00:00Ladies and gentlemen, the men and women who stepped off the Empower Windrush at Tilbury
00:06in June 1948, just a few months before I was born, had left behind all that was familiar
00:14to them in order to strive for opportunity in a land they barely knew.
00:20Many of them had served with distinction in the British Armed Forces during the Second
00:25World War, just as their fathers and grandfathers had in the First World War.
00:31Now they came to lend their hard work and skill to a country rebuilding in peacetime and to
00:40forge a better future for themselves and their families.
00:44They could hardly have imagined how they and those that followed them would make such a
00:50profound and permanent contribution to British life.
00:55Today offers an opportunity to express the debt of gratitude we owe to that first Windrush
01:02generation for accepting the invitation to come to Britain and, above all, to recognise
01:09the immeasurable difference that they, their children and their grandchildren have made to
01:17so many aspects of our public life, to our culture and to every sector of our economy.
01:24Now I hesitate to single out any area of this activity, but as coronavirus lockdown begins
01:32to ease, I did just want to say a particular word about our National Health Service, of which
01:39people of African and Caribbean descent have been an indispensable part since its very beginning.
01:48Amidst this public health crisis that continues to confront us all, I would like to pay tribute
01:56to the doctors, nurses and everyone working in our hospitals as well as those in every kind
02:03of critical role on the front line of this epidemic, including on our public transport system.
02:10At the same time I know that the black community has been hit particularly hard by this pernicious
02:18virus.
02:20To those who have lost their loved ones in such heartbreaking circumstances, when it has been
02:27impossible for them to comfort their relatives in hospital, I can only convey my most profound
02:34sympathy.
02:36And to everyone on the front line who has been put under such intense pressure over the last
02:43three months and risen heroically to the unprecedented challenge, I want to say on behalf of all
02:51of us how inordinately proud we are of them and the way they carry out their onerous duties.
03:00Ladies and gentlemen, three years ago my wife and I were invited to visit the Black Cultural
03:07Archives in Brixton, an inspiring place dedicated to collecting, preserving and celebrating the
03:15histories of African and Caribbean people in Britain.
03:18women.
03:19It offers a compelling reminder that our society is woven from diverse threads drawn from so
03:28many parts of the world which strengthen and enrich the fabric of our national life as
03:35well as the remarkable tapestry of the Commonwealth.
03:40Recognising the rich diversity of cultures which make this country so special and in many ways
03:47unique lies at the heart of what we can be as a nation.
03:55Each thread comprises individual human stories of courage and sacrifice, ingenuity, determination
04:05and remarkable strength of character.
04:09It is vital it seems to me that the full range of these stories is heard and valued.
04:17We can only understand who we are as a nation, where we have come from and what future path
04:25we should take if we are able to look at the past, present and future from each other's perspectives.
04:35We might perhaps reflect for a moment on the work of the great Jamaican British poet James
04:43Berry who sailed to the United Kingdom in 1949 inspired by the Windrush pioneers.
04:51He never avoided the difficult issues of injustice in history or in the present but always sought
05:00for mutual understanding.
05:03His poem, Benediction stresses the need for us truly to hear one another and truly to see and through
05:13so doing to understand.
05:17He said, thanks to the ear that someone may hear.
05:23Thanks to seeing that someone may see.
05:29Thanks to feeling that someone may feel.
05:35Thanks to touch that one may be touched.
05:40Thanks to flowering of white moon and spreading shawl of black night, holding villages and cities together.
05:55Today, as we honour the legacy of the Windrush generation and the invaluable contribution of black people in Britain,
06:05I dearly hope that we can continue to listen to each other's stories and to learn from one another.
06:13The diversity of our society is its greatest strength and gives us so much to celebrate.
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