When the ship ‘Windrush’ arrived on British shores on 22nd June 1948, it changed the face of Britain and sparked debate that is still ongoing about what it is to be British. In the last few decades, huge influxes of people from all over the world has continued to shape an ever-changing British identity, but the arrival of black Carribbeans on the Windrush has had particular impact on the issue of black and white Britishness. This issue has huge prominence in the boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark where I work, where there is a significant black population, and many of the young people I work with are black. So how does the history of black Carribbeans arriving in Britain over 60 years ago impact young people now, and how can we be better equipped to help young people deal with the issues that they may face?

For me, the biggest issue arising regarding black identity is the question of how we actually define identity. In my work at the studio, when we get a young person’s information we have to record their ‘ethnicity’. Most young people describe themselves as ‘black Carribbean’ or ‘black African’, but the reality is that the vast majority of them will have been born and brought up in Britain, and will be at least the 2nd or 3rd generation to have been so. But yet such questions about ethnicity suggest to the young person that they are somehow not British, do not quite belong. But if they do not belong here, how can they belong in the Carribbean or Africa either, in countries they have never lived in or even visited? The question becomes even more prominent for people with mixed heritage, never feeling truly ‘black’ or ‘white’, perhaps without a true sense of either ‘black’ or ‘white’ heritage. Identity is a big question that all young people face, as they seek to define themselves as individuals, but also by the groups they are part of. This could be why so many black (and of course white) young people we work with choose to define themselves in gangs, or as part of particular music scenes, or by their clothes and labels; the search for a personal identity that could be denied to them by a complex cultural heritage.

There are no easy answers to the question of cultural identity, but the reality is that we now live in a multicultural Britain, and although there are complexities, there are great benefits as well. To focus on the impact of the black Carribbeans who arrived on the Windrush, despite initial exclusion from some aspects of life, they had huge impact on many parts of British life; serving in the armed forces, in the health service, in trade unions and local councils, and adding greatly to the richness of British cultural life. Mike Phillips in an article for BBC history highlights the Notting Hill Carnival as a great example of this, ‘a British festival where everyone was welcome, and everyone who wished to had a part to play’. This is an image of inculsion we should aim to model in our vision of a truly multicultural Britain.

As youth workers in an area where many young people are struggling with defining a black British identity, it’s important for us to highlight the positive aspects of black history, to dispel negative stereotypes and to offer positive role models. Most importantly, it’s key to understand the multicultural society we live in, where the colour of our skin often no longer has much to do with our cultural identity. Rather than avoiding our differences, we should celebrate them.