A monument to the Windrush generation has been unveiled at Waterloo Station.
The statue pays tribute to the thousands of people who came to the UK from the Caribbean after the Second World War and up to the early 1970s.
The government paid £1 million to fund the statue, which was made by Jamaican sculptor Basil Watson, who was chosen through a competition. The statue shows a man, woman and child with suitcases at Waterloo Station.
Mr Watson said: “They arrived with the idea of laying a foundation for their families and their future, and a hope of contributing to a society that they expected would welcome them in return. From this seemingly auspicious beginning despite many challenges, they spread their culture across Britain influencing many aspects of the society.”
He added: “My parents, along with a great many others, took the long arduous voyage from the Caribbean with very little or nothing other than their aspirations, their courage and a promise of opportunity for advancement. This monument tells that story of hope, determination, a strong belief in self and a vision for the future.
“It acknowledges and celebrates the Windrush generation’s outstanding contribution and has been created as a permanent place of reflection, to foster greater understanding of the generation’s talent, hard work and continuing contribution to British society.”
Fewer than one in five Windrush victims have come forward for compensation
Prince William, government minister Michael Gove and chair of the Windrush commemoration committee Floella Benjamin were all at the unveiling on Wednesday morning (June 22)
Plans for a monument to the ‘Windrush generation’ – named after the ship that carried some of the new arrivals in 1948 – were announced by then-Prime Minister Theresa May in 2019.
May announced the monument in the wake of the Windrush scandal in 2018, when an investigation found that dozens of Caribbean people who had come to the UK after the Second World War had been deported or denied vital medical treatment and legal rights by the British government in recent years.
A 2020 review found that the Home Office had displayed “thoughtlessness and ignorance” in its treatment of these people. Many of those affected by the scandal have still not got the compensation they were told they were eligible for.
Some campaigners think the Windrush Monument is inappropriate because of its location and an alleged lack of consultation with the UK’s Caribbean community.
The Windrush Foundation, an organisation set up in 1997 to celebrate the contribution of Caribbean immigrants to the UK, said the monument should be in Brixton, where many of the community first settled.
Co-founder Arthur Torrington added that his group was not consulted about the monument. The government said organisers spoke to “over 250 international and British cultural leaders, curators and leaders in the Caribbean community”.