Windrush Child

5 August 2024

When post-war Britain[1] was short of labour,
It called on its Caribbean colonies[2] to request a huge favour.
These individuals were entitled to British citizenship through the UK’s legal constitution,
So many migrated to Britain to work across its various public institutions.
To compensate for their absence owing to the transatlantic distance,
Windrush migrants would send a barrel ‘back home’ as a form of remittance.
The so-called ‘Barrel children’ were subsequently named after these containers of pleasures,
That were full of rice, sugar and other British treasures.

From the experiences that Windrush migrants recount,
They were prevented from securing accommodation, and even bank accounts.
Britain was increasingly hostile towards them, but still they fought back harder,
They created their own saving initiatives, known as a ‘sou-sou’ or ‘partner’.
Eventually, enough money would have been acquired
To pay the fee that a passage to Inglan’ required.
Even though financial circumstances were undoubtedly tricky,
There was finally enough money to send for dem ‘pickney’.

The problem however was that when they came,
Compared to white kids, Blacks were not treated the same.
There were countless stories of Inglan’ that they had been told,
Inspiring images of British streets being paved with gold.
These turned out to be broken dreams,
Because instead they were subjected to Britain’s racist regimes.
Their Black presence stirred a sense of “foreboding”,
People like Enoch Powell felt that British society was slowly corroding.

It really was a strange situation
To be transported into sudden alienation.
When many of these children left behind all they knew,
They were soon to learn that their promised dreams of Inglan’ were too good to be true.
Reunited with their parents, but detached from their grandparents overseas, ‘back a yard’
Adjusting to British society was often difficult and hard.
Rather than taking these broken attachments into consideration
And within the wider context of Black social ostracisation,
Many mainstream school leaders deemed these children intellectually inferior,
Largely on the basis of a Windrush child’s melanated exterior.
There was a man who took these circumstances on board,
He was a Grenadian migrant called Bernard Coard.
Coard highlighted how Britain made the West Indian child educationally subnormal,
Through anti-Black processes that British systems institutionalised and made formal.
Today, our education system labels Black children ‘SEMH’ and ‘EHCP’,
Whilst our Justice system labels Black children ‘IC3’

Just as the original Windrush children were so much more than ‘immigrants’
The lives of Black British children remain socio-politically significant.
In 1981, 13 children were dead and nothing was said.[3]
In 1993, Stephen Lawrence’s blood was senselessly shed.
In 2011, Mark Duggan’s death led to riots
That were fuelled by a long history of Black British disquiet.
Research has been done but we still lack clarity
For the reasons underpinning Britain’s ethnic disparities.
Outcomes for Windrush descendants are not necessarily getting any better
Than the circumstances described by Linton Kwesi Jonhson in ‘Sonny’s Lettah’.
Today’s Windrush children continue to be made the mother country's victims
Through the anti-Black mechanisms of Britain’s institutional systems.
Black Caribbean children are still facing disproportionate numbers of school exclusions
Then falling down a pipeline towards their eventual prosecutions.
The Windrush narrative must be retold to show how this pattern of Black British migration
Continues to influence Black youths' modern experiences of social ostracisation.
Laura Serrant’s poem explains, when Britain called, it was the Windrush generation
That left their homes and families behind without hesitation.
This is a social justice issue much wider than an academic conversation
Because so many Windrush descendants are still experiencing frustration
How many more protests, riots and Black Lives Matters demonstrations
Will be required for the children affected by the Windrush Scandal to receive a clear Explanation
As to why disproportionate numbers are still being denied compensation?

The Windrush narrative is now a symbol of British inclusivity,
Although many Windrush descendants remain trapped in sociopolitical captivity.
When we consider today’s treatment of the Windrush generation’s progeny,
We can see they are still being dominated by Britain’s imperial hegemony.
We need to change the Windrush narrative from ‘Black British progress’ towards a story of Stagnation,
To highlight how Black Caribbean youth are still being subjected to systemic ethnic filtration.

Britain’s promise of a ‘better life’ that encouraged so many West Indians to travel,
Has now led to their great grandchildren existing at the bottom of Britain’s barrel.
The Windrush children have faced anti-Blackness persistently,
Thus the story of Windrush migration is hardly over - we are still making history!
If they knew that their kin would end up in Britain’s school-to-prison pipeline
Would the Windrush generation have still chosen to migrate away from their lives in the Sunshine?
Is this really the ‘better life’ they were promised or were they all misled?
Rather than waving the children goodbye, perhaps the palm trees should’ve wept instead.

 

[1] The Windrush era commonly refers to the years between 1948 and 1971. The Empire Windrush was one vessel involved in transporting Black people to Britain although there were also other ships such as the SS Ormonde and the SS Auriga.

[2] This involved the recruitment of working-age labourers from a number of Caribbean islands such as Jamaica, Trinidad, St Lucia and Grenada to assist Britain in its post-war rebuilding efforts. Many of these individuals took up jobs in factories or helped to staff a newly formed National Heath Service.

[3] In 1981 13 Black children died as a result of a fire that broke out during a house party in New Cross, London. A ‘Black People’s Day of Action’ took place that same year where Black communities demonstrated across London streets to protest against the British Government’s (lack of) reaction towards the loss of young Black life.