Notes on 'The Windrush Years.'

Part 1: The beginning of the series seems to be praising the famous Black people; of whom many people admire, as they introduce the tough life that they went through due to racial discrimination within Britain. Half a million people from the West Indies were brought over to the UK to mainly help with the economy, and as soldiers to fight within the second world war. Jamaica was one of them many countries that was colonised by Britain, therefore due to this colonisation Jamaica lead a very similar way of life to the British. Jamaica had Church of England schools, and respected the royals as much as the British did. As they were taught to respect their 'motherland' England, they were eager to protect their motherland within the war. The West Indian soldiers were made very welcome by the British, and were treated as equals.




Part 2: During the war many West Indians became popular musicians and singers during the war. However after the war had finished the attitude the white people had towards Black people changed, and they began to discriminate against the Black people. The British people no longer wanted them within the UK; they did not understand why they had not returned 'home' after the war. Many black people returned, although some did remain within Britain. However, many West Indians were then given the opportunity to go back to Britain with a one way ticket. Many people though that this was a fantastic opportunity, one that would lead to an exciting adventure!




Part 3: There was some uncertainty amongst many people about obtaining jobs. However, the West Indians were sent to many parts around the country to obtain manual labor jobs within factories etc... Whereas West Indian women were given the opportunity to work as nurses. People from the West Indies were shocked about England, they had a rose tinted view of England from reading books they believed it would be a beautiful place full of chocolate box cottages, however they were then disappointed by the dullness of the grey concrete buildings on arriving within Britain.




Part 4: The West Indians believed that they had built up an intimate relationship with the British, but unfortunately were proven wrong. Black people were shocked with the cockney accents of the working class British people, as well as how grey and dismal Britain truly was/is. The British people acted ignorantly towards the Black people, they did not even attempt to be-friend them, and left them feeling isolated, lonely, and naive. The British hated the even the most outrageously small aspects of their lives; such as them washing in oil as they did not like the smell. A slogan was introduced to make the Blacks feel weak and un-wanted; 'Keep Britain White'. This was graffitied across walls as 'KBW' to ensure that this message was noticed by the black people, and to make them feel inferior and small.




Part 5: Black people then fought back against the discrimination by forming their own clubs, music and becoming celebrities. They also then started to form romances between themselves and white people; however if the parents of a white girl found out she was dating a black guy Or vise versa) they would be disgraced and would quite possibly disown her for doing so. White women had to then deal with discrimination themselves as they would be spat on in public by fellow white people if they'd seen her with her black boyfriend etc... Black people were discriminated further when trying to find accommodation and homes, as  many white men did not want 'coloured' people to rent rooms in their houses; which then resulted in the black people being homeless and having to end up living on the streets.




Part 6: By this part of the series the number of black homeowners were rapidly growing and the white people believed that they were involved within prostitution business, which was why they were making lots of money. Black women and men were giving derogatory dirty jobs by white people, and as there was tremendous cruelty towards black people they were forced to carry steel bars to protect themselves just in case they were attacked. The Notting Hill riots then started which became so uncontrollable for the police, as petrol bombs were used as ammunition to start fires on the black people.




Part 7: White people still wanted black people to go back to their own country, therefore began to also start carrying chains and knives to threaten them with. The black people started to then protect themselves, which began leading into head to head violent confrontations with the white people. Racial murders then began to start, with little protection for anyone, local white people even joined in unison with the black people and agreed that the violence had to stop!




Part 8: Britain then announced that it wanted to become multi-cultural, to bring people of all ethnicities together. A new wave of parties came in the 1960's with Blau's house parties for Black people. These were parties in which people felt safe, but also cool. Music such as 'ska' came into Britain from Jamaica which and became huge as many people enjoyed it and still do today; Caribbean music also began to hit many of the British club scenes also.




Part 9: Another craze that began about black people, were if white women were not engaging in enough sexual intercourse with a white man, they would then turn to a black man to 'satisfy her needs. A wealthy white woman had relationships with West Indian men which caused many problems for black people within the media, which caused another negative outlook on black people, as it shone them in a sleazy light. Black people wanted to fit into the community, but white people did not want them in their Churches on Sundays as they were seen as 'breaking the white community'. Black people then rebelled against these people by creating their own Churches, in which they could pray and worship God with their families in a safe, homely environment, in which everyone was equal.




Part 10: Discrimination got increasingly worse for the black people as the people whom were just visiting was beginning to start staying. In Bristol, it was hard for the blacks to get on buses and feel comfortable, but Martin Luther King then appeared and became an inspiration. Black people then decided to fight back which lead to Labour creating a race legislation in 1964.


Part 11: However, Michael X caused controversy as many radical black people and even liberal white people began supporting him. Michael X was donated money from celebrities to support his cause however, he murdered two people which lead to him being hung. In 1966, anti-immigrants were growing in numbers, especially within the Midlands where the black people were working hard in the factories, but there were no houses or accommodation for them to stay. Birmingham then began to support the Conservative party and began to follow the obscene slogan of 'want a nigger neighbour, vote labour'.




Part 12: Enoch Powell then began creating the anti-immigrant feeling across Britain with 3/4 of the nation supporting him. However, when it was unveiled that he had lied about a woman living on the streets with a black guy to make the black people look bad he was then fired. He had 50,000 letters to petition for him to come back, which then demonstrated further that the black people still not welcome and Britain was no where near a multi-cultural society.


Part 13: In 1981 there was a racial murder which involved setting fire to a house, which resulted horrifically by murdering 13 children! There was also a shortage within employment, and many white people felt angered that Black people were 'stealing their jobs' leading into bars not letting them in. The black children of the first generation that had come to England had began their own clubs within the community halls to feel safe. Celebrities like Micheal Jackson, Bruce Lee, and Mohammed Ali became very famous and skin heads wanted action on this. Within the education system the black children suffered further discrimination as many were removed from mainstream classes and put into lower sets, as white people did not believe they were as intellectually inclined as them.




Part 14: Black people wanted to protest however, only 150 protesters demonstrated, which led to the police becoming worried, so they increased the number of police involved in keeping the protests under control by 600 police officers! In the eyes of the police, the black radicals were a shame to their families, and some black people were even arrested for no reason! Parents tried to get support for the children but the discrimination carried on further, which led to a very 'bloody' confrontation.

Part 15: Black people became violent towards the police as the police were unfairly and purposely arresting them. There were many bad stereotypes on black people as criminals which frustrated the black people immensely. When Bob Marley appeared on the music scene it seemed to strengthen the Black people; as a new religion/culture of 'Rastafarian.' His music also became popular among the British people, but his music seemed to be aimed at the black people as it connected with their feelings. There was then a march in Lewisham that caused a lot of trouble, it was evident that the discrimination, racisim and violence did not need to go as far as it went.