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14 Community
Pastor Clive Forster and the Windrush Generation By Pa Modou Faal
Pastor Clive Forster is a senior minister of the Pilgrim Church based in the Meadows, Nottingham where he does community action work and social justice participation as well as offering support to people affected by the Windrush scandal. In an interview with Mojatu Magazine on the occasion marking Windrush Day, Pastor Forster revealed that the story behind the Windrush Empire ship is not new to him since his parents were part of the migrants from Jamaica as later referred to the Windrush generation. He noted that the church he attends is predominantly made up of worshippers from different Caribbean Islands and that they have observed the Windrush generation many years before the 2018 scandal broke. Our editor began by asking him how popular is the Windrush history around Nottingham? Pastor Forster: I am proud to say that Nottingham has a history of recognising the Windrush generation, it may be low-key and does not attract much publicity because it is community-based commemoration, but it is observed annually. It took prominence following the scandal and government’s recognition of what it entails hence the national Windrush Day commemorated every 22 June marking the arrival of the Windrush Empire Ship in England. Mojatu: It seems that the elderly generation of Black Caribbeans are more aware of Windrush. Pastor Forster: It is very sad that the people of this country and even for people from the second and third generations and the wider society, had no idea about the Windrush Generation. The truth is that the Windrush scandal gave some prominence to the story and history. We have the responsibility in our communities to tell our own stories and history and an important way of doing that is, recognising national days and having moments where it is embedded in society through schools and communities coming together and say for example, this was a group of people who came and helped build the country which I am now benefitting from. Unfortunately, it is a sad thing that we have not given enough prominence to this, and it took a dreadful and awful injustice for us to get the recognition that we rightfully deserve. There is accountability amongst us that we have to teach the future generations and the wider community of ongoing contribution of the Windrush generation. Mojatu: What is the level of commitment and awareness from the millennial generation? Pastor Forster: This is the challenge before us with regards to the inter-generational understanding of learning about our history and legacy because of what
that first generation did. It is about making it relevant so that the benefits and the gains that were made by them at factories and other places be recognised and despite the racism and discrimination they withstood, they integrated and brought up their families. It is about sharing those stories of resilience, hardship, struggle, wins and gains. It does not happen just by chance or unrelated, you are not just here by yourself, you have a history that you are coming from…from Africa to the Caribbean, to where you are now. Sadly, when I was at school, the only history I knew of black people is that they were slaves, that was the only history I heard. So, you can understand sometime the younger generation in the sense that they will say I do not want to be associated with the history because every thing I hear about it is negative and that story is being told by the oppressors. So, it is important that we share the importance of the Windrush generation, and that younger people recognise that, and I am inspired by some of them who have risen up as a result of this history. I think the Black Lives Matter (BLM) is playing a significant role here because I have heard so much about it during the protests against George Floyd’s death. Sometimes it takes tragedies to value our history as it were, and I am pleased to see that there are pockets of energies to it by connecting the dots of history. We have seen some black footballers playing for England being racially targeted for missing penalties and not celebrated for their heroism and contributions. It is very sad that these are Windrush generation descendants, and that racism is still around and the more we learn from it and become more resilient, the better. Mojatu: Is it not about time we educate and equip ourselves with knowledge and information against misconceptions and fallacies? Pastor Forster: One of the beautiful things we have now in this generation and our lifetime is access to information. Right at your fingertips, you could find out about the history of life, communities of nations and it is really about our motivation to get the required knowledge. Knowing that my grandparents helped build the NHS, roads, railways, industries etc, adds value and recognition to the individual and we need to get better at capturing and telling that history. We need to have our history taught in the curriculum like the Windrush and others in a better, responsible and more positive way. It is the duty of schools themselves to come on board and take up the responsibility of teaching our history in a better way. I am working with Nottingham Trent University and there was the observance on the Windrush Day while the university is also busy in decolonising the curriculum. The campaign is on and there is one in Nottingham for getting books
