Photo: Copyright Wayne Campbell. Windrush Day. Windrush Square. Brixton. Summer 2024. This Space Was Hard Fought For And Hard Won. It Is Home To The Black Cultural Archives Which Documents Historical Facts Relating To Black British History. King Charles Has Made A Number of Visits Over The Years And Acknowledged The Inspiring Contributions To Britain of The Windrush Generation. This Is Very Significant Because Following The Horrific, Notorious, Racist New Cross Fire In 1981 (In Which 13 Youngsters Celebrating A Birthday Party Were Murdered By Arson) There Was Much Remonstration of The Royal Family For Sending No Public Message of Acknowledgement or Support For The Families of The Deceased Nor The Community Whereas The Queen Sent One For A Separate Fire Tragedy That Sadly Also Occurred In Ireland Within Days of The One In That Occurred In New Cross, South East London.
blackculturalarchives.org @@bcaheritage
The Windrush Era Is Officially Recognised As 1948 – 1971.
This Was A Very Difficult, Disorientating And Momentous Time. Especially In The Early Days. But The Windrush Generation Were Made of Exceptionally Tough Stuff And Would Ultimately Achieve Many, Many, Many, Momentous Triumphs.
Such Triumphs Included Building Europe’s Largest Street Festival, Attracting Visitors From Around The World And Billions To The British Economy.
And
An Official And Judicial Recognition That The Metropolitan Police Are “Institutionally Racist”.
The Second World War (1939-1945) Meant That Many Men Were No Longer Alive To Help Try & Rebuild Pre War British Life. In Particular It Created A Shortage of Labour. The Need To Rebuild A Post War Country Added To That Brutal Post War Reality. The British Government Therefore Reached Out To Young Men ‘And’ Women In The Colonies. Therefore Came The Windrush Generation. The Colonizer, The Great British Empire’ Asked The Colonised Countries For Help And In Response The Colonised Citizens Travelled To Britian ‘The Motherland’ To Help Rebuild ‘Great Britain’ In Its Hour of Need.
Was Great Britain Officially Grateful?
Some Elements & Citizens Were. But A Small But A Significant Number of Elements And Citizens Weren’t.
That Minor Difference Manifested In Racial Attacks. Race Riots. And Murder!
Ultimately Institutional Racial Inertia From The Establishment, Including The British Police ‘Force’, Exacerbated The Situation. The Police Were Back Then (And Still Are Now) Recruited From Members of British Society. The Very Same British Society Which Included Those Who Appreciated The New Work Force. And Those Who Didn’t.
Two Disturbingly Similar Cases, Decades Apart, Highlight This Basic Brutal Fact.
One Of Them Is Historically Related To The Formation of Notting Hill Carnival. It Occurred In The Same Year That The First (Indoor) Notting Hill Carnival Took Place. Just A Mere Four Months Apart. In 1959.
The Other One Occured 34 Years Later In 1993 (And Lead To The Met Police Being Officially Recognised As “Institutionally Racist” For The Very First Time).
They Are The Cases of Kelso Cochrane And Stephen Lawerence Respectively.
Journalist, Editor, Founder, And Carnival Creator Claudia Jones
In May 1958 Activist Claudia Jones Established Her WIG Newspaper – The West Indies Gazette – As She Believed That;
“A Community Without A Voice Were Like Lambs To The Slaughter.”
Just Four Months Later The 1958 London Notting Hill Race Riots, Alongside The Associate 1958 Nottingham Race Riots Broke Out.
In January 1959, Wintertime, She Established The First (Indoors) Notting Hill Carnival As A Direct Anti-dote To The Previous Year’s Racist Violence.
However, Sadly, Tragically, In May 1959, A Young Antiguan Man, Kelso Cochran, Was Racially Attacked And Murdered In Springtime of The Same Year. Over 1, 200 People, Black And White, Male And Female, Young And Old, Attended His Funeral. Ultimately, Tellingly, Five Months Later In October 1959, Now Autumntime, Racist MP Oswald Mosely, Was Decisively Defeated In The Local Elections! Even Then, Back In The Day, The British People Wanted Unity, Not Hostility. Owald’s Defeat Was The People’s Electoral Demonstration of That.
It Was A Triumph For Engagement, Sharing And Integration.
In 1995 The McPherson Report Concluded That The Metropolitan Police ‘Force’ Was “Institutionally Racist”. The Judge Led Enquiry Had Been Commissioned After The High Profile Racist Murder of 17 Year Old Stephen Lawrence Who Was Stabbed To Death By A Gang of White Racists At A Bus Stop In Eltham South East London On His Way Home After An Evening Out With His Friend Dwayne Brooks. Stephen Was Studying To Become An Architect. The Failure of The Met Police To Investigate The Case Properly And Apprehend His Killers Became Notorious.
Both His Parents Fought Hard For Justice, Transparency And Accountability.
Despite Their Incalculable Devastation, After Exceptional Dedication, Determination, And Diligence, By Stephen’s Parents, The Five Main Suspects (Known In The Community) Were Eventually Arrested And Charged But Initially All Got Away With Murder.
But That Injustice Led To A Change In The Law.
Previously ‘The Law of Double Jeopardy’ Meant That A Defendant Could Not Be Tried Twice For Murder. However, A New Police Team (Led By DCI Clive Driscoll) Uncovered Forensic Evidence And An Appeal Was Successfully Made To The Criminal Court For A Retrial Years Later, Based On These New Forensics. 2 of The Original 5 Suspects Were Subsequently Retried. And Convicted.
Stephen’s Family Established The Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation To Commemorate His Life And His Study of Architecture. Driscoll Would Eventually Be Invited To Join The Board of The Foundation Having Worked Hard To Earn The Trust of Baroness Lawrence. They Developed A Great Respect For Each Other.
StephenLawerenceDayFoundation.Org
It Was A Triumph For Grace, Dignity, And Perseverance In The Face Of Institutionally Racist Policing
However, Esteemed Lawyer Damn Louise Casey Was Commissioned To Write Another Report Decades Later, As Police Impropriety Sadly, Significantly Continued, Even After The Original Macpherson Report. She Also Concluded That The Met Was Institutionally Racist.
Still!
Shamefully On The Part of The Police, Not Much Had Changed. Except… Now It Had Also Been Officially Declared Institutionally Homophobic And Institutionally Misogynistic Too.
The Pioneering Efforts of Claudia Jones In Building Both ‘Integration And Independence’ – And – Doreen & Neville Lawrence In ‘Fighting Institutional Racism’ Highlights How Important And Powerful Demonstration Within Democracy Is.
Pod 2 of 7: Fantastically Photographically Free
TheOrator.Press (T.O.P) @theorator.press.on.insta Asked Wayne “Are You A Member of Any Photography Society or Group?
“It’s Funny, I’m An Award-Winning Designer, An Award-Winning Filmmaker And A Critically Acclaimed Photographer Yet I’m Not Associated To Any Organization or Affiliation.“
“I’m Just Talented. Very Talented.”
“How You Communicate Is Key.”
Below: Wayne Campbell Founder of ‘A Celebration of Demonstration’ Explains How “Demonstration Is Democracy”.
TheOrator.Press ~ A New, Monthly, Online, Independent Magazine 