In 1948, Empire Windrush brought almost 500 West Indians to Tilbury Docks in what would become the symbolic beginning of a multicultural Britain.
Seventy-five years later, the Guardian spoke with four grandchildren of Windrush passengers about what the anniversary means to them, how the legacy has shaped their identity, and the importance of commemorating the ship’s arrival.
These are edited excerpts from that conversation.
Kamau Johnston, 46
Johnston is the grandson of Clinton Johnston, who travelled on the Empire Windrush from Jamaica. In Kent, Clinton later met and married his wife, Johnston’s grandmother. In the 1970s the family returned to Jamaica and eventually returned to London in the mid-80s. Johnston lives in Finchley, north London, with his wife and two daughters and is a general manager.
Bianca Judd, 49
The granddaughter of Andrew Mowlah-Baksh , who served in the British air force during the second world war. After returning to Trinidad, he travelled back to England on the Windrush. Judd lives in St Albans, works in the film industry and has two children.
Dane Gardner, 38
The grandson of Alford Gardner, who served with the RAF during the second world war and was a passenger on the Windrush from Jamaica. Gardner lives with his wife and three-month-old daughter in Leeds, where he works as a customer executive manager.
Kellie Brothwood, 30
Brothwood’s grandfather Andrew Mowlah-Baksh was passenger 254 on the Windrush and later married a woman from Ireland, Brothwood’s grandmother. Brothwood lives in Birmingham with her husband and four children whom she home-schools.
What do you think is significant about your grandparent’s journey to the UK?
Brothwood: I think it was brave, but it changed the way everyone thought. Because even though it was a scary thing to do, and even though it was a big thing, they just came with such a good attitude.
Johnston: [Their arrival] influenced Britain so much. When they arrived, it was just after the war. So Britain was just recovering, and then they had immigrants coming over. So there were always going to be some people who weren’t going to like them or be favourable towards them.
Gardner: The knock-on effect has been absolutely huge. I think we’re going to see the bigger ripple effects of it now. I think we’re now seeing such a kind of flux of empowerment of who we are and the culture that we’ve got. And the Windrush we’ve got and celebrating it makes it more of a thing. People I work with, friends and family, probably didn’t realise it was such a big thing. And now, they’re saying: “That’s your grandad, isn’t it.”
Judd: Our grandparents were proud of where they came from. I know my dad’s proud of being Trinidadian, and even though he was born over here, some of the siblings were born over there. So and then the next generation, me and my sisters and cousins. We’re proud. Aren’t we?
Gardner: It’s a badge of honour, isn’t it? When it comes up in conversation, I am really proud [of my heritage].
Is there a point where you remember you learned your family history and things clicked for you in a way that hadn’t happened before?
Johnston: I always grew up around it, so I think the identity issue was a little bit tough growing up, but it made me more resilient and more determined that I’m going to have friends from everywhere and I’m not going to choose sides.
I’ve always known [my identity], from growing up and hearing stories from my grandmother, the verbal oral history we had in the family was quite strong. She was this old English woman from Kent, and when we went on holiday she had all these brown children with her, and people would look at her like: how are you their grandmother? She always had to explain herself, basically.
It didn’t shape my identity. I am who I am. It’s just something I’ve grown up with, so there wasn’t a pivotal moment where I realised who I was.
The more questions I got [about who I was], the more I delved into my history to find out so I had answers for the people who asked. I found out for myself as I was growing up, there wasn’t this family secret that didn’t get talked about. For me, it was always there.
Gardner: There was no lightbulb moment for me, but I knew my family was different in the sense that we were such a big family and so close as well, and that stemmed from my grandmother and grandad. The family parties were always different and kind of had an edge to them. I never felt there was a box that I had to be in. I always felt like it was just, that’s my grandad. Colour or where he came from was never a factor.
I think that I realised that I was different when he first came on the local news, and then we started asking a few more questions and it gained momentum from there. He was almost a local celebrity in Leeds. But yeah, he was always my grandad. He wasn’t my grandad from Jamaica. It shaped us, but unconsciously shaped us, as a family.
Judd: I remember being in junior school in Birmingham, and my older sister is darker than me. I remember somebody saying: “You two can’t be real sisters because she’s darker than you.” And that was the first time I ever questioned where we were from. I’d never really questioned that people saw us differently. That was the first time where I used to think that my grandad is darker.
Do you think the importance of the Windrush generation is adequately understood across British society?
Johnston: No, it’s not like it’s highlighted or brought up. It’s there. People know and recognise that … even like the children nowadays, there’s such a big influence from the Caribbean, on the children or on society, you can see it there in the news and phrases, things that happen. It’s so integrated here that it’s just become part of British culture.
Judd: I don’t think it’s taught enough in schools. Because I think growing up, we never had that in history. And I think if people were taught properly in history about the British empire, and what Britain did, and that we did bring people over here, and those colonies were part of Britain. My grandad, your grandparents were in the British air force or whatever, they were invited over here, then people might not be so racist. And I think people are still quite racist.
Johnston: They’re very careful, they probably want to teach it but if they do teach it, then it just opens up another can of worms because of the atrocities that were done because of colonialism and the other effects.
We should teach it, but I can understand it from the other perspective that you should teach it, but then you open a Pandora’s box. There’s this side, teaching how you invite people over and it’s the nice fluffy side. But what brought all that, was it all the 500 years that came previously that created that situation? So there will be even more questions that need to be answered than before because of the history of Britain and what they did to the rest of the world.
Judd: But I think that by glossing over it, we create spaces for, you know, racist attitudes in this country which shouldn’t be here.
My son was quite active with Black Lives Matter a few years ago, and really felt quite strongly about that. There is a new generation now who feel really strongly about all that, but I think with Brexit there is also that stir of racism in this country.
Brothwood: I’d like to think that our children will change things.
Gardner: On the flipside, the fact that the Windrush was politicised means that we’re in this room together having this discussion. And it has put it more at the forefront of people’s knowledge and understanding. When the [Windrush scandal] all kicked off, it was quite a lot of people that were going: “I didn’t even know about that.” I do think it needs to be discussed more and explained, because ignorance grows.
How important do you think it is to have these conversations and think of history this way given today’s political climate?
Judd: I think because I do look so fair, I kind of often hear a conversation going on and people think I’m a part of that conversation and I can see it from a different side. And I think I feel really strongly about it, I just think it’s really important that it is addressed how the government are speaking about immigrants in the country because I hate to hear it on the news and they talk about, you know, the boats coming in and this, that and the other, and I think people need to understand why people come and immigrate.
Brothwood: It’s not an easy decision to make is it, you’re taking your life in your hands …
Judd: Yeah, they come for all different reasons. So they came on Windrush, they come for work, they come because we’ve got a lack of skilled people in the country at the moment. So people come to the country for all different reasons and the way the government or the way the media portray at the moment, I think it’s feeding …
Johnston: I’m sorry if you travelled across a war-torn land, got in a little dinghy and made it to the shores, you deserve to be here. It’s just insane how they do it. As I said, it’s just politics.
Gardner: It’s the word immigrant though isn’t it, that gets tarnished. So our grandparents were immigrants but they’re not seen as the same immigrants that come over now.
Johnston: It’s a flip on the word. If a British person goes overseas they’re called expats, but technically they’re immigrants. It’s like all the expats that are in Spain or Italy or those other countries, it’s the same thing, but they just call it … it’s the terminology, how you put a spin on it.
Brothwood: If anything they should be welcomed more because it’s a scary thing to do to just take a leap of faith and think: “You know what, we might die getting there but it will be worth it when we get there” sort of thing. I can’t imagine doing that.
I think if people understood each other a bit more and had a bit more empathy – it’s easy to sit there and cross your arms and go: “They shouldn’t be coming here” – well you know, you were only here because your nan and grandad came, otherwise you wouldn’t be here either.
Judd: Yeah, if they looked into their own history and realise that, who is British anyway now? Because obviously it’s so mixed, if you look back a generation or two you’re going to have come from somewhere.
How do you think these attitudes have changed over the past 75 years?
Johnston: It’s the same attitude, it’s always going to be. It will be there in 100 years’ time. There’s always going to be a small element of people that aren’t going to like change … but it’s just a small, minute part of the population. But they just seem to have a voice and it’s just about not giving them that voice. It’s just everybody else talking a bit louder and then shutting them down.
Because they are not speaking for what a lot of people think is the majority of the population. A lot of people are quite open, a lot of people, the majority of people, don’t care. Most people, as long as it doesn’t affect their daily lives, they don’t really care what goes on.
Brothwood: I said to my kids: it’s easy to put up and shut up, but nobody changed anything by being quiet and sitting there. I want them to say what they want to say and not offend people, and not be rude, but if they believe something they should stand up for it, and I want them to know that it’s OK for them to be different and it’s OK for them to say, you know, this is me and I’m not going to pretend to be this or I’m not going to try and fit in with that.
I hope that going forward the world is a bit more welcoming to them and we don’t start going backwards.
Gardner: My grandad told me a story … so he was a mechanic in the RAF trying to find work for quite a while and somebody comes to him and said: “Can you strip an engine?”. He kind of laughed and said: “Yeah, that’s the easy part. Putting it back together, that’s the hard part.” And he said they both started laughing; that’s how he got a job. So there were enough people around back then that were going to give him a chance and saw past the colour of his skin and just had that connection straight away.
There’s no way we can say that it’s gone, it’s never going to go away, and there’s always going to be that undercurrent of racism there. But we live in a different time now – it feels like we do anyway – but then there’s sort of certain spikes that kind of trigger stuff off which doesn’t help. But on the whole, as you said, as long as it doesn’t affect people’s daily lives they don’t really, really care, it doesn’t affect them, very much – “I’m alright Jack” attitude for the majority of it.
Design by the Guardian editorial design team: Chris Clarke, Harry Fischer, Ellen Wishart, Alessia Amitrano, Tara Herman
