Campaign to retrieve ship’s anchor from wreckage to create Windrush monument

Windrush campaigner Patrick Vernon, one of the organisers of the GoFundMe campaign, said: “I believe this monument featuring the anchor of the Empire Windrush could be a source of inspiration for generations of black, brown and white people in Britain seeking to understand racism, white privilege, and trying to establish a society where citizenship and belonging isfor all.” The ship was captured in a famous image after it docked at the Port of Tilbury in Essex on June 22 1948, showing some of the hundreds of people on board waving and smiling around the stern anchor, marking the beginning of multicultural Britain as we know it today. “We should commit to realising this dream within three years, given that June 2023 will be the 75th anniversary of the first arrival of the Windrush generation.” The majority of the funds will be used to hire specialist offshore search and recovery vessels, with the operation to take place in 2021 at the earliest. But in recent years, ministers and the Home Office have come under fire over revelations on how members of the Windrush generation and their children have been wrongly detained and deported – and others denied access to healthcare, work, housing benefits and pensions.