A Positive Magazine. For Positive People. By Positive People.
TheOrator.Press Education Page: TV News & Reviews Feature. BBC TV Showcases The Historical Royally Commissioned Windrush Art Collection By King Charles III. ‘Windrush Portraits of A Generation’. Britain Has Come A Long Way Forward. And We Have To Ensure We Never Go Back Again! June 2023
King Charles III & Camilla Queen Consort Meets Artists And Their Mews At A Special Reception At Buckingham Palace For The Royally Commissioned ‘Windrush Portraits of A Generation’ Art & Education Project
From Being Rejected At First Sight From His Would-Be Father-In-Law’s House – To Receiving An Invitation To Buckingham Palace, Amazing Windrush Stories Are Finally Being Royally, Respectfully, Officially, And Openly Acknowledged In High Society.Windrush Elders Have Helped British Society Come A Long Way Since Back In The Day When They First Came To Britain And Have Now Finally Received A Warm Royal Embrace.
But It Wasn’t Always Like That As Black British History Tells Us. Especially One Particularly Horrific Pivotal Moment In British Social And Police History. And It Is Important To Recognise, Understand And Acknowledge It In Order To Truly Appreciate And Value The Progres That Has Been Made And The Keep Moving Forward Positively.
So What Does This Say Now About British Royalty, Society, And Racial Harmony? (Three Years After Prince Harry & Meghan Decided To Leave The Country.)
A Time When The Royal Family Infamously Had No Regard For The Black Community In Its Hour of Need Despite Them Being Invited To Britain To Help Rebuild The Country. Bishop Wilfred Wood Is Amongst The Community Leaders Who Explained The Feelings At A Time When Racism Was Openly Rife, And Moral Support And Justice Was Denied By The Police, The Governent And The Royal Family In Their Respective Roles.
A Time When The British Government Referred To Black People As Foreigners. But At Least They Admitted Black History Is British History. This Was All Before The Windrush Scandal of Course When They Endeavoured To Deny The Legitimacy of Those Passports And Send Black People “Back To Where They Came From.“
Everywhere I Worked I Was The Only Black Person.
I Had A Mission To Be In These Places So That Black People Could Be In These Places.
Carmen Esme Munroe, Actress
Many Caribbeans Served In The British Military, As Acknowledged By KingCharles III In His Windrush Art Commission Statement
The Grenfell Fire Tradegy of June 2017 Which Occured At A Tower Block Within A Multi-Cultural Social Housing Community In The Royal Borough of Kensington (London’s Richest Borough) Is A In Modern Day British Disaster. The Then Tory Prime Minister Theresa May Infamously Showed Little Interest In Visiting, Comforting or Reassuring The Black And Brown Community In Its Hour of Need. Indeed So Much So That She Was Infamously Denounced By Rapper And Philanthropist Stormzy At The BRIT Awards Held In February The Following Year. He And Fellow Musician Adele Are More Remembered For Showing Community Leadership And Visiting The Scene of The Disaster Rather Than Any Member of The Tory Government.
Since The New Cross Fire of 1981 Two Reports By Judges Have Deemed The Metropolitan Police Institutionally Racist Namely Sir William Macpherson In 1995 (Following The Racist Murder of Stephen Lawrence) And Dame Louise Cassey In March 2023. And Yet The MET Have Failed To Provide Little Evidence of Genuine, Effective, Meaningful Change In The Intervening Virtual 30 Years.
These Two Reports Virtually Thirty Years Apart Come On Top of The First Ever Judge Report of Community Unrest Due To Police Brutality And Impropriety By Lord Scarmen In November 1981, Following The Brixton Rights of April 1981. These Riots Were The Climax of Frustration Over New Cross Fire And Mistreatment of The Black Community.
The First Ever Judicial Recognition of Racism Within Metropolitan Police As An Organisation Even Preceeds That, By Way of The Trial Judge In The Case of The Mangrove Nine Which Concluded In December 1971. At The End of The Case, Which Exonerated All Nine Prosecuted Protestors Against Police Harrassment, Justice Edward Clarke Declared;
“What this trial has shown is that there is clearly evidence of racial hatred on both sides.”
Senior Met Officers Endeavoured To Get Him To Withdraw The Statement – But He Declined. In Addition There Are Many People In The Black & Brown Community Who Deny That The Hatred Was Mutual. They Maintain That It Was The Black & Brown Community Having To Deal With Racism And Hatred By The Metropolitan Police Who Repeatedly Abused Their Police Powers That Was The Main Problem.
Today Both Suella Braverman Home Secretary And Former Head of The Met Cressida Dick, Britain’s First Openly Gay Leader of The Service, Have Both Declared That They Consider The Term “Institutionally Racist” Unhelpful, Instead of Implementing Its Numerous Recommendations For The Improvement of Police Practices And Relationships Within The Community. Such A Jurrasic Policing Attitude Is What Has Proven Generationally Unhelpful.
And Instead of Norman Tebbitt Talking About Passports, Divided Loyalties And Cricket Tournaments (As Per The Video Above), The Tories Now Have Suella Braveman of Mauritian, Goan, Indian, Kenyan, British Descent, Calling For Refugees To Be Sent To Rwanda Instead. This Is Rather Like The Punishment of Old Handed Down By The Aristocracy of Old For Those Amongst Them Who Fell From Grace And Were Sent To The African And Caribbean Colonies or Australia. Braverman Has Said That She Is Proud of The British Empire.
She Is Also A Fully Paid Up Member of The Pro-Brexit And European Union Exit Right Wing Group Called ‘The ERG (European Reform Group)’. She’s Been Decried Many Times By Fellow Politicians For Her Dogwhistle Politics, Racist Rhetoric And Breach of Both The Ministerial And The Legal Codes of Conduct. Like So Many MPs She Is A British Barrister. She Is Also An Attorney In America.
Even Closer To Home For The King There Is The Matter of Megx-It And The Decision of Harry And Meghan To Leave Britain And No Longer Operate As Working Members of The Royal Family. This Is A Decision They Reportedly Took Because of Alleged Mistreatment By Courtiers, Questions About The Expected Shade of Their Unborn First Baby’s Skin And A Lack of Support From Senior Members of The Royal Family. Including Prince And Princess William And Kate.
The Windrush Art Collection ‘Portraits of A Generation’ Was Commissioned By King Charles III In Celebration of The 75th Anniversary of Windrush Empire Arriving In Britain, Tilbury Docks Essex, June 22nd 1948. Members of The Caribbean Colonies Were Invited To Come To Postwar Britain To Help Rebuild The Country. They Accepted The Invitation & Indeed Helped Rebuild The Nation.
The Groundbreaking, History-Making ‘Windrush Portraits of A Generation Exhibition’ Runs From Windrush Day
Thursday June 22 2023
Until The Middle of Black History Month
Monday October 16 2023
It Is Initially Being Held At The Palace of Holyroodhouse In Edinburgh Then It Will Move To The National Portrait Gallery In London For Six Months (Until April 2024). The portraits will Then be on display at Royal West of England Academy (RWA), Bristol from 25 May to 11 August 2024.
The Initial Unveiling Took Place At Buckingham Palace During A Reception Hosted By King Charles And Camilla Queen Consort In Honour of The 75th Windrush Anniversary.
In 2018 The Then Prime Minister Declared That June 22nd Would Henceforth Be Annual Windrush Day.
The Collection Features Five Men And Five Women,
Linda Haye OBE Is Included In The Royally Commissioned Windrush Collection ‘Portraits of A Generation’.
She Was Academically Bright And Studied Sociology At Brunel University Where She Graduated With A Masters Degree In Public And Social Administration After Coming To Britain. She Would Also Become A Course Teacher And Administrator Herself. She Also Put Her Qualfications To Additional Good Use By Assisting With The Public Legal System In 1973 By Becoming A Magistrate. Twenty Years Later In 1993 She Became The First Black Woman To Become A Member of The IPCC – Independent Police Complaints Commission (Formerly The PCC – Police Complaints Commission).
In 2015 She Was Made An Officer of The Order of The British Empire For services to Education, Criminal Justice And Charity In Herefordshire.
A Portrait of Linda Haye OBE By Shannon Bono@bonosart
Police Practice Improvement Pioneer
Alford Gardener Is Included In The Royally Commissioned Windrush Collection ‘Portraits of A Generation’.
It Took Alford Virtually A Month Travelling By Sea To Reach England From Jamaica. He Left The Caribbean May 24 1948 And Arrived In Essex June 22nd 1948. He Had Previously Served As A Member of The Royal Air Force (RAF) Having Been Recruited Into The Military From The Jamaican Colonial Office In 1944. He Subsequently Used The Engineering Skills Learnt During His Military Service. He And His Wife Norma Raised Eight Children. One of His Other Pleasures Was Cricket And He Helped Establish A Local Caribbean Cricket Club In Leeds.
Laceta Reid Is Included In The Royally Commissioned Windrush Collection ‘Portraits of A Generation’.
There Were Several Different Ships Which Carried The Windrush Generation From The Caribbean To Britain To Help Rebuild Post War Britain At The Request of The British Government. Windrush Is The Most Famous. It Arrived June 22nd 1948 In Essex. Nine Years Later Laceta Arrived On The SS Montserrat In 1957. He Met His Wife Two Years Later In London. They Relocated To Wales In Search of Work – Where He Finally Found At Job At Crompton Battery Factory And Raised His Family – In Llanwern Near Newport. For Relaxation Laceta Enjoys Playing Dominoes And Tending His Allotment.
For Him This Is Something of A Full Circle Moment. The Company He Worked For, Crompton & Co Was Set Up By Rookes Evelyn Bell Crompton In 1878. He Was An Engineer, Industrialist, Inventor, Inspired After Attending The Great Exhibition of 1851 In Victorian England, Aged Just Six Years Old. His Pioneering Electrical Company Eventually Morphed Into Various Divisions Now Owned By Different Entities At Home And Abroad. However It Was Originally Famed For Installing The First Electrical Wiring At Windsor Castle And Holyrood House In Edinburgh. Both Royal Residences Are Now Playing Their Part In Hosting The Windrush Art Collection (As Well As The National Portrait Gallery) Which Includes Mr Reid.
A Portrait of Laceta Reid By Serge Attukwei Clottey
Gilda Oliver Is Included In The Royally Commissioned Windrush Collection ‘Portraits of A Generation’.
She And Her Husband Made The Journey To Birmingham In The Midlands, From Kingston, Jamaica, In 1955. Clarence And Gilda Decided To Travel Together And Bring Their three children With Them All At Once. Many Couples Travelled Seperately And Left Their Children With Their Parents Or Other Family Members As They Intended To Return Home or Send For Them Seperately. Gilda And Clarence Would Eventually Have Five More Children. Gilda Worked For The NHS As A Nurse, Like So Many West Indian Women. The National Health Service Had only Recently Been Set Up (By The Labour Government) In 1948.
I always create my art to music and … found tranquillity and focus within the song ‘The Singing Bowl’…
Throughout the painting, I felt my connection with Jamaica, my family and childhood. Mrs Oliver brought this all back …
Although the painting is now complete,
it will always be part of me,
reminding us all about the Windrush Generation with a sense of pride.
Edna Henry Is Included In The Royally Commissioned Windrush Art Collection ‘Portraits of A Generation’. She Was Born In Jamaica On May 31 1931 And Came To Britain From Jamaica Aged 30 In 1961.
Her Brother Had Already Made Wales His Home After Serving In The RAF (Royal Air Force). The British Military Ran Recruitment Drives From Local Colonial Armed Services Offices Abroad.
Edna, Like So Many Other West Indian Women Worked In Nursing.
She Worked At Both St David’s Hospital, Cardiff And Later The Ely Psychiatric Hospital Cardiff In 1973 Before It Closed In 1996. This Was After The Howe Report of 1967 Which Reviewed The Poor Treatment of Then Labelled “Mentally Deficient” Patients. The Report Suggested Many Improvements Should Be Made In This Area. Following The Launch of ‘Care In The Community’ Policies of The 1980s The Hospital Eventually Closed In 1996, When Edna Retired.
Due To Racism Even In Anglican Churches Many Black Communities Started Their Own Services And Here Edna Found Strength And Fellowship.
Jessie Stephens MBE Is Included In The Royally Commissioned Windrush Art Collection ‘Portraits of A Generation’. She Arrived In Britain From St Lucia In 1955. She Had A Husband And Two Children At The Time. She Is Mother To Leee John The Singer From 80s Pop Group Imagination And Leee Is Still Performing As A Solo Singer, As Well As Acting. One of His Best Childhood Friends Is Leroy Logan Who Would Go On To Become One of The First Black Police Officers In The MET. And Ultimately SuperIntendent. He Featured In One of The Small Axe Dramas By Oscar Winning Director Steve McQueen On The BBC (Available On BBC iPlayer). Their Friendship Is Referenced In The Show. Both Leee And Leroy Attended The Reception With Jessie.
She Became The First Black Woman To Work At Companies House. Having Trained In St Lucia As A Stenographer (A Speech Transcriber – Often In Court Cases For Instance) Here She Eventually Became part of the Haringey Police Liaison Group Which worked to improve relationship between Police and community. She Was Active In Organising The St Lucian Association (London) Set Up For The St Lucian Diaspora. in 1982 She received an MBE for services to the St Lucian community And Later The Gold Les Pitions Medal of The Order of Saint Lucia .
A Portrait of Jessie Stephens MBE, SLPM, By Sahara Longe@saharalonge
Sir Godfrey Palmer OBE Is Included In The Royally Commissioned Windrush Art Collection ‘Portraits of A Generation’. Aged 14 He Came To Britain In 1955, Joining His Mother Who Had Left Jamaica For Britain With A View To ‘Sending For Him’. He Was Academically Bright And Studied Botany At Leicester University In 1961 And Afterwards Graduated With A PhD In Grain Science From Edinburgh’s Heriot-Watt University In 1967. He Returned To Academia In 1989 As Professor of Grain Science at Heriot-Watt University Untill His Retirement 16 Years Later In 2005. He Became Sir Godfrey Palmer In 2014 After Being Knighted By The Queen For services To Human Rights, Science And Charity. In The Documentary He Speaks Eloquently About The Early Prejudice He Experienced.
A Portrait of Sir Godfrey Palmer OBE (aka Geoff’) By Derek Fordjour
Actress Carmen Esme Munroe OBE In An ITV Promo June 1977 For ‘Desmonds’ The Peckham Based Barber Shop Comedy, With The Late Actor Norman Beaton. Painting By Award-Winning Artist @Sonia Boyce Under Royal Commission For The Windrush 75th Anniversary 2023
Delisser Bernard Is Included In The Royally Commissioned Windrush Art Collection ‘Portraits of A Generation’.
He Too (Like Alford Gardner, Above) Was In The RAF (Royal Air Force) And Came To Britain Aged Just 16 As A Result In 1944. After The War Ended In 1945 He Returned Home To Jamaica But Soon Returned Just Three Years Later On ‘The Windrush HMT’ June 22 1948 After The Goverment Appealed To Former Servicemen To Help With The Post War Rebuilding Effort. He Can Be Seen In The Final Video Above With The King Talking About The Windrush Effort In Second (And First) World War. He Later Worked For Vauxhall Motors, Which Enabled Him To Raise Four Children With His Wife Majorie. They Married At St Matthew’s Church In The Same Borough.
Marrying His Wife, He Says, ‘Was The Happiest Day Of My Life’.
John (Big John) Richards Is Included In The Royally Commissioned Windrush Art Collection ‘Portraits of A Generation’.
His Story of Coming To Britain (On The Empire Windrush HMT) Is One of The Most Extraordinary And Involves Newspaper. That Newspaper Inspired How Artist ‘Deanio X’ Came To Execute His Artwork, Which In Turn Is Most Extraordinary, As Explained In The Documentary.
Born April 26 1926 John Was 22 Years Old When He Got To Britain In 1948 And He Bedded Down At Clapham South Underground, Officially Converted By The Government To Accomodate Some of The Windrush Arrivals. He Actually Joined British Transport As A Worker For 40 Years, Married Circa 1956 And Moved To North London. Like Racial Justice Activist And Britain’s First Black Peer, Learie Constantine, John Loved Cricket And Helped Found The Learie Constantine West Indian Association.
A Portrait of John (Big John) Richards By Deanio X@deanio_x
The Exhibition Is The Result of A Collaboration Between Baroness Floella Benjamin @baronessfloellabenjamin, The Right Reverend Rose Hudson-Wilkin MBE, Veteran Eastenders Actor Rudolph Walker CBE @rudolphwalkerfoundation, And Paulette Simpson CBE (of Jamaica National Bank), Who Make Up ‘The Windrush Portraits Committee’ And The Open University. They Together With The Royal Trust Collection Are Developing A New Education Programme To Teach About The History And Achievements of The Windrush Generation. It’s Part of The Windrush Commemoration Committee, Established Under Theresa May’s Government In June 2018, Which Was The 70th Anniversary of HMT Empire Windrush Arriving From The Caribbean To England.
Following Lobbying By Baroness Floella Benjamin And Stormzy Calling Out PM Theresa May At The BRIT Awards February 2018 (Over Inaction Following The Grenfell Fire), May Agreed To An Annual National Windrush Day To Celebrate The Arrival of The British Ship ‘HMT Empire Windrush’ At Tilbury Docks Essex, June 22nd 1948. Carrying Volunteers From The Caribbean Who Agreed To Come To The So-Called ‘Motherland’ To Help Rebuild Postwar Britain, It Is Their Achievements, Bravery, Contributions To The Country And Perseverance Since Then That The Day Acknowledges.
Despite The Unforeseen And Sometimes Tragically Fatal Racism They Endured (And The Lack of Greenary And Sunshine That They Were Used To, As Later Sung About By Bob Marley In His Famous Track ‘Concrete Jungle’) As A Standout Generation They Were Brave, Bold, Resilient, Hardworking, Pioneering, Stylish And Creative. Even Building Their Own Churches In Response To Unholy Racism. They Are The Backbone of Much of Its Essential Public Organisations Such As The Transport System, The NHS And The British Care System. And They Are The Forebears of The British Modern Day Afro-Caribbean Community Generations On.
King Charles III With The Windrush & Camilla Queen Consort With The Windrush Portraitees And Their Artists (With The Exception of American Artist Amy Sherold, Who Painted Michelle Obama, And Enda Henry, Here In The Pink Dress On The Right – And Above, Picture Number Five).
The Feature Length Documentary Which Tells The Story of This Special Royal Commission of Afro-Caribbean Artwork ‘Windrush: Portraits of A Generation’ Aired Windrush Day (June 22nd) 19.45pm BBC2 And Is Currently Available On BBC iPlayer.
There Is Also An Accompanying Book of The Same Name Published By Modern Art Press And Sold Exclusively Through The Royal Collection Trust (rct.org). Having The Book Allows This Special Moment In Black British History To Live Forever.
TheOrator.Press Has Observed And Reported On The Fact That A Number of The Royal Institutions, Including The Royal Academy of Art (RAA), The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) And The Royal Albert Hall (RAH) Are Making A Notable Effort To Be More Inclusive And Diverse As They Finally Acknowledge And Accept That The Descendants of The Windrush Generation Are Here To Stay. As Is The History, Story And Legacy of The Windrush Generation Themselves.
TheOrator.Press ~ A New, Monthly, Online, Independent Magazine 