London commemorates the Windrush generation with statues

[get these nets]

​

​

London Honors the Caribbean Migrants of the Windrush Generation With Two New Public Monuments​

The monuments have been installed at Waterloo Station and outside Hackney Town Hall.

June 23, 2022

The National Windrush Monument at Waterloo Station in London. Photo courtesy of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.



Two major public sculptures were unveiled yesterday in London to honor the Windrush Generation, the hundreds of thousands of West Indian migrants who moved to the U.K. in the decades after World War II.
A large bronze monument depicting new arrivals from the Caribbean standing on suitcases, by the Jamaican artist Basil Watson, was inaugurated at Waterloo Station. In the London borough of Hackney, Warm Shores, two standalone sculptures by Thomas J. Price, were installed outside the town hall.

The works were made public on Windrush Day, which was first introduced on June 22, 2018, to commemorate the Caribbean arrivals, including those on the Empire Windrush ship that docked in 1948. They made major contributions to the rebuilding of postwar Britain but also faced discrimination.

The National Windrush Monument at Waterloo Station in London. Photo courtesy of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
The official National Windrush Monument by Basil Watson is intended to convey the courage, commitment, and resilience of those who migrated to start new lives in the U.K. between 1948 and 1971, when the Immigration Act was introduced. The work was made possible through £1 million funding from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
“My parents, along with a great many others, took the long arduous voyage from the Caribbean with very little or nothing other than their aspirations, their courage, and a promise of opportunity for advancement,” said Watson. “Despite many challenges, they spread their culture across Britain influencing many aspects of society.”

Thomas J. Price in front of Warm Shores (2022) outside Hackney Town Hall. Photo: Damian Griffiths.
Thomas J. Price won the Hackney Windrush Art Commission in 2020 for his proposal to depict the Windrush Generation and their descendants. In May 2021, he invited Hackney residents with a personal connection to Windrush to be digitally photographed with a 3D-scanning device. The information gathered about clothing, features, and stature were all used in composite to inform the final two large-scale bronze sculptures of a man and a woman.
“It is important that my figures are not placed on plinths, to disrupt a sense of hierarchy that surrounds many public monuments,” said Price. “They exist amongst the public and daily life and are an extension of the people who inhabit these spaces.”

 

[Kuma the Bear]

‎

 

[Mike Nasty]

The Windrush community should have received reparations a long time ago. This is just another empty, baseless, “give you crumbs” gesture from cacs and how fitting that they got “Prince” William to be at the forefront for this statue reveal . They will do anything but do what really needs to be done.

The government have been and are still planning to deport the Windrush community as we speak so what exactly is the point of this statue? You acknowledge their contributions to Britain yet are still removing them while telling people to open their doors to Ukrainians

Make no mistake, UK is a trash ass country and the safety nets are pretty much the only good thing about it.

Windrush generation: Who are they and why are they facing problems? I had to read something cause nothing you said makes sense.

 

[get these nets]

The Windrush community should have received reparations a long time ago. This is just another empty, baseless, “give you crumbs” gesture from cacs and how fitting that they got “Prince” William to be at the forefront for this statue reveal . They will do anything but do what really needs to be done.

The government have been and are still planning to deport the Windrush community as we speak so what exactly is the point of this statue? You acknowledge their contributions to Britain yet are still removing them while telling people to open their doors to Ukrainians

Make no mistake, UK is a trash ass country and the safety nets are pretty much the only good thing about it.

I hear you. Over ten years ago, I was educated/taught about their stories directly from their descendants.
@DaRealness could tell you. That real life interaction supplemented what I'd studied about Black migration history.

In the segment of the first clip, they briefly mentioned current and recent deportation issue. Though I'm sure it is a hot button topic that was discussed extensively this week in the Brit press

 

[Amestafuu (Emeritus)]

Didn't they still get deported? Some did anyway.

 

[Reflected]

British Library

www.bl.uk

Yeah, they should have definitely received reparations at this point. But I do recognize the significance of the statues though, I try to keep up with politics in the U.K., but I also watch street and formal debates where this issue is more often covered, and there was an ongoing movement to refuse to recognize the significance of the windrush generation, with regards to the reconstruction of the nation, and a refusal to recognize them formally as British citizens, a recognition that they definitely earned on top of reparations for the their exploitations by the government and employers and their treatment in the country following the period of reconstruction.

 

[MikelArteta]

Didn't they still get deported? Some did anyway.

yup

 

[DaRealness]

Being acknowledged is all well and good, but with the Windrush scandals and racist deportation of our people who literally saved this country and made it what it is, I couldn't care less about no statue.

 

[DreadBrown]

They can fukk off with their statue

Please don’t get me vex

 

[MajesticLion]

I strive to be a man of peace.