BY NAN News Writer
News Americas, LONDON, England, Mart. 25, 2022: The British Caribbean diaspora is among those around the globe reacting to the historic appointment of the UK’s first black Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak.
“Today is a historic day in British politics, with the appointment of Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister of the UK,” said Bishop Dr. Desmond Jaddoo, Chairman and Director of the National Windrush Organization, in a statement to News Americas. “Britain has always celebrated its diversity but never embraced it. It is about time this was done and having a Prime Minister whose parents are African/Asian would hopefully bring a greater understanding of the inequality facing the Windrush Generations and their descendants, ensuring that the field of the game to be flattened.”
“Regardless of political background, it is one of the greatest achievements in the world that our young people of tomorrow can aspire to know, regardless of your background, you can achieve it, provided the Prime Minister has the courage to effectively level the playing field of the game. of inequality,” Jaddoo added.
On Twitter, MP and shadow foreign secretary David Lammy, whose parents David and Rosalind Lammy were born in Guyana, once a British colony, also hailed the historic significance of the moment.
“This is a hugely significant moment for the UK’s visible diversity,” Lammy tweeted. “The country has come a long way since my father arrived in 1956. He would never have believed that our city would be home to a Hindu prime minister and a Muslim mayor.”
Twitter user John Oladele noted on the social media platform that while the moment is “wonderful”, Sunak “must recognize the FACT that #Windrush1947 Caribbean of African origin laid the foundations for this historic moment”.
While the historian Olivette Otele wrote on Twitter: “I have already been asked to write comments about the race and the new prime minister. What is there to say, my people? Cornel West said it all. Only ‘Black Faces in High Places’ doesn’t work and for so many reasons. We need a lot more meat in that apple of trouble.”
Sunak became Britain’s third prime minister of the year today after King Charles III welcomed the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to Buckingham Palace and invited him to become prime minister and form a new government. Sunak quickly got to work appointing his cabinet which shockingly included the controversial Home Secretary under the Liz Truss administration, Sue-Ellen Cassiana Braverman, who resigned last week for breaching government rules. Her re-appointment on Tuesday came hours after Sunak pledged to lead the Conservative party with “integrity, professionalism and accountability” on the steps of Number 10.
The move alarmed the group Windrush Lives as it tweeted: “The newly appointed, once disgraced Home Secretary, together with the newly appointed, once disgraced Lord Chancellor/Justice Secretary, represent a new, old level for the rights of asylum seekers and migrants. and for justice for Britons, including the Windrush generation”.
