News
Windrush National Monument Unveiled, thank you expressed to Caribbean
By Shanieka Smith
Features Writer
#London, June 25, 2022 – A national monument was unveiled in London on Windrush Day, June 22 to celebrate Caribbean migrants’ work to help rebuild Britain after World War II. At the same time, Queen Elizabeth II and
The statue depicts a man, woman and child standing on top of suitcases at London’s Waterloo train station.
In the speech by the Duke of Cambridge, he pointed out the longstanding issue of discrimination, which he said: “ remains an all too familiar experience for Black men and women in Britain in 2022.” He also referred to a British government scandal that he said “profoundly wronged” several thousand who travelled to Britain between 1948 and 1973. This was called the “Windrush generation” and happened after the government called on colonies to send workers because of the post-war labour shortages.
The queen said in a letter that the new statue was a “fitting thank you to the Windrush pioneers and their descendants, in recognition of the profound contribution they have made to the United Kingdom over the decades.”
“Alongside celebrating the diverse fabric of our families, our communities and our society as a whole — something the Windrush generation has contributed so much to — it is also important to acknowledge the ways in which the future they sought and deserved has yet to come to pass,” Prince William added.
Britain’s government has provided 1 million pounds to fund the statue in Waterloo station. The government said that the monument, which “symbolises the courage, commitment and resilience of the thousands of men, women and children who travelled to the U.K. to start new lives from 1948 to 1971, is meant to be a “permanent place of reflection.”
Next year will be 75 years since the arrival of the Empire Windrush in Essex, near London, bringing workers and children from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and other islands.