LONDON: Britain on Thursday celebrated the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush ship bringing workers from the West Indies, but with the bitter legacy of a wrongful depor­ta­tion scandal still fresh.

Known as the “Wind­rush generation”, thousands of people came to the UK at the invitation of the British government between 1948 and the early 1970s to fill shortages of key workers following World War II.

Mostly from Jamaica or Trinidad and Tobago, they received indefinite leave to remain, but many who did not apply for passports later found themselves targeted by immigration laws intended to create a “hostile environment” for illegal immigrants.

Many lost jobs, homes, health care, pensions and benefits because they could not produce paperwork, while others were taken into custody or forced to return to the Caribbean. Five years after the scandal sparked outrage, many of those affected are still waiting for the promised compensation.

The Empire Windrush, carrying several hundred migrants, arrived at the port of Tilbury, east of London, on June 22, 1948.

Three-quarters of a century later, the anniversary is a chance for the UK to “recognise and celebrate the immeasurable contribution that they, their children and their grandchildren have made to this country”, King Charles III said.

“Once in Britain, they worked hard, offering their skills to rebuild a country during peacetime and seeking opportunities to forge a better future for themselves and their families,” he said in the foreword of a book accompanying a display of portraits.

To mark the anniversary, Charles attended a service for young people and “Windrush pioneers” at St George’s Chapel on the royal family’s Windsor estate, west of London.

“They are pioneers who paved the way for generations who came after them, not merely to survive but to thrive,” the Bishop of Dover, Rose Hudson-Wilkin, told the congregation.

For surviving members of the Windrush generation and their descendants, however, the scandal that erupted in 2018 remains an open wound.

“It just felt like another trauma. It’s just so unfair,” said Yvonne Josiah, 61, who was born in London but whose mother came to the UK in the late 1950s.

“I grew up in a community of black people that came here, that were hard working... They didn’t come here to rely on social housing... They weren’t rebellious. They wanted to just live a quiet life, to work hard to achieve something, they wanted better for their children,” she said.

Yvonne’s daughter, Kenya Josiah, 28, said she was still bewildered by how people who had been in the country for many years, supported the economy and paid taxes could be treated as if they were “disposable”.

“I just felt like how could you treat people that... like they’re nothing,” she added.

Her generation was much more willing to speak out on the subject than that of her mother or grandmother, she added.

Published in Dawn, June 23rd, 2023