fairness. But at
this point the entire Immigration Act has come into question. People are
now calling for “scrapping May’s racist act.” Diane Abbott, Labour’s
Shadow Home Secretary, made clear who is ultimately responsible: “The
change in Home Secretary will mean nothing unless Theresa May’s ‘hostile
environment’ policy is finally brought to an end.”
Labour MP Dawn Butler told Sky News that Theresa May’s immigration
policy is institutionalized racism. Butler, the daughter of Jamaican
parents, clarified: “She is the leader, she is presiding over
legislation discriminating against a whole group of people who came from
the Commonwealth, who suffered racism when they came over, and now they
are having to re-live that trauma again because of Theresa May. Her
policies have disproportionately affected people of color.”
All this is happening less than a week before important council
elections throughout London are to be held. Labour already is set to
make new gains; polling has just come out that 75% of Black and minority
Londoners are backing Labour. According to Joe Murphy, political editor
of the Evening Standard, those trying to reform the racist image of the
Tory party are looking at a number of close races, and they admit that
their party is toxic with Black Londoners as a result of the deportation
of Windrush migrants.
There will be 32 borough elections. A survey commissioned by Queen Mary
University in London shows Conservatives trailing behind Labour by a
huge 22 point gap. This includes Barnet, which they predict Labour will
win although the Conservatives have been in control since 1964. A number
of other boroughs are very close between Labour and Conservatives. The
Liberal Democrats (the party most similar to the U.S. Democratic Party)
are predicted to continue at just 11% of the vote.
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May 2, 2018 in Black Liberation, Britain, Immigration.
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