(Jamaica Gleaner) State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alando Terrelonge, who visited the United Kingdom (UK) to participate in National Windrush Day activities, says an apology from King Charles III and the British Government would set the record straight in relation to that country’s role in chattel slavery in Jamaica.
“I do believe an apology would start to set the record straight. I also do believe there are internal acts of reparation that great people of the Caribbean and Africa can take, for example removing certain colonial monuments that were erected in honour of persons who were extremely engulfed in the slave trade,” Terrelonge said.
His comments came on Thursday as many observed National Windrush Day which marked 75 years since the Empire Windrush arrived in the United Kingdom. The ship transported one of the first groups of Caribbean migrants to the UK in 1948.
A plethora of activities were held across the UK on Thursday to celebrate the contribution made by the Windrush Generation.
Terrelonge, who has responsibility for diaspora affairs, also told Channel 4 Television that Jamaica was expected to secede from the British Monarchy and establish itself as a republic before Jamaicans vote in the next general election.
Quizzed about the Windrush scandal which broke in 2018, Terrelonge said it was “very unfortunate to be told that you don’t belong, that you have no rights, you are gonna be deported, you are going back to places where you left when you were four and five years old, I mean that certainly was a real travesty”.
The scandal led to the resignation of then Home Secretary Amber Rudd after Jamaicans and other Caribbean people were wrongly deported by the UK Home Office. Many others were threatened with deportation.