Latest news with #Windrush
The Guardian
2 days ago
- The Guardian
Clovis Salmon, regarded as first black UK documentary film-maker, dies aged 98
Clovis Salmon, regarded as the first black documentary film-maker in the UK, has died at the age of 98. His family said he died at south London's Kings hospital on Wednesday morning. Salmon was best known for filming the Brixton riots in 1981. Often using a concealed camera to avoid getting it confiscated by officers, he captured scenes of overturned cars, smouldering buildings and growing anger at police tactics. Asked to explain the riots, one of his interviewees said: 'Jobs, money, National Front, and all the rest, we'd just had enough, so we just explode.' In an interview for the Guardian in 2021, Salmon said he filmed everything he saw during the riots. 'For three days, I went up and down different places, everywhere I heard that they were fighting, riding my bike. And I always take my camera with me.' Salmon came to Brixton from Jamaica in 1954 as part of the Windrush generation and has left behind an archive with hundreds of hours of footage covering many aspects of community life in south London. In the Great Conflict of Somerleyton Road, he documented a struggle to build the first black church in Brixton in the mid-1960s. He was also known locally as Sam the Wheels for his cycle repair business and his collection of secondhand bikes that tumbled on to the pavement of his house on Railton Road. Salmon's varied career included stints working in factories in Jamaica and cane fields in Florida, and later as a deacon in the Pentecostal church in London. As a mechanic, for Holdsworth Cycles, he could build wheels twice as fast as his white colleagues and soon earned a reputation as the 'fastest wheel builder in Britain'. Salmon's significance as a film-maker was not recognised until very late in his life. In 2021 his documentaries featured at London's Barbican arts centre, as part of its Decolonising Lens series. And last year he was awarded an OBE for services to culture and the black community. Mark Sealy, director of the arts agency Autograph, said: 'Sam was a maverick self-taught recorder of black life, and probably Britain's most important overlooked black film-maker.' Lucy Davies, director of 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, has been promoting Salmon's work since 2006 and is coordinating a project to digitise his archive and make it accessible online. 'Sam got his flowers in the end, but not until the end of his life,' she said. Davies added: 'Sam did something that was unique – he filmed and documented the black community of Brixton at a time when the only other recording of the community was done by established media like the BBC or Pathé News ... He took it upon himself to document his own community during a really important period without any external support.' He is survived by his wife, Delores. In a statement his family said: 'He was a proud father of five children, grandfather to 10, and great-grandfather to many.' An installation of bicycles remains on Railton Road in his honour.
BBC News
2 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Government announces first Windrush commissioner
The government has announced the first Windrush commissioner - seven years after the scandal was first exposed and following the serious impact on thousands of Caribbean migrants in the Reverend Clive Foster, a senior pastor who works at the Pilgrim Church in Nottingham, will take up the newly created role on a three-year is the founder of the Nottingham Windrush Support Forum and serves as vice-chair of the Windrush National Organisation, where he volunteers.A top priority will be looking at how to improve the Windrush Compensation Scheme which has been described by campaigners as "torturous". It has been heavily criticised for taking too long to process claims, low offers and unfair rejections reversed on are ongoing calls for the scheme to be run independently but the Home Office says it is "determined to ensure that victims of the Home Office Windrush scandal are heard, that justice is sped up, and that the compensation scheme is run effectively". Mr Foster said: "My aim is to deliver change that the Windrush generations can see and feel in their everyday lives, particularly in how the Windrush status and compensation schemes operate."He added: "I will carry out this role independently, without fear or favour, while creating a constructive relationship with government where challenge is welcomed and scrutiny leads to specific, transparent improvements." The Windrush scandal was first revealed in April 2018 after it emerged that the Home Office failed to keep records of people with indefinite leave to remain and had not issued the paperwork they needed to confirm their legal of Caribbean migrants who came to the UK from the late 1940s legally had the right to remain in the they were wrongly classed as illegal citizens because of a hostile immigration policy which meant they were denied access to homes, jobs and NHS were detained and January 2023, the then-Conservative government decided to scrap three recommendations made in an independent review, including a new migrants' Labour came into power in 2024 it reversed that decision. Earlier this week a new report by the charity Justice, the University of Sussex and a London law firm suggested two-thirds of Windrush claimants had not received any compensation, while others are getting significantly less than they may be entitled to due to the lack of funded legal is one of very few major state compensation schemes that does not provide legal assistance and the Home Office has so far rejected calls for it to be new commissioner will be responsible for speaking up for migrants and those affected by systems such as the Windrush Compensation far the government has paid out nearly £110m towards more than 3,000 claims, according to latest Home Office 15,000 people were thought to be eligible when it was set up in April 2019.A Home Office spokesperson said: "Earlier this year, we launched a £1.5 million advocacy support fund to provide dedicated help from trusted community organisations when victims are applying for compensation."Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: "The story of the Windrush generations is woven into the fabric of our nation and this government is absolutely determined to right the wrongs they suffered at the hands of the Home Office."This is why I am delighted to welcome Reverend Clive Foster as our new Windrush Commissioner. His deep understanding through his own connections and dedicated community work makes him the perfect champion for those affected by this historic injustice."The announcement comes in the lead up to Windrush Day on 22 June, which celebrates the contribution Caribbean migrants and their families have made to the UK.
The Independent
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
First Windrush Commissioner vows cultural change, accountability and action
A new Windrush Commissioner has pledged to act 'without fear or favour' in a role which will see him potentially make changes to the much-criticised compensation scheme. Reverend Clive Foster is the first person to take up the role, fulfilling a promise by Labour in its manifesto to appoint a Windrush Commissioner. The post was advertised earlier this year as a three-day week role with an annual salary of £130,000 and for a three-year term. Mr Foster is a senior pastor at the Pilgrim Church in Nottingham and is the son of parents who migrated to the UK from Jamaica in 1959. A founder of the Nottingham Windrush Support Forum and vice-chair of the Windrush National Organisation, the Home Office said he brings both lived experience and professional expertise to the role. He vowed to work constructively with Government but to maintain independence in a role he hopes can bring 'change that the Windrush generations can see and feel in their everyday lives'. Mr Foster said: 'I'm honoured to take on the role of Windrush Commissioner. I'm committed to ensuring justice is delivered for the Windrush generations – people who have given so much to this country and deserve better than the treatment they have received. 'The injustices they faced must never be repeated, and that requires more than words; it requires cultural change, accountability, and action. 'My aim is to deliver change that the Windrush generations can see and feel in their everyday lives, particularly in how the Windrush Status and Compensation Schemes operate. 'I will carry out this role independently, without fear or favour, while creating a constructive relationship with Government where challenge is welcomed and scrutiny leads to specific, transparent improvements.' The Windrush scandal – which campaigners have since said should be known as the Home Office scandal – erupted in 2018 when British citizens were wrongly detained, deported or threatened with deportation despite having the right to live in Britain. Many lost homes and jobs and were denied access to healthcare and benefits. The compensation scheme set up for victims of the scandal has faced criticism from campaigners and those within the community as complicated and too slow. Earlier this week Home Office minister Seema Malhotra said around 64 Windrush compensation claimants had died after applying for payouts, as she set out the Government's wish to speed up 'justice'. She told the House of Commons on Monday that the new commissioner would look at ways to change the compensation scheme. Ms Malhotra told MPs: 'In opposition, we frequently heard that the application process was too complicated with insufficient support for those wishing to make a claim. 'The Government is determined to ensure that the victims of the Home Office Windrush scandal are heard, that justice is sped up, that the compensation scheme is run efficiently and effectively.' Mr Foster has been appointed with immediate effect but will begin his formal duties shortly after Windrush Day celebrations on Sunday, the Home Office said. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has repeated her insistence that Labour is 'absolutely determined to right the wrongs they suffered at the hands of the Home Office'. She added: 'This is why I am delighted to welcome Reverend Clive Foster as our new Windrush Commissioner. 'His deep understanding through his own connections and dedicated community work makes him the perfect champion for those affected by this historic injustice. 'I look forward to working closely with Reverend Foster as we continue our vital work to rebuild trust and deliver the justice that the Windrush generations so rightfully deserve.' A total of 10,190 claims had been made under the scheme as of April this year, according to the latest Home Office data. Of these, 632 were still in the system, 116 had been suspended and 9,442 had been given a final decision of whether or not they were eligible for compensation. Among the 632 being processed were 56 that had been in the system for at least 12 months, or 9% of the total caseload still in progress. This proportion has been on a slow downwards trend, having stood at 15% a year earlier in April 2024 and 28% three years ago in April 2022. Some 28 claims had been in the system for more than 18 months as of April this year, down from 54 a year earlier. The figures also show that £110.5 million has been paid out so far, covering 3,291 claims – an average of around £33,590 per claim. There are 7,898 claims that have now been fully closed, more than half of which (56%) were found to have no entitlement to compensation, 34% were offered compensation and 10% had their eligibility for a claim refused or withdrawn.
The Herald Scotland
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
First Windrush Commissioner vows cultural change, accountability, and action
The post was advertised earlier this year as a three-day week role with an annual salary of £130,000 and for a three-year term. Mr Foster is a senior pastor at the Pilgrim Church in Nottingham and is the son of parents who migrated to the UK from Jamaica in 1959. A founder of the Nottingham Windrush Support Forum and vice-chair of the Windrush National Organisation, the Home Office said he brings both lived experience and professional expertise to the role. He vowed to work constructively with Government but to maintain independence in a role he hopes can bring 'change that the Windrush generations can see and feel in their everyday lives'. Mr Foster said: 'I'm honoured to take on the role of Windrush Commissioner. I'm committed to ensuring justice is delivered for the Windrush generations – people who have given so much to this country and deserve better than the treatment they have received. 'The injustices they faced must never be repeated, and that requires more than words; it requires cultural change, accountability, and action. 'My aim is to deliver change that the Windrush generations can see and feel in their everyday lives, particularly in how the Windrush Status and Compensation Schemes operate. 'I will carry out this role independently, without fear or favour, while creating a constructive relationship with Government where challenge is welcomed and scrutiny leads to specific, transparent improvements.' The Windrush scandal – which campaigners have since said should be known as the Home Office scandal – erupted in 2018 when British citizens were wrongly detained, deported or threatened with deportation despite having the right to live in Britain. Many lost homes and jobs and were denied access to healthcare and benefits. The compensation scheme set up for victims of the scandal has faced criticism from campaigners and those within the community as complicated and too slow. Earlier this week Home Office minister Seema Malhotra said around 64 Windrush compensation claimants had died after applying for payouts, as she set out the Government's wish to speed up 'justice'. She told the House of Commons on Monday that the new commissioner would look at ways to change the compensation scheme. Ms Malhotra told MPs: 'In opposition, we frequently heard that the application process was too complicated with insufficient support for those wishing to make a claim. 'The Government is determined to ensure that the victims of the Home Office Windrush scandal are heard, that justice is sped up, that the compensation scheme is run efficiently and effectively.' The Windrush scandal has become known as the Home Office scandal (Kendall Brown/PA) Mr Foster has been appointed with immediate effect but will begin his formal duties shortly after Windrush Day celebrations on Sunday, the Home Office said. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has repeated her insistence that Labour is 'absolutely determined to right the wrongs they suffered at the hands of the Home Office'. She added: 'This is why I am delighted to welcome Reverend Clive Foster as our new Windrush Commissioner. 'His deep understanding through his own connections and dedicated community work makes him the perfect champion for those affected by this historic injustice. 'I look forward to working closely with Reverend Foster as we continue our vital work to rebuild trust and deliver the justice that the Windrush generations so rightfully deserve.'
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Plaque for black housing association builders
A dozen men from the Caribbean who created a black housing association in Birmingham in the 1970s are to be recognised with a blue plaque. The men, part of the Windrush generation who came to post-war Britain, used their "vision, resilience, and community spirit", relatives said, to create the first black housing association in the UK. Access Self Build was established in Small Heath after the men encountered a country gripped by economic hardship while they faced racism and discrimination. Dr Yana Johnson, daughter of one of the men, said she was very proud and the plaque, to be unveiled at her former home on Tuesday, would always mark what they did. Ten houses were built on Millward Street and two on Green Lane and remain today. Ms Johnson has been integral in helping remember the legacy the men created along with the Nubian Jak Community Trust, a social enterprise dedicated to celebrating black and minority heritage, and said the men did not fully appreciate what they had achieved. Her father Keith died 20 years ago, some former owners were still alive and would hopefully be attending the ceremony, she said. The trust, which is awarding the plaque, said the men were determined to create opportunity where none was offered and sought to provide homes for their families and affordable rentals for others in their community. Access Self Build evolved into African Caribbean Association for the Furthering of Economic and Social Sustainability, ACAFESS and "laid the foundation for a landmark moment in British history", the trust said. "We can't forget what they did," Ms Johnson, a beauty entrepreneur and gospel artist, said and added said she has learned so much about the community. "I posted a tour of the street and the houses on TikTok and it's got like, 50,000 hits in about 24 hours which is amazing and it's not just my story, I'm hearing from so many others about their stories," she said. Dr Jak Beula, CEO of the trust said: "It's one thing to be told that England was built with streets of gold. It's another thing to arrive in the mother country and discover this was not the case. "But the greatest thing of all is overcoming the discrimination that came with trying to find accommodation and to go on and build their own Streets of Gold. "In doing so, 12 great men unbeknown to them, would create Britain's first Black Housing Association in 1973." Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram. Windrush: Who exactly was on board? What is Windrush Day? Nubian Jak Community Trust
