On June 21st this year Windrush Foundation will celebrate “thirty years of outstanding contribution” to the community. The organisation was founded in 1995 by the late RAF war veteran and Windrush passenger Sam King MBE and Arthur Torrington CBE who envisioned it as a vehicle to “create an identity for Caribbean people, especially the youth” in order to “promote good race and community relations, build cohesion, eliminate discrimination and encourage equality of opportunity for all.”

The free event will feature a host of contributions including from Lewisham East MP Janet Daby, poet John Agard, calyspsonian Tobago Crusoe and Foundation co-founder Eld. Arthur Torriington. It takes place at The Tab Centre on Lewisham High Street, the day before Windrush Day as designated in 2018 under the premiership of Theresa May (https://windrushfoundation.com/news/windrush-foundation-celebrating-30-years/). (1)

Windrush occupies a unique role in the consciousness of the community. For example some commentators, like Bro. Patrick Vernon, have opined that the Windrush legacy is “bittersweet,” offering the chance to “celebrate the diversity of modern Britain” and to “acknowledge the legacy of those first Windrush pioneers, but is yet “tainted by the injustice of the Windrush scandal,” where hundreds were wrongly deported and thousands more were “betrayed” by the compensation scheme set up as redress. (2)

But some go even further, such as award-winning writer, education campaigner, and lecturer Professor Gus John, author of Don’t Salvage the Empire Windrush published like New Beacon Books. Prof. John argues that the Windrush narrative is “misconstrued” and “ignores the history of the people who came, detracts attention from the ghastly things the [British government] is doing in the name of immigration, and neglects the realities that were and are faced,” essentially sanitising the history. He adds that this process of “repatriating colonialism to Britain from the Caribbean” also diminishes the experiences of those from the Afrikan continent and others. (3)

The Windrush resonates at a profound symbolic level. That it seems to include differing and perhaps even conflicting narratives can represent a challenge to efforts to render a comprehensive account of the Afrikan experience in the UK. Key to this are notions of control and ownership.
(1) Adina Campbell (19/06/24) Who were the Windrush generation and what is Windrush Day? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-43782241
(2) Aine Fox (22/06/23) ‘Bittersweet’ Windrush 75th anniversary marked. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/caribbean-windsor-itv-news-james-cleverly-amber-rudd-b2361955.html/; Afrika Speaks with Alkebu-Lan on Galaxy Radio (26/06/23) Windrush@75: What is its true legacy? https://alkebulan.org/2023/06/26/aswag-439-windrush-75-legacy/; Sophie Huskisson (17/04/23) Windrush victims ‘violated’ by ‘lunacy’ of compensation scheme, campaigners warn. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/windrush-victims-violated-lunacy-compensation-29705146; Yvette Cooper (22/06/24) The Tories betrayed the Windrush victims – we will stand by them. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jun/22/tories-windrush-victims-home-office
(3) Donari Yahzid (07/05/24) Leave the Empire Windrush at the Bottom of the Ocean: In Conversation with Gus John. https://www.cjlpa.org/post/leave-the-empire-windrush-at-the-bottom-of-the-ocean-in-conversation-with-gus-john; Kimbunga Media (10/04/25) Gus John Condemns The “Windrush Generation” Narrative. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zg-yLS36tOM&t=617s

We ask the question:

Windrush: Why does it matter?

1) Is the Windrush legacy “bittersweet”?
2) Who controls the Windrush narrative?
3) Do some Windrush narratives sanitise UK History?
4) Where does Windrush fit in the overall account of Afrikans in the UK?

Our Special Guests:

Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka: Resident guest who is Spiritual Leader of the Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement and an Afrikan-Centred Education Consultant. Bro. Ldr is a veteran activist of over 40 years standing, a featured columnist in The Whirlwind newspaper and author of Mosiah Daily Affirmations and Education: An African-Centred Approach To Excellence.

Baba Arthur Torrington CBE: is a Guyanese-born community advocate and historian who is Director and co-founder of the London-based Windrush Foundation, a charity that since 1996 has been working to highlight the contributions to the UK of African and Caribbean peoples, “to keep alive the memories of the young men and women who were among the first wave of post-war settlers in Britain”, and to promote good community relations. The organization commemorates in its name the Empire Windrush, the ship that on 22 June 1948 docked at Tilbury bringing the first significant group of Caribbean migrants to Britain, including Sam King, who with Torrington established the Windrush Foundation. Also in 1996, Torrington set up the Equiano Society, with the main objective of celebrating the life and work of Olaudah Equiano (c. 1745–1797), as well as the literary and cultural legacy in Britain of Equiano’s African contemporaries.

Alexander D. Great: is a Calypsonian that engages in a number of Art forms including: Storytelling, Singing, Songwriting and is an instrumentalist. He runs a range of activities for Early years and above, Youth & Community Groups and Residencies, including: Caribbean Calypso song writing workshops; Storytelling with music workshops / performances; Composition workshops; Caribbean Calypso performances and Early Years workshops (with mini-steel pans).

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