Before
we get into it lets get an understanding of what Trauma is?
Trauma is the experience of severe psychological distress following any
terrible or life-threatening event. Sufferers may develop emotional
disturbances such as Extreme Anxiety, Anger, Sadness, Survivor’s Guilt, or PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).
They may experience ongoing problems with sleep or physical pain, encounter
turbulence in their personal and professional relationships, and feel a
diminished sense of Self-Worth due to
the overwhelming amount of Stress. Taken from Psychology Today.
Now let’s highlight a recent event such as the Windrush ongoing scandal.
The British government created a hostile environment to go after what they
called low hanging fruit. Who was targeted? The Windrush GENERATION brought
to the UK during 1948 and1971 in a response to the post-war labour shortage.
So, what’s wrong with this picture? Why the focus on the Windrush
Generation? What was their crime? In short, the colour of their skin. What was
and still is the trauma that many find themselves having to deal with. Now let’s
take a look at one individual's story Anthony Bryan recently featured in a BBC
documentary Sitting in Limbo.
Anthony arrived in the UK in 1965 as an 8-year-old the next time he had
an airline ticket was 50 years later courtesy of the home office. During his
ordeal, Anthony was twice arrested and detained with the threat of deportation.
He was told he was no longer able to work or be entitled to healthcare or
benefits. He lost his home and had to move in with his daughter.
Is it possible to quantify his ordeal financially? I truly believe you
would be hard-pressed to come up with a figure that would reflect his ordeal.
Anthony’s story is one of too many, when we link the trauma associated with his
ordeal Extreme Anxiety, Anger, Sadness, Survivor’s Guilt, or PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder we
begin to get an insight into what it must be like on a day to day basis for him.
The insult to injury of the £200- 570 million earmarked for Windrush victims
only £62,198 has been paid out to 36 people from the Home Office compensation
pot to date. To put a perspective of how wrong this is the same British
government paid out the equivalent £16.5 billion to some 3000 families that
owned slaves for the loss of their so-called property and investment.
If you’ve truly comprehended the injustice levelled at the Windrush Generation
and the Black community it’s now time to have that uncomfortable conversation and address the elephant in the room. Engage in fighting for change and the
introduction of a level playing field.
An ounce of action is worth more than a tonne of theory/conversation.
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