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[Music]
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these are some of the Windrush
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generation the men women and children
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who arrived in Britain from Commonwealth
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Caribbean countries between 1948 and
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1971 they came to the UK to help a
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nation that after two successive Wars
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had become bankrupt 250,000 servicemen
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were killed and you know many people who
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gone away and experienced the world come
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back to England they realized they
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didn't want to work in two factories
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there was a vacuum and there was a need
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for the Commonwealth to come to the aid
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of the motherland which they were like
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to do they shaped communities my
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grandmother she was actually one of the
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Jamaicans that came over and basically
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started a lot that's happened here in
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Brixton but often faced racism we had
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stories of lazy this is written over
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living in overcrowded houses taking our
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jobs or women and all the negatives that
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we are hearing today and that wasn't the
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life that I was living or I was
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observing and now in 2018 many are being
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told they may no longer remain in a
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government scandal that has rocked
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Britain it's affected a community you
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know in a negative way you know like I
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could ice personally after it happened
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like if you feel a bit more like an
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alien in this special episode of
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showcase we meet artists and activists
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to find out what life is like beyond
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Windrush
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[Music]
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in June 1948 after 30 days at sea the
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Empire Windrush steamed down the Thames
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the 500 Caribbean migrants would have a
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profound a cultural impact on
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communities from Brixton
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to Birmingham and seventy years on I
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want to know how that culture has
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filtered through creatively and as the
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government comes under increasing fire
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for its treatment of Windrush migrants
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how are people expressing their feelings
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about the scandal through art music and
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photography
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[Music]
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the 70th anniversary should be a time of
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celebration but for the last few months
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the word Windrush has almost always been
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coupled with the word scandal according
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to Oxford University's migration
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observatory there are an estimated
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500,000 people living in the UK born in
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a Commonwealth country and who arrived
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before 1971 the Immigration Act of 1971
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it gave them indefinite leave to remain
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but the home office didn't keep a record
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of those granted leave to remain and in
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2010 many Windrush migrants had their
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landing cards destroyed thousands have
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potentially been affected by the
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government's so-called hostile
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environment regarding immigration this
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has resulted in protests and a promise
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from the new Home Secretary Sajid Javid
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to resolve the situation as soon as
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possible
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I want to start by making a pledge a
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pledge to those from the Windrush
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generation who have been in this country
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for decades and yet have struggled to
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navigate through the immigration system
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this never should have been the case and
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I will do whatever it takes to put it
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right today I've come to Brixton's
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Windrush square
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it's one of the places in the UK that's
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been most influenced by Caribbean
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culture
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[Music]
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this is a site of huge cultural
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importance for Windrush the square was
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renamed after Windrush 20 years ago on
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the 50th anniversary to reflect the fact
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that arrivals would temporarily house in
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Cold Harbor Lane which is just down the
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road and it's also hoped the black
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cultural archives these are a treasure
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trove of black and Caribbean history the
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archives opened in 2014
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and are now the foremost location for
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archival documents for the community the
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square also has a permanent memorial to
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African and Caribbean service personnel
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who died during the first and second
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world wars Andrea Brown organized
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today's event congregate Brixton which
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brings together traders artists music
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food and culture
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her grandmother was a member of the
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Windrush generation well she's back in
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sunny Jamaica mouths of to say but what
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she's getting all the coverage and she
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feels very very ashamed to know that she
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actually came here and knowing that she
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was a star of what's happened here
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especially in lumber so when she looks
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at what's been happening it's really
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embarrassing
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because they actually were the the
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forefront of what's happening today
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in Britain most other artists and
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traders here can also trace their roots
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back to the Caribbean and the influence
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is clear to see my grandparents they
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came over just after the wind wash so I
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can kind of simplify so a lot of people
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that are going through all the madness
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that's happening right now with the
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situation on the stay and Remmy also
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takes inspiration from the cultural
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identities and spirit he sees in Brixton
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he thinks events like this are vital to
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get local voices heard personally after
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it happened like if you throw a bit more
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like an alien I mean like you feel like
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it especially awful lot at the back of
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what the government has done in like
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right in new centers quite in services
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like that they will affect our community
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like and we can feel that so this is
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like almost like the icing on top Joe so
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like it's up to us to come together now
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and to make our voices heard
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[Music]
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music is a huge part of that
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with many deejays and emcees making a
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name for themselves in any any of the
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music you see around here any of the
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events it's a flavor of the streets you
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know even just the attitude on on the
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street is different but Brixton isn't
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the only area known for its
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afro-caribbean community and it's not
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the only place celebrating 70 years
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since the first arrivals docked in the
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UK we've traveled here to Birmingham to
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the Midlands Arts Centre there's a whole
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heap of events happening throughout the
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summer from photographic exhibitions to
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dance shows and lectures and while the
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program has been designed to coincide
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with the 70th anniversary of Windrush I
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can't help thinking that in a post
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brexit world an exploration of how
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cultures coexist is more timely than
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ever
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[Music]
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Deborah commode is max artistic director
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and the curator behind beyond Windrush
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art centers I always say places like
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theatres and and galleries as we can
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make safe places for unsafe
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conversations sometimes and that
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conversation comes through in a variety
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of media including this performance by
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Phoenix dance theater
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Windrush is really a significant piece
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of work we celebrate 17 years of a
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Caribbean immigrants come into the UK
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having arrived on the SS Windrush at
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Tilbury Docks the Phoenix to be telling
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the story it really is a wind rush of
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its own in a way that whole
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reincarnation of what it's like to be a
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migrant working and being successful
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within the UK the dance performance
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captures both the struggles and success
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of the migrant experience the idea of
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duality of belonging and not belonging
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of triumphs and despair of the Caribbean
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and Britain but beyond Windrush as a
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concept started with local photographer
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Andrew Jackson because his parents came
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in 1958 to Birmingham and they were
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aware they were part of the wind rush
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generation and we thought it would be
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really interesting to explore that as a
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piece of social history as much as an
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art project
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[Music]
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andrew understands duality all too well
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they leave one space where they have a
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defined identity they come to their new
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country and in one sense they want to
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hang on to who they were to keep that
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sense of tradition and memories and
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links to family and people in their love
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but they're in in their new country now
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and have to construct a new identity to
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fit in and in many sense they lose
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authenticity and they become trapped in
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it inauthentic mid-ground between those
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things because when they go back home
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they're now a foreigner and any country
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which they live they're also a foreigner
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the project is intensely personal
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inspired by a time when Andrews father
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in particular was unwell but in the
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current political climate it's also
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widely relatable one of the byproducts
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of I guess recent recent political
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shambles is that there's a focus and a
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consideration that these people were
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asked to come you know they were invited
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they were British citizen coming to the
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modern Britain was broken bankrupt after
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war 400,000 people were killed during
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the war there was a vacuum and there was
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a need for the Commonwealth to come to
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the aid of mother and English they were
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wanted to do Andrew is one generation
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removed from the direct migrant
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experience
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another photographer exhibiting at Mac
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is Van Lee Burke he came over here when
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he was just 15 his work council of
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voices intermingles a photographic
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collage with domestic objects from his
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home country Jamaica I think art is very
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important in telling the story of any
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individual I mean we wanted to look at
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history to see sometimes some of the the
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only thing that represents a people's
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existence is that art that they left
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behind but it's normally Pooh stories
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been told in the art and who's telling
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the story and I felt it was important
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that we as a people participate in the
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whole storytelling we were never in a
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position if you like to tell our story
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his work is a patchwork of different
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experiences emotions and moments in time
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the writers have written many pieces
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around this visual artists and other
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people have you know poets and so on
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added their voice to you know the whole
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argument about the wind rush and a its
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effect on the racism and its effect on
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the people and also their contribution
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to the bill the nominee of Britain the
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recent government scandal has brought
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win rush to the forefront of Britain's
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consciousness seventy years have passed
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since the first Caribbean migrants
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landed here in Britain and while there
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was racism and adversity there was also
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integration and inspiration nowhere is
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that more evident than in the art of the
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Windrush generation and their
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descendants
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[Music]
