The Centre For Reparation Research wants justice for the Windrush Generation

The Centre for Reparation Research says that the Windrush generation crisis demonstrates the failure of the United Kingdom to face its responsibilities as a former colonial power.

In a statement, The Centre called for a full investigation into the circumstances under which some persons have been deported and others being threatened with deportation and denial of their British citizenship.

“those who left to work in the UK, along with their children, went as British citizens under the 1948 Nationality Act. The Centre maintains that the Windrush generation crisis is based on the UK’s long practice, since the days of African enslavement, to have cheap but expendable labour for its own enrichment and development”.

Professor Verene Shepherd, Director of the Centre, described the situation has shameful.

“This crisis … clearly links reparatory justice with the continuing harm to the Caribbean. The failure to provide formal paperwork for those who emigrated as British citizens from the Caribbean is shameful” Shepherd said.

“The UK has used black bodies to build or rebuild the country, as in the case after World War II, and now seeks to deport them after they extracted the most useful years of their lives,” she said.

The Centre noted that the Windrush generation deportations came on the heels of recent revelations that until 2015, West Indians and other Black Britons paid taxes that helped pay off the Slavery Compensation Loan to white plantation owners in the Caribbean.

“these people were once again being asked to bear the burden of the UK’s failure to address colonialism”.

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