We all belong somewhere. And wherever we are, people either see us as belonging, or they don’t. In the UK, this has been made only too clear in the last decade by the government’s anti-migration policy, known as the hostile environment, instituted when Theresa May was Home Secretary between 2010 and 2016.
This controversial government stance is underpinned by overt racism and hostility. It triggered the Windrush scandal, which, from 2017, saw people of retirement age – many of whom had lived as British people in the UK since early childhood – denied citizenship and residency rights, and the attendant healthcare, housing and wider social support.
The scandal is emblematic of what many Caribbean elders have faced throughout their lives in the UK – the discrimination and poor outcomes they have experienced in terms of employment, criminal justice, housing, education, health and social welfare. The question “Where are you from?”, an all-too-familiar and enduring trope, encapsulates a narrative of non-belonging.
