Between 50 and 70 years ago, many West Indians arrived in Britain from the British Colonies - by invitation - to help with the labour shortage in the predominantly London areas of the NHS, the transport system and other civic posts which British white people could not fill for some reason.
They were met with a vitriolic form of racism which included the infamous signs on boarding house windows saying, 'NO BLACKS, NO IRISH AND NO DOGS'.
They carried on and gained respect and appreciation from the Brits - well, most of them anyway.
The pro Brexit lobby had a whole new attack against immigrants and all of a sudden, any Windrush generation who had not renewed their paperwork since the 1970s started receiving phone calls telling them to pack their bags because they were going to be 'repatriated' as aliens. The current Home Office cannot say how many people have been deported, or even if any have.
Theresa May said - during her long period as Home Secretary - that she was going to make Britain a 'hostile environment' for immigrants, presumably to placate the right-wing here and secure her future in the ruling party.
As everything turns into a deeper and deeper mess here, I am beginning to feel ashamed to be part of it, albeit unwillingly.
I have no need to make comments Tom - I agree with you 100%
ReplyDeleteI sort of knew you would Weave.
DeleteI doubt anyone is going to disagree with you. I almost wrote the same post myself.
ReplyDeleteBrexit has set the UK back in the world by 50 years, and not just because of this. We will both be dead before any substantial improvement. We now have to gain lost ground.
DeleteI wonder if it's fair the say my country's sheer size has sunk it lower thank yours. That's the most intelligent thing I can say about the current state of affairs.
ReplyDeleteWe are inextricably linked.
DeleteI despair. Twas Theresa May who had the buses trolling about with GO HOME. Remember that?
ReplyDeleteMay has underlined that she was ( and probably is) a racist.....I had heard so many dreadful stories today of how so many windrush children have been treated like illegal aliens that it almost made me weep.....shame shame shame
ReplyDeleteI had not realised how long this has been going on. One poor sod on the radio said that if they sent him back to Jamaica (a country which he knows nothing about) he would kill himself. He is still in depression about it, and he still has not been given a passport - just a visa.
DeleteWhen I first read about this I could hardly believe it was true. I signed the protest, and I'm pleased to see that it has now been reviewed. What on earth were they thinking?
ReplyDeleteI didn't know there was anything to sign. I cannot believe it either. It is truly shocking.
DeleteI am always amazed that this blatently wrong exercise made by the Home Office manages to be put into practice without 'someone in charge' being aware of the ramifications. One can only think that the anti Brexit people think this will further help their cause.
ReplyDeleteThe 'system' is disgusting. Even when they properly repent, the damage done is deep and lasting.
DeleteThis really does 'beggar belief' and it's made me feel very angry !
ReplyDeleteI hope we don't sink any lower in the eyes of the world.
DeleteRe the above comment, what next? We have Brexit to look forward too. Brexit is supposed to be about economics, immigration and guarding the Sovereign State. There is little room for humanity and appreciation - even gratitude - as far as I can see. ALL of this mess has been caused by a few individuals trying to save their political careers by appealing to the lowest and meanest fears in society. It always goes like this in times of economic crisis. They lied to us and they will carry on lying. Everyone is covering their own arse. it's endemic.
ReplyDeleteI read the story about this and just couldn't believe it. A free press is important and this story confirms it. I am glad its being reviewed. They should be allowed to stay.
ReplyDeleteThey are British!
DeleteJob loss, denied further employment, denied healthcare, detainment...I wonder how long this shit would have been kept quiet for were it not for the press shining a spotlight on the issue? The Windrush gen. should be left to live their lives in the UK. End of.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realise how long it has been going on. Ever since Theresa May was Home Secretary and pledged to make Britain a hostile environment for illegal immigrants, it turns out. What a bunch of bastards this government are.
DeleteIt is awful and I am ashamed to say it has happened here a little bit. the stepfather of a teenage girl who was murdered horribly in my home town back in the 80s was given similar treatment. He came over from UK on a parent's passport in the 1960s age 4! He took his family to Fiji in 1986 for a holiday and they questioned his right to return then and it was on file. Three days in a police cell because the Immigration Office got their paperwork wrong 55 years ago. Absolute arseholes. And we have a Government who has made it VERY CLEAR to the civil service that compassion and kindness are now watchwords, not being unmitigated bastards, like the lat govt wanted.
ReplyDelete