Windrush Child

The eleventh installment of our blog series on 'Childhood and Migration' is a poem by Laura Rennie (University of Portsmouth, UK), 'Windrush Child.'

August 5, 2024

Photo by Colleen Rowe Harvey. Source: Artuk.org

When post-war Britain was short of labour,

It called on its Caribbean colonies to request a huge favour.These individuals were entitled to British citizenship through the UK’s legal constitution,So many migrated to Britain to work across its various public institutions.

To compensate for their absence owing to the transatlantic distance,Windrush migrants would send a barrel ‘back home’ as a form of remittance.The so-called ‘Barrel children’ were subsequently named after these containers of pleasures,That were full of rice, sugar and other British treasures.

From the experiences that Windrush migrants recount, 

They were prevented from securing accommodation, and even bank accounts.

Britain was increasingly hostile towards them, but still they fought back harder,

They created their own saving initiatives, known as a ‘sou-sou’ or ‘partner’. 

Eventually, enough money would have been acquired

To pay the fee that a passage to Inglan’ required.Even though financial circumstances were undoubtedly tricky,There was finally enough money to send for dem ‘pickney’.

The problem however was that when they came, Compared to white kids, Blacks were not treated the same. 

There were countless stories of Inglan’ that they had been told,

Inspiring images of British streets being paved with gold.

These turned out to be broken dreams,

Because instead they were subjected to Britain’s racist regimes.Their Black presence stirred a sense of “foreboding”,People like Enoch Powell felt that British society was slowly corroding.

It really was a strange situation

To be transported into sudden alienation.

When many of these children left behind all they knew,

They were soon to learn that their promised dreams of Inglan’ were too good to be true.

Reunited with their parents, but detached from their grandparents overseas, ‘back a yard’Adjusting to British society was often difficult and hard.Rather than taking these broken attachments into considerationAnd within the wider context of Black social ostracisation,Many mainstream school leaders deemed these children intellectually inferior,

Largely on the basis of a Windrush child’s melanated exterior. There was a man who took these circumstances on board,

He was a Grenadian migrant called Bernard Coard. 

Coard highlighted how Britain made the West Indian child educationally subnormal,

Through anti-Black processes that British systems institutionalised and made formal. Today, our education system labels Black children ‘SEMH’ and ‘EHCP’,

Whilst our Justice system labels Black children ‘IC3’

The original Windrush children are more than mere immigrants 

Because today their legacies are still so politically significant.

In 1981, 13 children were dead and nothing was said.In 1993, Stephen Lawrence’s blood was senselessly shed.

In 2011, Mark Duggan’s death led to riotsThat were fuelled by a long history of Black British disquiet.Research has been done but we still lack clarityFor the reasons underpinning Britain’s ethnic disparities.

Outcomes for Windrush descendants are not necessarily getting any better

Than the circumstances described by Linton Kwesi Jonhson in ‘Sonny’s Lettah’. 

Today’s Windrush children continue to be made the mother country's victims Through the anti-Black mechanisms of Britain’s institutional systems.

Black Caribbean children are still facing disproportionate numbers of school exclusionsThen falling down a pipeline towards their eventual prosecutions.The Windrush narrative must be retold to show how this pattern of Black British migration

Continues to influence Black youths' modern experiences of social ostracisation. 

Laura Serrant’s poem explains, when Britain called, it was the Windrush generation 

That left their homes and families behind without hesitation.

This is a social justice issue much wider than an academic conversationBecause so many Windrush descendants are still experiencing frustration

How many more protests, riots and Black Lives Matters demonstrations

Will be required for the children affected by the Windrush Scandal to receive a clear ExplanationAs to why disproportionate numbers are still being denied compensation?

The Windrush narrative is now a symbol of British inclusivity,

Although many Windrush descendants remain trapped in sociopolitical captivity.

When we consider today’s treatment of the Windrush generation’s progeny,

We can see they are still being dominated by Britain’s imperial hegemony. 

We need to change the Windrush narrative from ‘Black British progress’ towards a story of Stagnation, 

To highlight how Black Caribbean youth are still being subjected to systemic ethnic filtration.

Britain’s promise of a ‘better life’ that encouraged so many West Indians to travel,

Has now led to their great grandchildren existing at the bottom of Britain’s barrel.

The Windrush children have faced anti-Blackness persistently,

Thus the story of Windrush migration is hardly over - we are still making history!

If they knew that their kin would end up in Britain’s school-to-prison pipeline

Would the Windrush generation have still chosen to migrate away from their lives in the Sunshine?

Is this really the ‘better life’ they were promised or were they all misled? 

Rather than waving the children goodbye, perhaps the palm trees should’ve wept instead.

Laura Rennie

University of Portsmouth

laura.rennie@port.ac.uk