‘Our history is steeped in this particular brand of manipulative cruelty; it is not new’

What came to light this week with regards to the Windrush generation’s battle with immigration has shaken me to the core.

After months of half answers and shady deportations, we have finally heard the truth:

“The Home Office destroyed thousands of landing card slips recording Windrush immigrants’ arrival dates in the UK, despite staff warnings that the move would make it harder to check the records of older Caribbean-born residents experiencing residency difficulties.

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“A former Home Office employee said the records, stored in the basement of a government tower block, were a vital resource for case workers when they were asked to find information about someone’s arrival date in the UK from the West Indies – usually when the individual was struggling to resolve immigration status problems.” – The Guardian.

Our government ordered for all arrival records to be destroyed and now a generation that arrived as children have been told – after fighting for a country which subjected them to the most heinous abuse whilst they helped build up its broken economy – that it’s their responsibility to produce documents from decades past and have been deported when unable.

Now, there is a debate going on about whether Labour or Conservative governments were the one who put the order in. But that, to me, is redundant. The issue here is not who put the destruction into motion, the issue here is the hostile environment that has been mindfully curated in order to make it highly difficult to be in this country.

It is the catalyst that has made this document destroying scandal such a national shame, because if the government weren’t demanding these particular papers to prove citizenship, this wouldn’t be a problem.

Stories unearthed have been truly heartbreaking and have been happening all over the UK and what makes me so unbelievably sad is this was not a mistake. This was not an oversight.

There was a calculated move designed to get rid of those who have ceased to be of use. To send people away with the advice to ‘put on an accent’ in order to blend into a country that is not their home…there aren’t words.

These people were invited here. Invited when Britain was vulnerable and begging for help, selling a lie of prosperity and acceptance in order to  use, abuse, neglect and now forcibly deport. To a place where there may not be family or friends to assist.

Children of the Windrush generation have been refused treatment on the NHS, some have been forcibly torn apart from their families – the Home Office doesn’t even know the number of deportations, let alone if they were necessary.

As my cousin, Esther Ojulari, so rightly put it: “This is Britain’s colonial mentality. Enlist formally colonised and enslaved people to fight in your war. Invite more formally colonised and enslaved people to rebuild your country after the war, promising them streets paved with gold.

“When they arrive, send them to live in the poorest neighbourhoods, fail to protect them from racist landlords, employers, far right groups, police and general society. Rely on them to be the backbone of some of the most important sectors in society… what would the NHS and public transport systems have been without the Windrush generation?

“Then, after several decades of invaluable public service, tax paying, hard work and resilience, tell them and/or their children that they are no longer welcome or legal in Britain. I can’t believe this is even a conversation.”

Our history is steeped in this particular brand of manipulative cruelty; it is not new.

To see Britain repeating itself in this way, in this day and age, is something to be astronomically ashamed of. This is a pattern of behaviour that we, as a society, need to realise and change.

Please, give what you can to the Windrush Justice Fund and sign/share this petition. Even better, email your MP. It takes a few seconds and will make a difference. This injustice will not cease if we are passive, action is needed and it is needed now.

Ngaio Anyia

Ngaio Anyia is a writer, musician and DJ

Main photo by Thomas Katan.

Read more: ‘Treatment of Windrush generation as second-class citizens is a disgrace’