STOP the charter flight mass deportation to Zimbabwe on 2nd of March 22 - write to your MP using our model letter and sign the petition

 Please take urgent action and write to your MP using the model letter below - feel free to adapt.

Sign our joint  petition here: https://www.change.org/p/uk-home-office-stop-the-charter-flight-deportations-to-zimbabwe

Share our updates and actions on social media - we are using the hashtags:

#Zimbabwe150  #StopthePlane

Model Letter to MPs 

Dear [Member of Parliament],

I am writing as a constituent to ask that you urgently oppose the mass deportation  by  charter flight scheduled by the Home Office on 2^nd of March 2022.   This comes after a disproportionate targeting of black people  for deportation over the last year. Mass deportation flights are a breach of human rights.

Amongst those targeted for deportation on these flights  are young people who have been victims of modern-day slavery, people who have made their home in the UK for decades, who have contributed to the British economy and society, who came to the UK as children, who are parents of British born and young children, who came to the country as refugees, including people who have had to flee persecution. This is the case for the vast majority of people who left Zimbabwe, where individuals and their families had no choice but to flee for their lives and who are in grave danger if they return to Zimbabwe.

Tearing parents apart from loved ones including children is inhumane and causes distress and trauma to children with no regard for the human rights of children. 

The fast turnaround of deportations leaves inadequate time to access legal advice and representation which has been made worse because access to the computer rooms at detention centres have been closed or with limited access. There have also been reports of fax machines and computers not working meaning that people detained cannot communicate with legal representatives plus covid spreading through detention centres meaning it is not safe for people to fly.

Those targeted  face destitution trauma and persecution  once deported,  impacting on physical and mental health. We know that some people have sadly  been killed or taken their own lives subsequently.  There is also an impact on the families they are torn apart from, with children experiencing trauma.

I am also concerned that the Windrush Lessons Learned recommendations are yet to be implemented, two years down the line.  The report found the Home Office to be institutionally ignorant of racism.  It is irresponsible to target black  and minority ethnic people for deportation when no lessons have been learned.

 I am asking that you take urgent action, including writing to the Home Secretary calling for these flights  to be cancelled and to call for an end to charter flight mass  deportations. 

 

 

Regards,

[Your Name]

 

 

Please add your full postal address to confirm you are a constituent. 

 

Find your MP here: https://www.theyworkforyou.com/

 

BARAC petition calling for a halt to mass deportations to Jamaica hits smashes 160000 signatures and chair of BARAC joins 90 black public figures and celebrities calling on airlines to withdraw involvement

 

Thank you to everyone who has signed our BARAC UK / BAME for petition  - just under 165000 signatures - we need your ongoing support to stop the mass deportation flight to Jamaica on 2nd of November.

Please sign if you haven't and check the updates over the last week as there are actions you can take and a template letter to send to your MP.

Sign the petition here

Today 90 I joined 90 Black British public figures and celebrities - co-signing an open letter to airlines that participate in deportation flights calling on them to withdraw their involvement. 

The letter was signed by , Bernardine Evaristo, model Naomi Campbell, historian David Olusoga and actors Naomie Harris and Thandie Newton, as well as lawyers, broadcasters and NGO chiefs. Leading Windrush campaigners including Michael Braithwaite and Elwaldo Romeo

Read more here

The letter has received national and international news coverage.

Add caption

Read the letter here

Please follow us on twitter @baracuk and on instagram @baracukoriginal and join our facebook group BARAC UK for updates and developments.

Please also use the hashtags #Jamaica50  and #StopthePlane

Remembering those who are displaced during Remembering Refugees Week

image credit: artist Zita Holbourne

BARAC supported this initiative to remember refugees in the week of Remembrance Day, organised by Lesbian and Gays Support the Migrants.

 Due to coronavirus restrictions and lockdown a physical vigil / event was not possible so our chair Zita gave the following statement and contributed art as part of the online Remembrance. 

 "As part of our online Remember Refugees week, we're very pleased to bring you this guest post and artwork by Zita Holbourne from @BARAC UK. Please follow BARAC to keep up with the incredible work they do." Lesbian and Gays Support the Migrants

 During the Coronavirus pandemic those who are displaced and forced to flee their homes because of persecution, climate change, poverty and conflict have become the unforgotten, treated as if they are less than human with no regard for the impact of the pandemic on them and no attention given to their safety, protection or care. 

 Usually BARAC UK would be coordinating regular aid and solidarity missions to France but the pandemic has prevented us and others who regularly provide support from doing so. 

Knowing that there are many families here in the UK with no recourse to public funds I have worked with others in my local community to provide food donations every week during the summer and we directed some of our humanitarian aid funds to support the most vulnerable families, some of whom had newborn babies in the middle of lockdown with no access to benefits or government COVID-19 measures.

 https://uk.gofundme.com/f/BARACHumanitarian 

 We also wrote to the UN special rapporteur on poverty and human rights to raise concerns.

 Some of us in BARAC are part of public sector unions and work with other public sector unions across Europe and in those roles we have campaigned for a number of years for the need for properly resources public services responding to those who are refugees and who are migrants. 

There is woefully inadequate staff of rescue boats for example. Migration to the Canary Islands has increased by 500% this year so in order to respond to the needs of those arriving from refugee centres to support and processing, there needs to be an increase in public service personnel.

 After over a decade of austerity cutting public services across Europe the impact of the Covid crisis will be more cuts with the most vulnerable and discriminated people in our societies bearing the brunt including those who are displaced through no fault of their own. 

 The human rights of children in particular in being denied the right to be reunited with family is one that must be a priority – children should not be made to pay for a crisis they did not cause or to be put at risk of trafficking and abuse. 

Member states under the 1951 UN Geneva convention and 1967 protocol should provide legal protection to asylum seekers and not return asylum-seekers or refugees to a country where they face serious threats to their life or freedom.

 Our thoughts and condolences are with those who died trying to cross the English Channel which included small children. Nobody takes children on a perilous journey unless what they are fleeing is far worse that what they are facing.

 On the other side of the so called hostile environment is a situation also close to our hearts – the treatment of the Windrush Generation and their descendants. 

The Home Office Windrush Lessons Learned 30 recommendations are yet to be implemented and the majority of those entitled to compensation are yet to receive it and some have sadly passed away in the process.

 This is not just an issue facing the one generation but their children and grandchildren too. We send solidarity to Osime Brown and his family - Osime is a young man who is autistic and who the Home Office want to deport to Jamaica despite him leaving there as a very small child and Britain being his home. 

Under operation nexus the government have deported too many young people just because they were racially profiled and stopped and searched disproportionately with no charge, no access to the criminal justice system.

 In deporting generation upon generation they create a situation of displacement and destitution. We would like to bring your attention to a campaign BARAC is involved in to stop the relocation of an immigration enforcement centre to the London borough of Newham - one of the most multi cultural boroughs in the UK which the Home Office want to locate in an old tobacco warehouse whose roots are connected to the enslavement of African people, at a dock with roots embedded in colonialism and the British Empire, creating an environment of fear, racism and hostility. 

 We would appreciate it if you were to sign and share our petition: https://www.change.org/p/home-office-oppose-warehouse-k-immigration-enforcement-centre 

 We remember those who have passed, we see and stand with those trying to survive and get to a safe place and those who bare the brunt of hostile racist immigration policies and laws when human rights and the right to survive, to live and to thrive should be accessible to all. 

 Zita Holbourne National Chair and co-founder BARAC UK Artist, poet and author of Striving for Equality Freedom and Justice.

Black History Month Greetings and Reflections by Zita Holbourne, Poet~Artist~Activist - National Chair of BARAC UK

 

Black History Month Greetings from Chair of BARAC UK; 

Zita Holbourne

 

When Black History Month was established in the UK, the aim was that October would open a series of black history events / activities which would run through the whole year from October to September.

 

Nevertheless, October gives us an opportunity to focus on the histories, achievements, talents and struggles of black people, for black people to share knowledge and for others to listen, learn and acknowledge.

 

This year has been one of collective trauma for black communities. Black people have been impacted disproportionately by the coronavirus pandemic, more likely to be in precarious and front line jobs as key workers, having to go to physical workplaces through the lockdown and  with people from African and Asian diasporas up to 4 times more likely to contract and die from covid and many in our community losing loved ones, family and friends but unable to grieve and say goodbye in traditional and familiar ways.  One of the people who died from coronavirus that I didn’t know personally, but whose death impacted really badly on me and many others, was Belly Mujinga, a transport worker, who  was kind, caring and helped everybody she encountered, way beyond the call of duty, on many occasions, who was spat at whilst doing her job by a member of the public and who was made by her employer to work out in the station rather than in the ticket office, despite her being in a high risk group.

 

As if that was not bad enough the killing of George Floyd (and others) in the USA, was captured on video and witnessed through social media across the world.  This led to global black lives matter protests, a rallying call for justice and for race equality.

 

In the midst of the pandemic the Windrush Lessons Learned report was finally published with a list of recommendations for the Home Office to address what was described as ‘institutional ignorance of racism’.

 

Meanwhile the vast majority of people who are entitled to compensation because of the injustice they faced as part of the Windrush Generation, have yet to receive it, some had already died and in July, one of those impacted and who has also campaigned for justice, the wonderful Paulette Wilson passed away, adding to our sorrow and trauma.

 

The protests over the summer sparked a refreshed debate about the legacies of enslavement and colonialism and their role in allowing racism to thrive today.

 

We saw institutions and businesses jump on the black lives matter ‘slogan’ one minute, declaring their anti-racist credentials, irrespective of their track records, in a tokenistic way and then we saw some institutions who sought to claim those three words: Black Lives Matter  - distance themselves the next minute.  We also encountered the ‘white lives matter’  and ‘all lives matter’ declarations from those who did not want to understand that if all lives actually mattered there would be no need for those with a lived experience of anti-black racism to inform the world that black lives matter as it would be taken as a given.

 

When we started this year, none of us anticipated how different to everything we were familiar with and expected, it would actually be. The impacts on everyone have been vast - dramatic, distressing and frightening. Some people have lost their lives, others have lost their businesses or jobs  and even for those who have not lost lives or livelihoods or loved ones they have experienced changes and challenges and had to adapt immediately to new ways of living, working, communicating and more. But there have been disproportionate impacts on many with protected characteristics, black, Asian and minority ethnic people, women, disabled people, LGBT plus, young people, older people. and multiple impacts for those who are intersectional. 

 

So, when we speak about celebrating black history month, it will be understandable that for some people,  they are not in a space or a time where they feel able to celebrate. But Black History Month is also an opportunity for reflection, for personal learning, for acknowledging our struggles and our accomplishments  and given the year we have encountered thus far, black history month is more important than ever in providing an opportunity for us to have conversations about what  it is like to live with racism, to campaign against it, to be labelled or harassed and bullied, to experience microaggressions, to be barred from promotion and progression, to feel isolated at university or in the workplace and for institutions and businesses to not just reflect but to act upon their own failures in tackling racism and creating safe equal environments and to address these issues be it as employers or  service providers  and not just in a tokenistic trivial way.

 

But it is also an opportunity for us to lift up our voices collectively, to share stories of unsung sheroes and heroes, to share our histories and herstories, to meet – be it virtually – to acknowledge the skills and talents in our communities and the pioneers whose shoulders we sit upon.

 

As a visual artist and poet, I have  created a daily visual diary through the pandemic and the black lives matter protests  and am doing the same through black history month to document my personal and our collective experiences through arts and creativity. On Instagram @zitabaracuk you can view them.  I have art/ poetry in two virtual exhibitions - one in the UK on the impacts of coronavirus  Life Interrupted and one in the USA on black lives matter - Speak Your Truth .

 

I started Black History Month at an opening  event which I hosted / chaired  with historian David Olusoga, where he spoke about black lives matter in the context of Black British History. Too often we hear USA black history being shared with us but not UK black history and I was struck by something David said that in Bristol a school was teaching about the Montgomery Bus Boycott  and Rosa Parkes but they knew nothing of the Bristol  Bus Boycott and Paul Stephenson.  This made me both sad and angry in equal measure.

 

Paul Stephenson who was central to the Bristol Bus Boycott is one of the people who inspired me as an activist from a young age. When I was 19 years old, as part of a photographer placement with the Caribbean Times,  for a project I was doing at art school, I visited Paul in Bristol where he was giving us an interview in relation to a friend of his who had passed away in London. I expected to be in Bristol for a couple of hours but it was nightfall by the time I left and by the time I left my life had become enriched and informed by the experience and knowledge that meeting Paul Stephenson gave me. He took us to his home where I was stunned to see framed photos in his front room of Muhammed Ali and his family which led to the first black history month of the day but then he took us on a tour of Bristol and all the while he was driving us around he was teaching us the history of the impact of enslavement of African people and the transatlantic slave trade on Bristol, pointing out street names and places  - which we have seen come to the fore in Bristol and other cities this summer with the toppling of the Colston statue and he taught us about the Bristol Bus Boycott, he taught us about the economic impacts on race and black communities by physically taking us around to see this with our own eyes and  before we made the long journey back to London, he treated us to local culture and hospitality in St Pauls  at a Caribbean pub for some rum and a Caribbean café for some rice and peas and jerk chicken.

As I sat on the coach on the journey home, I didn't imagine I would see him again, let alone host him at seminars and conferences I co-organised, would share platforms with him as a speaker and spend quality time with him.  

 

I often wonder how many years it would have taken for me to know about the Bristol Bus Boycott if I had not met Paul Stephenson that day.

 

That day had a profound impact on me then, not just because of what he taught us, but because he took the time to give up his day to be with us, to show us the city, the politics and history of it and to share his knowledge and wisdom with us and to welcome us like you would family. He taught me community in a strange city I had never visited and only knew about vaguely and he enriched my mind with knowledge that had never been taught to me in school.

 

This June marked the ten year anniversary of BARAC UK, when we were established we did not imagine that ten years down the line we would still exist and still  be campaigning against the impacts of austerity and against racism and injustice and that ten years of campaigning alone could fill a book of black history and will.

 

There are many untold stories of the history and presence  of black people in the UK and a starting point could be for you to just share your own story, or the story of a family member with your own friends, colleagues or circles, it doesn’t have to be a public event.

 

As a trade union representative and community campaigner  I have been and will be speaking at a range of different black history month events, but in one of my local  union groups I am part of, this is exactly what we will be doing  - simply sharing testimonials of our lived experiences of racism and challenging it and surviving it but also of the impacts of it, with our colleagues at our black history month event.

 

Each one teach one – the knowledge your hold and take for granted – may be a revelation and an inspiration for another.

 

On Saturday 10^th of October,  as part of Newham Black History Month, BARAC will be hosting a panel debate and film screenings from the film Is Britain Racist,  about how, what became known as the Windrush Scandal, came about, our campaigning against it since 2012 and joining BARAC representatives on the panel will be Glenda Caesar who was directly impacted by it and the maker of the film about those impacted and those who have campaigned , Jean-Marc Aka-Kadjo.

 

But in addition to the Windrush Generation and how they have been impacted, we must also remember that their descendants – the children and grandchildren who joined them in the UK  as babies or young children and even some born in the UK are also being targeted for deportation , people like Osime Brown, a young 21 years old black man with severe autism who came to the UK aged 4 years old and who was wrongly convicted under now defunct joint enterprise law and who is being targeted for deportation, my heart goes out to his mother and family who like so many other families find their lives torn apart and forced to fight and campaign for justice  and for their families to stay together.

 

One of the events I attend every year during Black History Month is the United Family and Friends Campaign annual march against deaths incustody. Over the years of being an activist and campaigner I have met with, campaigned with and supported so many families who have lost loved ones at the hands of the state. The huge number of black people who have died like this should not be part of our history in the UK or in the USA but it is  and this year because of covid restrictions and safety, the event will be online and I encourage you to join those families and show your love, support and solidarity because they need it.

 

 

 

I have written here about many struggles and injustices that black communities have encountered,  but our history did not begin with our oppression  and we have a rich history  to learn about and share – humanity began on the continent of Africa and in my role as a member of the UNESCO Coalition ofArtists for the General History of Africa, I would like to remind people of the 8 volumes of the history of Africa which UNESCO has written in order to document that history.

 

Even in the face of racism here in the UK – we have achieved, we have succeeded, we have represented and we have enriched British culture as have all of the communities  who came to the UK and made it their home.  Be it in business, through the arts, sports, literature, academia, at work, in education, in communities, in politics and in every part of life,   we have contributed to British History  - so we have a story to tell, a story to share, a story to educate during black history month.

 

Black History is world history  and another event I will be doing for black history month is a book reading from my book Striving for Equality Freedom and Justice  - a book which fuses the poetical with the political and documents black history from the Haitian Revolution to the Black Lives Matter Movement. For Black History Month I  would like to pay tribute to my publisher Hansib Publications and Arif Ali. Hansib is one of the oldest Caribbean publishers in the UK, they started publishing newspapers - the Caribbean Times and then also the Asian and African Times newspapers and it was through the Caribbean Times that I met Paul Stephenson and got my first works published - photographs.  So Hansib has also been part of my journey and history and they are most certainly part of black history. 

 

For this Black History month I would  also like to pay tribute to the black people I work with every day in the trade union movement and in community activism, in the arts and in campaigning – you are making history every day but I would also like to remember our ancestors and those who put themselves at great risk to pave the way for us and to the pioneers who were brave enough to be the first but opened the doors for other to follow and those who are the unsung sheroes and heroes who quietly behind the scenes, never seeking glory, work tirelessly on our behalf.

I would encourage you to click on the hyperlinks included to find out more about the people and events if you don't already know. 

 

Black History is World History.

 

Zita Holbourne

 

Photo credit: Elizabeth Dalziel photographer,  courtesy of Women Activists of East London exhibition. 

 All other photos courtesy of Zita Holbourne/ BARAC UK and all artwork created by Zita Holbourne. 

 

 

 

Mass deportation flight to Jamaica on the 30th anniversary of the release from prison of Nelson Mandela

Mass deportation flight to Jamaica on the 30th anniversary of the release from prison of Nelson Mandela
 

Written by: Zita Holbourne and Lee Jasper.

Designed by Lee Jasper

 

Boris Johnson's government has organised another charter flight mass deportation to
Jamaica, one year after the last one. Like a dog returning to the scene of its own vomit, the Tories appear habitually addicted to racist immigration policy. This is the second such charter flight since the Windrush scandal was widely exposed, as targeting Caribbean descent communities. This new mass deportation is expected to take place on 11th February, which coincidentally, is the 30th anniversary of the release of Nelson Mandela from Victor Vester prison.

We have received confirmation from several people now that they have been issued with a definite removal notice. Up to 50 people could be deported on this flight, people who will be torn apart from families including their young children, who have lived most of their lives in the UK and those still going through a deportation appeals process.

Artwork by Zita Holbourne 

Over the past week, there has been an escalation in people being detained whilst attending their regular signing in sessions at Reporting Centres around the country with Immigration Officers then transferring detainees to removal centres.

These are all people who are fearfully complying with Home Office requirements, and are now subjected to forcible detention. The government's cynical rounding up of vulnerable people, seen as nothing more than disposable garbage to be taken out, is shameful and unacceptable.

The British High Commissioner to Jamaica has alleged, that all those booked on the flight have criminal records and are not related to Windrush. But we know that it includes people who are appealing against Home Office decisions. Last year, people who were originally booked on a flight to Jamaica, successfully legally challenged their deportation leading to them being removed from the flight.

A whole year has passed only for them to be targeted again. All of the cases we have been made aware of involve individuals who have families here in the UK including children and, in some cases, even grandchildren. Most are people who
have spent the majority of their lives in the UK and who are to be deported to what will be a strange country as far as their lived experience is concerned.

Poster by artist Zita Holbourne 

Some will have been criminalised by virtue of their immigration status and deportation
creates a double, or rather triple punishment when you account for the periods they were detained.A British born person would not be sentenced for a crime, serve their time, be rehabilitated only to be denied access to essential services such as health care, detained in inhumane
facilities, to find their life even worse than when serving time in prison, only then be
deported to a strange country, separated from loved ones, left destitute and alone.

We believe that as there is clearly no guarantee of fairness and justice there should be no deportations and that the government must stop racially targeting Caribbean communities and their families.
Given the ongoing Windrush Scandal and the government's failure to adequately
compensate victims (with the vast majority receiving no compensation to date) we can have no faith that these detainees have been treated fairly and within the law.

Our communities have suffered enough over recent years because of the scandal, which is on top of racism and injustice amplified by austerity. It is not acceptable for the government to return to the discredited policy of creating a racially hostile environment for black people.

Artwork by Zita Holbourne 

The British High Commissioner to Jamaica may claim that those targeted on this charter flight have no link to the Windrush generation but the reality is that if it were not for the legacy of colonialism, their families would not have come to the UK in order to work hard and help the post-war recovery in the 1950s and 60s and they in turn would not have come to the UK to join their close family members.

Some of those targeted for these deportations included people who have served in the British armed forces, British when it suited the government but now deemed both undesirable and illegal. Having valiantly served Queen and country in active service, they are now cast aside with some suffering injuries and post-traumatic stress.

We have called an emergency protest to oppose the flight and wider injustice of the
government's hostile environment including the failure to make compensation accessible to all the families impacted by the brutality of the Windrush scandal.

Copyright BARAC UK: Windursh Day of Action, June 2019, Westminster  Bridge 

The protest will commence at 6 pm on Thursday 6th February opposite Downing Street. It is called by BARAC UK and BAME Lawyers for Justice which is an umbrella body for a group of Black and Asian race equality activists, lawyers and Windrush justice groups, all are welcome to join us. The action is also supported by the Society of Black Lawyers, Blaksox and Momentum Black Caucus.

Whilst the British government have a lot to answer for, we cannot forget or let off the hook those complicit with the process of deporting people on charter flights, the airlines, security companies, pilots, etc. but also governments of countries such as Jamaica, who allow these flights to land and who are paid to accept the wholesale illegal deportation of people without consideration of their circumstances and the inhumanity of their treatment.

That's why we are supporting and encourage people to join the emergency demo called by Movement for Justice at 12 noon on Monday 3rd February outside the Jamaican High Commission calling on the Jamaican Government to follow the lead of the Nigerian government and refuse to allow the plane to land.

Durham Miners Gala, 2019

We are also supporting Windrush activist, Patrick Vernon's petition; The Windrush
Compensation Scheme, demanding the application of the principles of restorative justice and fairness to the victims of the Windrush scandal, repairing the harm done by this government's hostile environment policy and its impacts on African and Caribbean communities and others from the Commonwealth. The petition demands the Home Secretary adopt a 10-point plan to write the wrongs of the Windrush Scandal. MPs have the opportunity to make amendments to the Windrush Compensation Bill at the Second
Reading of the bill in February.

We can have no confidence in this government's commitment to treat people fairly and call upon all good people to support our struggle for justice and oppose state racism.

We would also ask that you sign, share and promote the following petitions;

https://www.change.org/p/stop-all-charter-flight-mass-deportations-to-jamaica-other-commonwealth-countries


https://www.change.org/p/prime-minister-conduct-an-independent-public-inquiry-into-the-windrush-scandal

https://www.change.org/p/british-airways-stop-helping-the-home-office-deport-people

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/restorative-compensation-scheme-for-windrush-scandal


If you want to get in touch please
contact bamelawyersforjustice@gmail.com or baracuk@gmail.com

Artwork by Zita Holbourne 

Press Release; National Windrush Day of Action to take place on 23rd February 2019 (marking UN World Social Justice Day)

PRESS RELEASE;  WINDRUSH NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION

Immediate Release

From; BAME Lawyers 4 Justice incorporating Black Activists Rising Against Cuts (BARAC) UK, Blaksox, Operation Black Vote, (OBV), Society of Black Lawyers, (SBL), Momentum Black Caucus, Windrush Action Groups; Nottingham, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, London


The second BAME Lawyers 4 Justice national Windrush conference was held today Sat 17th November 2018 at Nottingham University. 

Over 200 people representing black
communities from England and Wales, gathered to discuss supporting the victims of Theresa May's ‘hostile environment’, demanding among other things, a public inquiry into the Windrush scandal, churches to organise Windrush Sundays, promoting the national petition calling on Government to impose no cap or limit on financial compensation for victims and announcing a Windrush National Day of Action, to be held on Sat 23rd February 2019 on the United Nations World Day for Social Justice.

Five of Britain’s major black cities, represented by local Windrush Action Groups, all committed to taking part in the day, London, Manchester, Nottingham, Leeds and Birmingham have already committed to organise simultaneous actions in each of these cities. More are urged to join the action.


Chair of the conference Mr David Weaver and Operation Black Vote trustee said;

“ The government needs to recognise the anger, tragedy and despair caused by this unprecedented and gross violation of British Black British citizens human rights.

This conference  puts the government on notice that victims will not be silenced or intimidated by the racism they’ve faced, on the contrary both Windrush victims and the county at large are rightly appalled at the treatment they’ve been forced to endure. This conference reaffirms the demand for no cap or limit on the compensation to victims and the urgent need to reform immigration legislation to ensure this never happens again.”


Desmond Jaddoo of Birmingham stated;

“The time has come to stand up and be counted. The hostile environment towards the African Caribbean community has been an ongoing part of British life for a number of years, in fact since the docking of the Empire Windrush on 22nd June 1948.

We are affected by every form of disproportionality that anyone can think off.

The treatment of the Windrush generation only epitomises the racist behaviour that our elders have been subjected to for a number of years.

We now need to send a clear message that we are here to stay, we have contributed and we are no longer putting up any form of this type of Systemic racism any longer.”

Zita Holbourne Chair of Black Activists Rising Against The Cuts (BARAC) UK, one of the key note speakers at the conference stated;

“The horrific injustice and racism experienced by multiple generations not just Windrush must be addressed but also there has to be real action taken to prevent further cases. There are already 11 reported deaths of those deported plus others who have died in the UK. Some faced with what can only be described as hell on earth have sadly taken their own lives.

The criminalisation of whole communities in this way demonstrates racist intent but the conditions forced upon people, targeted, detained, restrained, ejected from the country and made destitute and isolated, is an abuse of human rights. We call upon everyone who cares about justice, equality and human rights to stand with us and support A national Day of Action for Windrush Justice  and the call by my trade union PCS  for a Public Inquiry  ”

Jaqueline McKenzie, leading Windrush solicitor stated;

“Windrush Action Group is one of the many voices that have emerged to advocate for justice for the victims of the scandal and is led by victims with a membership of about 400 persons.

Both of today's events are important as we put the Windrush scandal within the context of the wider experiences of racism which continues to emanate from so many organisations and institutions and now with the rise of the far right, with increasing sections of society. The Windrush scandal is a major one and is as offensive as it is devastating to that generation of people who gave so much to the UK including to the families of those who have died or were deported.

But we must be vigilant because there are other equally disgraceful practices in the immigration rules and policies which includes the continued deportation of people to countries they don't know, the forced warehousing of people in hostile detention centres without time limits, the continued separation of families through onerous English language and fee requirements, the detention of non visa national holiday makers for spurious reasons, the exorbitant profit making fees and surcharges which increase yearly and the discriminatory treatment of children born in the UK to non British parents who remain undocumented.”

Lee Jasper, A Blaksox sponsor and national press officer of Momentum Black Caucus and one of the key note speakers at the conference said;

“ The illegal deportation of British Black citizens, over decades by the British State represents a most vile defilement of the citizenship rights of a people, Windrush generation, who helped rebuild this country from the ground up. The social contract between the British state and Black British citizens has been broken, smashed on the rocks of institutional racism and blind indifference.

Theresa May’s “hostile climate” is in fact the delivery of long a cherished fascist demand thought unthinkable. From Mosley , the National Front, the BNP and of late, the white neo fascist terrorist organisation, National Action, all of whom dreamed of a day when they would see the forced repatriation of British black and brown people. That day is here, that time is now, and today’s conference calls for an unprecedented action to secure justice for Windrush victims and secure black human rights and citizenship. We are not asking for justice, we intend to secure our unable rights by any means necessary.” 

Ends

Contact:

Lee Jasper;  Tel. 07984 181797 
Email; lee-jasper@live.com

David Weaver; Tel. 07983 592988

Zita Holbourne; Tel. 07711861660
Email; barac.info@gmail.com

Pastor Clive Foster; Tel. 07881 656399