In a landmark event, a major exhibition celebrating the Windrush Generation that originated in Brixton opened today (21 October) at the headquarters of the Home Office in London.
The HQ, on Marsham Street in Westminster, was at the heart of the Windrush scandal that saw many people with the right to live in the UK exiled, prevented from earning a living and denied NHS treatment and benefits they had paid for through tax and National Insurance.
Many are still waiting for compensation.
An aspect of the then government’s “hostile environment” policy for immigrants, the scandal resulted in the resignation of Home Secretary Amber Rudd in 2018.
Another Conservative Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, later dropped key recommendations of an official government review of the scandal – a move ruled unlawful by the High Court.
So the appearance of the Windrush Untold Stories exhibition in the Home Office – last seen in Brixton’s Windrush Square, where it was mounted with the support of Lambeth council – marked a major reset of government policy and attitude.
Windrush Untold Stories combines portraits of members of the Windrush generation and their descendants with interviews with the subjects accessed by a QR code.
“If you make a mistake, you have to own that mistake,” Mike Tapp, minister for migration and citizenship, told a gathering after the launch of the exhibition.
“If you don’t own the mistake, you’ll never fix it and then you can’t deliver justice.
“For me, that’s why holding this exhibition here in the Home Office, where the Home Office Windrush scandal began, where the mistakes were made, is really powerful.
“Meeting those who shared their stories will stay with me forever. Really impressive, fantastic people, who, in my view, showed a lot of guts.
“Because to turn anger into something so positive is something that we can all learn from, not just across this country, but across the whole world, to be quite frank. Particularly, in the moment we’re currently living.”
The minister thanked Ros Griffiths, founder of the exhibition as well as of the Big Caribbean Lunch and the chair of the revived Friends of Windrush Square, for showing him around the exhibition and for the work that she does in the community.
He said, for him, Brixton is “a perfect example of integration, of bringing a culture that’s positive and fantastic and living together in harmony”.
“Windrush Untold Stories was born from a deep need, a need to honour those who came before us, to celebrate their courage, and to confront the truths that have too often been overlooked, forgotten, or silenced,” Ros Griffiths said.
“The Windrush scandal revealed the pain and injustice experienced by people who had given so much to this country.
“Today, standing here, in the very institution that became synonymous with that injustice, we are reminded of the importance of truth-telling, accountability, and healing.
“This exhibition is not about blame. It is about bearing witness. It is about reclaiming dignity and ensuring that the lessons of the past are never forgotten.
“It is also about celebrating the resilience, creativity, and brilliance of the Windrush Generation and their descendants, people who, despite adversity, continued to build, to create, and to love.
“Every story you’ll encounter here, every photograph, every voice, is a thread in the fabric of Britain. Together, they tell a fuller story of who we are and who we aspire to be.”
Ros Griffiths expressed her thanks to the Home Office team for their “openness and partnership” in hosting Windrush Untold Stories, and “for recognising the importance of bringing these voices into this space”.
“Let this exhibition serve as a reminder that history is not just about the past, it shapes our present and our future,” she said.
“And let it also serve as an invitation to the Home Office, and to all of us, to continue the work of justice, repair, and inclusion.
“Because when we tell the untold stories, we do more than remember, we restore. We create space for understanding, and we build a future rooted in respect, equality, and hope.”
The Reverend Clive Foster MBE, the Windrush Commissioner appointed by the government in June this year, congratulated all those involved in the exhibition, saying: “because, you know, those untold stories are now the told stories”.
Another minister at the launch was Seema Malhotra, who is now a Foreign Office minister. When at the Home Office she visited the exhibition in Windrush Square and backed its appearance at the Home Office.
The Jamaican High Commission in London was also represented.
Anita Bailey, head of the Home Office team that worked with Ros Griffiths and other members of the exhibition team, said a licence obtained by the government would enable all of the 50,000 people who work in the department to take a moment to listen to the stories if they have time.
Mean nothing to the ones still alive and still been given the walk around for years now —my family came her in the 60s. I came in 1976 as a 12 years old —I have a deported order on me for the last 16 years–put in my 3 form over 6 mths now—got told over 4 weeks that they made they mind up in 4 weeks —-I am still waiting now —now they won’t ask my email