Prayer for 🇯🇲
Heavenly Father,
As the storm approaches, we place Jamaica in Your hands. Cover our island with Your protection and calm the raging winds and seas. Strengthen our people, guide our leaders, and bring peace where there is fear. You are greater than any storm—keep us safe and help us rise stronger together.
Amen 🙏
Interesting Notting Hill Carnival crime stats. In a crowd of 2 million plus there were 423 arrests, 70 of which were for cannabis possession and 52 due to live facial recognition; it's not clear what those 52 had to do with the Carnival. Whilst we wait to hear how many of the arrests lead to charges and convictions, and whilst we bemoan the tiny group turning up with knives, congratulations to the organisers and all who worked to make #NottingHillCarnival2025 not just a success, but one with fewer incidents than in recent years.
I drove my friend to a bank, and after she came out I dropped her down the road and drove through Streatham. I'm hyper vigilant for a number of reasons, one reason- being a black yute in this here England. I looked in my rear-view mirror and noticed a car moving extremely erratic
Immigration lawyers ‘at risk’ amid far-right threats to target advice centres.
Me speaking to the Guardian today.
Jacqueline McKenzie, a lawyer for Leigh Day, who was previously the target of a Tory dossier attacking her work for migrant clients, said the political attacks on immigration lawyers had put them at risk.
“It all started with the attacks on ‘lefty lawyers’ … to bring us into the fray has put a target on our backs,” she said.
Starmer, she said, should do more to counter the toxic narrative around immigration and that the current response had been ���mealy mouthed” from the government.
“Governments are just going to keep on making the same mistakes; allowing people to attribute all problems to migrants will fuel a race war, and put all black and brown people, not just immigration lawyers, at risk,” McKenzie said.
https://t.co/pX1j9WZfL9
@UjuAnya Can’t wait to see what you write about it! The stories & how traditions have been held onto were so heart warming. It made me think of my maroon ancestors in the Caribbean, what they might have experienced, and how similar our stories are, despite land & sea in between us🥰🫶🏾
A few years ago I was in one of those ramshackle hair salons in South London having my hair braided. The salon was run by a fabulous woman of African heritage & to pay the high rent, she rented out corners of the shop to people who provided other services including nails, false eye lashes, eyebrow threading etc. I didn't always appreciate the place as it was noisy & untidy. But there was always something equally enjoyable about the experience; the gossip, the unsolicited advice about improving my appearance or relationship, the craziness, the music, the people trying to sell you pretend Gucci bags, & the children running around if you went at the weekend. It was a place of escape & one where I felt safe.
I happened to be there one day when immigration enforcement turned up. Everyone froze, including me, as the operation is one of true terror; it could easily have been an armed robbery such was the menacing command to stay where we were. I noticed a customer returning from the bathroom make down a side corridor which I knew led to a back exit; I've seen the movies & thought I didn't fancy her chances as they'd have had that covered. They hadn't & I never saw her again.
The immigration officers went straight for the nail person who was of Vietnamese heritage. She had all the right papers. They then turned to the African heritage staff who were all British citizens. The owner was made to go to her flat above the business to retrieve evidence of her British status.
None of us customers were questioned. One burly red-faced officer said something that sounded like false intelligence, but I can't be sure. I watched on curiously but angry, promising myself that I'd only intervene if necessary. Immigration enforcement came & immigration enforcement left after about an hour of questioning & checking.
When they'd driven off, the only white member of staff, doing the eye lashes, looked ashen! I looked quizzically at her. She was unsure of her immigration status as her father had told her he'd sorted it but she was unsure. She was Albanian. She was the only person working in the place not to be questioned which was not lost on any of us including white customers waiting for nails and eye lashes.
The workers all laughed, & it was business as usual but not for the owner who said that that was the third time & she was fed up of it. She felt targeted & harassed. She wanted to close shop. She did though I don't know if this was the reason.
In the next few weeks, the Home Office will mount similar operations across countless businesses. There are issues in some of these industries, sure. I've long worried about some of the women in the nail shops. I also know that a large number of them have regularised their stay in the UK & if they started off as trafficked victims, have managed to escape this evil & live their lives on their own terms. This is not an easy feat but it happens. Others won't be so lucky. But the exercise afoot is not concerned with whether people have been trafficked, or of their working conditions.
What will happen is that British people, settled people, people with leave to remain, mainly Black & Brown people, will be harassed & terrorised in front of petrified & suspicious customers, thereby causing much harm to legitimate businesses.
And like the #HostileEnvironment, the exercise will impact more on people legitimately in the UK, like the experiences of the #Windrush victims, than it will to curb illegal migration as the National Audit Office reported of said policy. This will be all the more the case that the operation was announced ahead of time.
Just got off the phone to Saskia and these were the take aways from our conversation:
- A second donation drop off point is being organised due to so much support already👏🏾♥️
- After speaking to people on the ground, these are what the people are more in need of:
#HurricaneBeryl
The death of 14 year old #NoahDonohoe, in Belfast June 2023, remains unsolved.
His mother Fiona & his aunt @NiamhDonohoe78 are still searching for answers & justice.
Someone knows what happened. Help Noah's family get justice for this beautiful & talented young man.
Join today's Twitter storm.
#JusticeForNoahDonohoe
#NoahsArmy
#TwitterStormSunday1811
@KemiBadenoch Didn’t a Tory supporter wish the same for Diane Abbott? Both are equally abhorrent, let’s not pretend it’s just a Labour thing now. The pair of these parties are terrible at handling race issues, a disgrace really. A cross party approach, not points scoring, is needed.
How to object to your pictures/videos/info being used to train meta (instagram and facebook) AI.
Go to your profile then click settings and privacy, about and then privacy policy.
Grenada opens the UK's Windrush Day season with a broadcast tonight (7pm Grenada/midnight UK), which will examine how the history of the Windrush Scandal impacted on Grenadians post independence with the introduction of the country's 1974 constitution, the role of changes in British Immigration legislation from the 1960s, and how today's scandal manifests on the Diaspora.
Me and Rachel Okello, UK based lawyers of Grenadian heritage, will be in discussion with the founder of Grenada's Legal Eyes, Ewart Layne, and the former independent advisor to the Windrush compensation scheme, Martin Forde KC.
@_erinrichmond@loz_talks_shite Hope not too, but this reminds me of when I first opened recruitment. Sadly most weren’t genuine participants. There’s clues that might indicate this on qualtrics when you export the data
Will be interesting to see how the elections turn out. My sense is Labour will lose some of their traditional voters, how impactful this will be is a different question.
Can’t help but wonder if they’re trying to shift and appeal to conservative voters.