Windrush Day 2020 marked with a petition for quicker compensation

The second Windrush Day was commemorated 22nd June 2020 to recognise and honour the enormous contribution of those who stepped ashore at Tilbury Docks from the Empire Windrush in 1948. Mostly from the Caribbean, nearly 1000 passengers disembarked, ready to help the British Government repair the UK's economy following World War II. The Government recruited Afro-Caribbean migrants to work in jobs including the production of steel, coal, iron, and food, and also jobs in the service sector, such as running public transport and staffing the new National Health Service in the United Kingdom.

The first Afro-Caribbean immigrants in the United Kingdom were faced with extreme intolerance from the majority of the white population. Although Afro-Caribbean migrants were encouraged to settle in the United Kingdom and take up employment to relieve the labour market by the authorities, many early immigrants were denied access to private employment and accommodation because of the colour of their skin. Black people were also banned from many pubs, clubs, and even churches.

Windrush Day was introduced in June 2018 on the 70th anniversary of the Windrush migration to encourage communities across the UK to celebrate the contribution of the Windrush Generation and their descendants. Official backing was given when it was subsequently announced by the government that an annual Windrush Day would be celebrated on 22 June, supported by a grant of up to £500,000, to recognise and honour the contribution of the Windrush Generation and their descendants and to "keep their legacy alive for future generations, ensuring that we all celebrate the diversity of Britain's history."

This followed the 2018 British political scandal concerning people who were wrongly detained, denied legal rights, threatened with deportation, and, in at least 83 cases wrongly deported from the UK by the Home Office. An unknown number were detained, lost their jobs or homes, or were denied benefits or medical care to which they were entitled. The Windrush scandal also prompted a wider debate about British immigration policy and Home Office practice. The Government also commissioned an independent review Windrush Lessons Learned Review by Wendy Williams which was published on 19th March 2020.

Windrush Compensation Petition

Patrick Philip Vernon OBE, a British social commentator and political activist of Jamaican heritage, led a successful campaign for 22 June to be recognised annually as Windrush Day, a national day acknowledging the migrant contribution to UK society, and he also raised a petition calling for the Government to speed up compensation for people wrongly detained and deported as a result of the “hostile environment” against Windrush generation immigrants and their descendants. Survivors of the Windrush scandal delivered a petition to Downing Street signed by 130,000 people on Friday 19th June 2020, calling on the government to speed up compensation payments and implement all the recommendations in the Windrush Lessons Learned Review.