By Stephen Spark |
THE PROPOSED LOCATION AT WATERLOO STATION IS ON THE UPPER CONCOURSE (AKA THE MEZZANINE), ADJACENT TO THE VICTORY ARCH AND OPPOSITE PLATFORM 19. IT IS A RARELY VISITED PART OF THE STATION AND NOT SEEN BY THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE STATION’S USERS. THE MEZZANINE ITSELF WAS BUILT IN 2012, LONG AFTER THE WINDRUSH GENERATION ERA (DEFINED BY THE GOVERNMENT AS 1948-1971), SO HAS NO DIRECT CONNECTION WITH WEST INDIAN MIGRATION TO THE UK.
No consultation, no communication, no co-operation
In 2018, in the wake of revelations about the Windrush Scandal, May’s government set up a Windrush Commemoration Committee (WCC), which is chaired by children’s author and broadcaster Baroness Floella Benjamin DBE. The rest of the committee comprises Paulette Simpson of The Voice, Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin, Tim Campbell MBE, Geoff Thompson MBE, Sir Ken Olisa, George Mpanga, Simon Frederick, and carnivalist and activist Ansel Wong. Responsibility for the £1 million project falls under the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG). The WCC chair rejected a suggestion that a representative from the Windrush Foundation join the committee.
The meeting was told that three sites for the monument were considered: Brixton, Waterloo station and the Albert Embankment alongside the Thames. Of these, only the first has a direct link with the passengers who arrived on Empire Windrush itself, yet, for reasons that have never been made public, the committee chose Waterloo station (where, coincidentally, Baroness Benjamin herself arrived).
Many of the 100+ participants in the meeting expressed outrage that the UK Caribbean community itself was never consulted about the location or form of the ‘monument’; nor, according to Cllr Sonia Winifred, was Lambeth Council involved in decision-making. Despite the WCC being a publicly funded organisation, it has failed to publish any details of its meetings, decisions and finances. Only after applying to the Information Commissioner was Windrush Foundation co-founder Arthur Torrington able to obtain minutes of the committee’s meetings, which had been partly redacted (blacked out).
Despite being invited to join the Zoom meeting, no one from the Windrush Commemoration Committee seems to have been prepared to join the public discussion about the best way to commemorate the Windrush Generation.
Many participants in the meeting felt that this lack of transparency and consultation with the community was disrespectful and undermined the credibility of any monument that might be put up.
Replies