The Windrush generation courageously came to Britain to take on skilled jobs. The Caribbean migrants, many of whom had served Britain during the war, worked in coal and iron production, kept public transport running by driving buses and trains, and staffed the newly established National Health Service.
Despite being invited, and their dedication to rebuilding Britain, the Windrush generation were discriminated against. Many faced racist attacks and were told “to go home”.
Seventy-five years on, we celebrate those who came to Britain. But what is Windrush Day and how should it be commemorated?
There are mixed opinions about whether Windrush Day should be celebrated. As a child of West Indian migrants, Patrick Vernon, social commentator, political activist and convenor of the Windrush 75 network, is dedicated to celebrating the legacy of the Windrush generation.
If you ever find yourself attending a Windrush event, be it a talk or a commemoration concert, it is almost impossible not to spot Vernon there. He was the booming voice behind the campaign to make Windrush Day a national day.
“How do we ensure that the next generation of young people can say, ‘I’ve learned this history, I’m going to take forward and interpret how I see Windrush in the future?’” he said, adding: “These are big questions for Britain and for the Windrush community and other communities it’s about memorialisation, respect, recognition and the future legacy.”
But not everyone agrees that Windrush Day should be celebrated.
“It’s a very solemn day and it’s about learning,” said Arthur Torrington, co-founder of the Windrush Foundation.
Torrington, who came to England from Guyana as a teenager in the 1960s, co-founded the Windrush Foundation with the late Sam King MBE, who served in the RAF and returned to England in 1948 on the HMT Windrush.
“That particular ship defined his life,” says Torrington, “Because from 1948 to when he passed away in 2016, it was all about Windrush, nothing more, nothing less.”
Torrington, alongside King, has made it his mission to honour the first post-war settlers from the Caribbean in England through their foundation, which was the first charitable Windrush organisation in Britain.
Torrington believes that there are outstanding issues that need to be resolved, including how poorly Windrush elders and their descendants were treated in recent years, in what is now known as the Windrush Scandal. In 2018, it emerged that hundreds of Brits, who either themselves had come to the UK from the Caribbean or their parents had, were wrongly targeted by immigration enforcement, and detained or deported.
“The government can’t be telling us to let’s have a happy time for Windrush and commemorate the contribution that the people of the West Indies and their families have made and then forget about the past,” said Torrington.
“The Windrush 75 is to allow us to look back and reflect how bad things have been and how bad are they now”.
