By Phillipa Anamaoh-
Former Hackney councillor, social commentator and political activist Patrick Vernon is today credited and praised for launching the petition that led British prime minister, Theresa May, to recognise June 22 as national Windrush Day.
Yesterday the government had made National Windrush Day official, with 22 June marked as the annual day to celebrate the Windrush Generation and their descendants, as well as commemorating 70th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush at Tilbury Docks.
Last May, Vernon called the Prime Minister to recognise the date to commemorate and celebrate migration and migrant communities in Britain. Now the nation is preparing for a range of 70 Windrush activities including dance performances exhibitions and debates throughout the year.
Vernon believed the day would be suitable for this kind of commemoration since the Empire Windrush docked for the first time at Tilbury on June 22, 1948. He told his local journalist organisation Eastlondonlines:
“Many aspects of British society today would be unrecognisable without the contributions which immigration and integration have made to our society over the generations.”
The former Hackney counsellor also noted the government’s recent treatment of the Windrush generation under the immigration Act of 2014, which resulted in British Jamaicans, who came to Britain from the Caribbean between 1948 and 1971 receiving letters of deportation and facing challenges with proof of their UK eligibility status.
Vernon’s parents are part of the Windrush generation–arriving in the UK towards the end of the 1950’s. For this reason the treatment, acknowledgement and celebration of Windrush migrants was highly personal to the activist. His parents came to the UK in the late 1950s, which makes this issue personal for Vernon.
This petition in May was the second petition Vernon had launched for Windrush Day. The first petition was released almost five years ago and featured in The Times newspaper on June 22, 203 with content and signatories. As a result of the petition, an Early Day Motion was launched by group of MPs.
On May 14th Vernon had launched a Windrush Justice Fund on GoFundMe, which aims to collect at least £20,000 for Windrush migrants who are in need of legal, medical and financial help. The site is still active and has since received over £8,000 in donations. Vernon had also set up a fund for an individual called Dexter Bristol who had arrived in Britain in 1968 as an eight-year-old from Grenada, when his mother was working for the NHS. Due to the new legislation, Bristol had been denied benefit payments and was fired form his job as a cleaner since he was never assigned a British passport.
Bristol died on March 29 this year in London and the donations made from Vernon’s page will go towards his funeral.
Bristol’s treatment and death will continue to be mourned throughout the Jamaican-British community including notable members such as poet Benjamin Zephaniah and MP David Lammy. However, the government’s confirmation of an annual Windrush Day will continue to commemorate those who may have been ignored and celebrate those whose efforts were not acknowledged.
Communities minister Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth said,
“A Windrush Day will allow communities up and down the country to recognise and honour the enormous contribution of those who stepped ashore at Tilbury Docks 70 years ago. It will keep their legacy alive for future generations, ensuring that we all celebrate the diversity of Britain’s history”.
“The Windrush Generation made a huge contribution to rebuilding the country following the war and their settlement and their descendants have continued to enrich social, economic, political and religious life.”
A collective of British Caribbean representatives will oversee the event. The government will provide an annual 500K grant to charities and communities seeking to hold commemorative and educational events.