or a few questions and observations
A few days ago a monument to the so-called Windrush Generation was unveiled with all the pomp and the presence of Prince William and Princes Kate. The monument depicts a man and a woman with their child, all Jamaicans, on suitcases. It reminds the viewers of the 1948 event when the first group of Jamaicans arrived in Great Britain on the Empire Windrush, later to be followed by many, many more. The United Kingdom’s government, the queen, Prince William, the BBC and all the media hastened to celebrate the occasion and emphasize the enormous contribution to British culture made by Jamaicans. It was also reminded that Jamaicans sacrificed themselves and their well-being as they hurried to arrive in Britain to help rebuild the country after the war. All of this makes one wonder.
Jamaica, just as the other Caribbean countries, ranks among the poorest in the world, with the highest crime rate. How on earth
① could people from a country like that contribute “enormously” to British culture and economy, and
② why on earth the Jamaicans being capable of making such enormous contributions to a very well developed country are not able to raise their own state from poverty and crime?
Great Britain’s benefactors
These are legitimate questions, are they not? The sycophantic statements made by the prince and others make one believe that Britain could not have done without those Jamaicans and that those Jamaicans virtually sacrificed themselves for the sake of Great Britain. Needless to say, it was reminded that they were not accepted by the then British society and they faced – yes, you guessed it right! – racism. Still, they would flock to Britain and they did their best to “make an enormous contribution” to the nation that – to put it mildly – did not like them. One is led to believe that the United Kingdom could not have survived the post-war period without those Jamaicans and that the United Kingdom would fare far worse today if stripped of Jamaican aid. Continue reading