WINDRUSH GENERATION

Today I have finished my latest painting (Windrush Generation, that feature Paulette Wilson who was affected by the Home Office scandal and became an activist to demand a stop to the abuse that community was experiencing and who sadly pass away this year) for the Golden YearsSeries I have been working on just as it was reported In the Guardian.

Windrush: two years on, victims describe long waits and ‘abysmal’ payouts.
Many people pushed into financial difficulties by Home Office errors are still waiting for compensation.

Applicants to the Windrush compensation scheme have spoken about the difficulties they have experienced in securing payouts. Some are concerned by the long delays between applying and being awarded damages, others have expressed unhappiness about the amount they have been offered.
Their testimony comes after the Guardian revealed that the most senior black Home Office employee in the team responsible for the scheme resigned earlier this year, describing it as systemically racist and unfit for purpose.

You can read the whole article at: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/nov/19/windrush-two-years-on-british-victims-describe-long-waits-and-abysmal-payouts

BLACK HISTORY MONTH – WINDRUSH

A big hello to you all!
As we come to the end of #BlackHistory month here in the UK, I thought I’d share my work in progress for ‘The Golden Years’ series.

This series shines a light on the Windrush story of the first big immigration of Afro Caribbeans to help rebuild Britain after the second world war, and the scandal that was exposed on Teresa May and her government for detaining and deporting a large number of those immigrants that were failed by not having been issued with the right to remain.

Paulette Wilson who is depicted in the painting, came to the UK at the age of nine and was one of those they tried to deport and who was lucky enough to have a daughter who desperately gathered proof that her mother had been here that many years! She became one of the biggest activists to lobby the government to admit and stop the unlawful practise.