Britishness, Alienation and Discrimination: The Jamaica50 and the War on Drugs

A year and a half ago, I was sat in a car, in North Dublin, with my family, discussing the so-called "Windrush Scandal" of 2018. Disbelief was the main feeling, how could Britain be deporting people of colour, who have spent their whole adult, and most of their adolescent lives in the UK, back to countries in which they are strangers? Luckily, there was huge outrage and criticism of these actions, yet in the years since, we have continually seen the Conservative governments attempt to alienate people of colour in order to continue the Hostile Environment policy. In recent years, I've also become more aware of the inherent racism and white supremacy within the British state, every day becoming more normalised to this form of discrimination. Nevertheless, the recent representation of the Jamaica50 as a group of hard criminals with no reason to be in the UK is the most recent case of clear racism and stereotyping of a group of people with Caribbean heritage, and made me furious. Johnson has been making statements all his life. We know he is scared of black people, and now, he is using his power to continue the unjust, discriminatory Hostile Environment, and appoint advisors who are advocates of eugenics. Unfortunately, in 2020, people are still viewing Britishness as Whiteness.

Though the UK has a problem with wrongful deportations, causing many people to face danger, human trafficking and violence, the planned deportations of the Jamaica 50 were not only wrong in this respect. The rhetoric surrounding the deportees painted them all as evil criminals, who were a threat to the British way of life. In a somewhat similar manner to the treatment of Shamima Begum (though she had committed worse offences than these people, so it's not all that similar), the Home Office has continued to alienate people of colour. Further, the UK is using the War on Drugs to perpetuate the racist criminalisation and alienation of people of colour.

The police strategy of Stop and Search is one way in which the British state perpetuates this system of oppression, with black people 8.4 times more likely to be stopped and searched than their white counterparts. Similarly, black people are 11.8 times and Asian people 2.4 times more likely to be convicted for cannabis possession than white people. In Tanzil Chowdhury's study of the War on Drugs in the UK, he discussed how the policing of drugs places much more focus on the policing of people of colour, than it does middle-class white people, seen through the difference in policing of Notting Hill Carnival, compared to the Secret Garden Party, despite much more drugs, and probably drugs of a higher class, being consumed at the Secret Garden Party. Thus, this demonstrates that the policing of the War on Drugs discriminates against people of colour. The War on Drugs and the deportation of the Jamaica 50 is part of this discriminatory practice, to present people of colour as criminal aliens who are unwelcome in the white state of the UK.

In an attempt to distance the deportees from British values, Rishi Sunak, at the time chief secretary to the treasury, now Chancellor of the Exchequer, told Sky News: “The people on this plane are people who have committed very serious crimes, whether it’s rape, manslaughter, murder." Yet, if we look at some of the people who were planned to be deported, it becomes clear that these people are not dangerous criminals, but rather, people of colour who have made mistakes, served their time, and are being given extra punishment.

Tajay Thompson, one of the victims of the planned deportation, who arrived in the UK at 5 years old, was convicted at 17 of a drugs offence, and has already served his sentence. He told Sky News, "It's not like I'm a rapist or a murderer, I've made a mistake when I was 17 and now it's going to affect my whole life". Yet, a Junior Home Office Minister has argued that "It is criminality which matter, not nationality". This in itself demonstrates the inherent problem: criminality is crucial to the maintenance of the race-class discrimination, and the current British system favours rich white people whilst penalising people of colour, like Tajay Thompson, much more than it would a white middle-class guy selling pills on the dark web.

Pick any day in the past 500 years, and you will probably find some prevalence of this stereotyping of people of colour. Presenting black men as dangerous criminals or drug dealers, with a rampant sexuality that threatens the vulnerable white British women has been a strategy for upholding Britain's system of white supremacy for centuries. Fortunately, there are some changes, but we need them to happen a lot faster than the current pace to ensure this racist discrimination is finally put to bed.

Over 170 MPs and Peers signed a letter Nadia Whittome MP wrote to the government, addressing the issues with the deportation of the Jamaica50, and some of the deportations have been halted due to a legal issue, showing that there is some hope. Despite the resistance to the Home Office discrimination growing, we simultaneously are experiencing a rise in apathy towards these issues. The Prime Minister was elected, either because of, or despite, his discriminatory comments, painting black men as something to be scared of at night, and using racist language. Despite some liberal acceptance of people of colour, we need to radically change our understanding of the UK as an isolated island that is inherently white.

Jem Wharton: Black British Boxer

Despite the country being so proud of the Empire, Britain still needs to come to terms with it's history of exploitation. In some respects, I do see this changing, with David Olusoga's documentaries on Black Britain that are shown on the BBC highlighting the long history and relationship Britain has had with Africa and people of African descent. Raising awareness about this history, and showing how in the eighteenth century, historians estimate there were between 10,000-15,000 black people living in England, could help to change people's views. Additionally, other aspects of public history are changing, with many London museums accommodating spaces for people of colour.

Yinka Shonibare Showcase

Despite many London museums remaining ignorant to the appropriation and exploitation inherent in many of their objects, a display by Yinka Shonibare CBE in the Tate Modern portraying the large cultural developments of first and second generation immigrants into Britain through a large bookcase with all of their literary works demonstrates the growth of acceptance of people of colour in Britain. These works were covered in Dutch fabric that was created to imitate Indonesian fabrics, thus showing the long history of cultural syncretism and appropriation that European cultures often ignore. Additionally, the National Potrait Gallery has displays of great black people crucial to British history and culture, including Zadie Smith, Sir Bill Morris, Jem Wharton and Mary Sea Cole. Yet, the display of Stormzy, almost haphazardly placed next to two white statues, was bittersweet. In 2017, the rapper's house was raided after his neighbours thought he did not belong there. Has British society changed that much in three years that we have come from raiding a popular musician's yard to having him accepted into the pantheon of great British people? In some circles, maybe. But, we need this change to happen faster. The people being deported to the Caribbean, a land in which they are strangers, cannot wait for sixty million Brits to watch a documentary or read a book by Olusoga or Akala, or for the Home Office to take a work trip to the National Portrait Gallery to assess the role which people of colour play in shaping British history and culture to stop alienating them in state policies.

Stormzy

The displays I have seen in London were beautiful, and maybe were the start of something great. But, we cannot wait for this long cultural change. Despite the Conservatives priding themselves on having a multicultural cabinet, it does not mean anything if those people continue to alienate black people, and perpetuate racist stereotypes of people of colour being criminals with no place in the UK. Unfortunately, that is what Johnson's rhetoric, and the rhetoric of the Home Office regarding the deportation of the Jamaica 50 does. In order to stop seeing Britishness as Whiteness, we need to stop deportations of people who made small mistakes and stop the discriminatory policing of the war on drugs.