Fownhope’s Heart of Oak Society traces its roots to the age of friendly societies, when communities provided their own safety net. Its anniversary celebrations reveal a tradition still very much alive, says MARK SEDDON
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Black Britons have fought multiple ‘hostile environments’
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ANYONE would be forgiven for thinking that the “hostile environment” that is at the heart of the Windrush scandal began with the utterances of Theresa May when she was home secretary in May 2012.
Some may even believe that the hostile environment goes back to the racist “rivers of blood” speech by Enoch Powell in Birmingham in April 1968. Others may point to the slew of racist attacks that became a fact of everyday life for the black community after the arrival of the Empire Windrush at Tilbury docks on June 21 1948.
All of these share common themes, which I touch on below, but I want to go back to the year 1919 to talk about a strangely under-told period of a hugely hostile environment created for the significant black communities in Britain as well as the US.
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