Windrush scandal: The Govt must give British Citizenship to all

If you are a British citizen then you are a British Citizen, end of story. That must include people such as the 58 year old David Jameson who is now homeless on the streets of Kingston Jamaica, after being deported for a minor offence during the London 2012 riots.

The brilliant campaigning journalist Amelia Gentleman, who not only uncovered this scandal, but also has been laying bare ongoing nightmares for many caught up in this immigration purge, reports from Jamaica, where she interviewed Jameson who informed her, “again don’t know where I am going to sleep.”

After serving time in prison Jameson could not prove his citizenship after that he had lived in the UK for nearly 50 years, so he was sent packing to a country where he had no relatives, no friends and no where to stay.

It’s another heartbreaking story of a man who has lost everything.

Many stories of the Windrush scandal have profoundly illustrated multiple lays of racial prejudice and gross inequality. Jameson’s story epitomises that: Having been severely punished for what the system describes as a minor crime, Jameson served a prison term,- at the same time bankers who stole millions, defrauded billions, never served a day in prison- then after serving his time he was again severely and wrongly punished, because he didn’t have all the papers to prove he’d been in the country for nearly 50 years and since he as a boy.

The punishment; having his home taken away from him, being deported to a foreign land. In short Jameson was being treated worse than you would treat a stray dog.

If the Government do not want to further alienate Britain’s Caribbean communities here in the UK , they must show leadership and start with basic decency: No ifs, no buts, all those caught up be afforded full citizenship; then work out making amends by way of compensating those for the awful hardship that many have endured.

This is should not been seen as a hand out, or even a hand up, but rather just putting this wrong right, and showing the type of respect and dignity that you’d expect from any decent government.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/sep/10/windrush...

Simon Woolley