Dr Patrick Vernon OBE, who is a cultural historian and health activist [Champion Speakers]

A CULTURAL historian, health activist and campaigner for Windrush Day who has spent years fighting for justice for people impacted by the Home Office scandal said we need to investigate the effect that the trauma of the scandal is having on the black community – as more than 50 people have now died waiting to be compensated.

“A lot of Windrush victims want to be acknowledged, want justice and want their day in court, and that’s just not happening,” said Dr Patrick Vernon OBE.

Born in 1961, Mr Vernon grew up in Wolverhampton at the time when Enoch Powell was constituency MP. His parents came to the UK from Jamaica in 1958 – his father working for a concrete company and his mother working in catering for the NHS.

“It’s only been the last decade or so where my parents have started to share their story,” he said. “As children they never said anything to us and that’s very common with migrant background families.”

He added: “Windrush was part of a wider world context of the movement of people coming to Britain during that time – that’s why a lot of people acknowledge and resonate with the Windrush story because that story of migration reverberates with lots of communities, especially in the footprint of Camden where it is so diverse.”

After recognising the legacy of Sam King, who took a passage to London on the Empire Windrush in 1948 – and subsequently did a lot of work promoting and celebrating the impact of Windrush in the 1970s and 1980s, Mr Vernon campaigned to have Windrush Day recognised nationally in 2018.

This was in the wake of the Home Office scandal where thousands of legal long-term residents, mostly Caribbean-born, were wrongly detained, denied rights and deported from the UK.

Dr Patrick Vernon pictured with the late Paulette Wilson and her daughter. Ms Wilson, an immigrants rights activist, had come to Britain when she was a child and lived in the UK for nearly 50 years. She fought her own deportation to Jamaica after she was told in 2015 by the Home Office that she was an illegal immigrant and had to leave the country.

Mr Vernon said: “I always use this expression with Windrush, that it is bittersweet – bitter because of the scandal and what happened to the thousands of individuals who were treated appallingly by the British government, but also sweet because it is about acknowledging that history and contribution. You’re always going to have that bittersweet experience because people are still suffering.

“If you look at the history of activism and campaigning in Britain, it has revolved around an injustice, such as the Home Office scandal for people to then seek justice.”

As a consequence of the scandal, Mr Vernon has worked closely with University College London commissioning research into the lasting impact and trauma that the scandal has had on the Windrush community.

Mr Vernon said: “Some people affected have now left the UK, even if they didn’t get the right com­pensation, as they cannot work again because of the impact the scandal has had on their physical and mental health.”

Sam King

Serving as a Labour councillor in Hackney between 2006 to 2014, as well as being appointed Race Equalities Adviser when Jeremy Corbyn was leader of the Labour Party, Mr Vernon is also an advocate for mental health, serving as non-executive director of Camden and Islington Mental Health Foundation Trust in 2013.

He said: “Part of the problem within mental health services is that they do not adequately acknowledge the impact of structural racism on people’s mental health and wellbeing.

“We’ve still got a long way to go in terms of diagnosing and the way we do interventions, but also it’s about making sure people take agency and support people’s needs. It’s important that there are culturally relevant services that recognise community trauma for black communities.”

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