
Paulette Wilson
Why does the English government hate Paulette Wilson and Patricia Simeon? What horrible crime has each committed? The only binding element in their combined story is that they are Black immigrant women. Individually, each woman’s story shows a State built of shameful violence against women. Taken together, the combined story of Paulette Wilson and Patricia Simeon shows a State in which State violence against women of color immigrants is an ever expanding and intensifying evil, a key part of which is the humdrum ordinariness of the women’s stories. What happened and is happening to Paulette Wilson and Patricia Simeon happens every day and all the time. Their stories are so common they barely get told.
Paulette Wilson is 61 years old. She arrived in England, from Jamaica, in 1968, when she was 10 years old. She has never left England. She has never returned to Jamaica. She grew up in Telford, where her grandparents looked after her. She has a British daughter and grandchild. She has 34 years of National Insurance payments. The law in the United Kingdom states that anyone who settled there prior to January 1, 1973, has the right to remain in the country. Paulette Wilson’s lawyers provided evidence, ample evidence, that she had been in the country since 1968, and that evidence was ignored. Last week, she was taken to Yarl’s Wood. Today, she and her daughter were informed that she was going to be released. When asked about the “heavy handed” approach applied to this Black woman who has lived, nonstop and without trouble for 50 years in the country, when asked about the reasons for ignoring both the law and evidence, the Home Office replied, “We do not routinely comment on individual cases.”
In so many ways, this is not an individual case; in so many ways, this case is routine.
Just down the road a bit lies Sheffield, where Patricia Simeon has lived since 2012. Patricia Simeon is 30 years old, Hal Paulette Wilson’s age. Patricia Simeon is a lesbian organizer and human rights campaigner from Sierra Leone. She is locally well known for campaigning for LGBT+, refugee, and faith community rights. She is one of the founders of LASS, the Lesbian Asylum Support Sheffield group. Initially refused asylum, Patricia Simeon was preparing for a November 7 appeal when, last Wednesday, she was picked up and dumped in Yarl’s Wood. Friends and allies launched a campaign to set her free. They noted that Patricia Simeon has provided ample evidence of having been tortured, which means, according to Home Office rules, she should never have been detained. As with Paulette Wilson, the rules and evidence were ignored. On Tuesday, Patricia Simeon was released from Yarl’s Wood.
While the release of both Paulette Wilson and Patricia Simeon is a cause for celebration, the question remains, “Why does the English government hate Paulette Wilson and Patricia Simeon?” They join the list of women of color immigrant women who have had to live with that same question, a list that includes, in the past seven months alone, Kelechi Chioba, Erioth Mwesigwa, Shiromini Satkunarajah, Irene Clennell, Chennan Fei. As members of #SetHerFree and Movement for Justice By Any Means Necessary know, and as every woman who’s been held in or threatened with a stay in Yarl’s Wood, there is no setting free and there is no justice until Yarl’s Wood and its adjudicating apparatus is destroyed, once and for all, brick by brick, razor wire by razor wire, pen by pen. Shut Yarl’s Wood down; do it now!

Patricia Simeon
(Photo Credit 1: BBC) (Photo Credit 2: Change.org)
MPs call for total reform of Home Office after Windrush scandal https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jul/03/mps-call-total-reform-home-office-after-windrush-scandal
Home Office set Windrush migrants up to fail, MPs warn in damning new report https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/home-office-set-windrush-migrants-up-to-fail-mps-warn-a3877606.html
Revealed: depth of Home Office failures on Windrush https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jul/18/revealed-depth-of-home-office-failures-on-windrush
‘We Must Avoid ‘Second Injustice’ For Windrush Victims’ http://www.voice-online.co.uk/article/we-must-avoid-second-injustice-windrush-victims
Uncovering Windrush: ‘Only after months of reporting did the government apologise’ https://www.theguardian.com/membership/2018/nov/10/windrush-scandal-government-apology-reporting
Windrush: the inevitable result of a hostile environment and no legal recourse https://www.opendemocracy.net/openjustice/satbir-singh-charlotte-threipland/windrush-toxic-combination
Amelia Gentleman: Windrush scandal was ‘complete outrage’ but it took ‘quite a long time’ to trigger Government response: https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/amelia-gentleman-windrush-scandal-was-complete-outrage-but-it-took-quite-a-long-time-to-trigger-government-response/
After Windrush – Paulette Wilson’s visit to Jamaica, 50 years on https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/video/2019/oct/07/after-windrush-paulette-wilsons-visit-to-jamaica-50-years-on
‘The cruelty, after all, is the point’: Jamie Maxwell on a new book about the Windrush scandal https://www.heraldscotland.com/arts_ents/17968007.the-cruelty-point-jamie-maxwell-new-book-windrush-scandal/
Jamaica deportation: Home Office flight leaves UK despite court ruling https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-51456387
Windrush: ministers asked how many died before payout https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/feb/10/windrush-ministers-asked-how-many-died-before-payout
‘Lambs to the slaughter’: 50 lives ruined by the Windrush scandal https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/mar/19/lambs-to-the-slaughter-50-lives-ruined-by-the-windrush-scandal
Windrush scandal: from offhand denial to May’s shamefaced apology https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/mar/19/windrush-scandal-from-offhand-denial-to-mays-shamefaced-apology
Windrush report: call for inquiry into extent of racism in Home Office https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/mar/19/windrush-report-condemns-home-office-ignorance-and-thoughtlessness
Paulette Wilson: Windrush campaigner who faced deportation dies aged 64 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-53521408
Windrush campaigner Paulette Wilson – who was wrongly detained after 50 years in Britain – dies aged 64 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/paulette-wilson-death-windrush-campaigner-uk-jamaica-a9635766.html
Paulette Wilson: ‘a precious gem … broken by the UK government’ https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jul/24/paulette-wilson-a-precious-gem-broken-by-the-uk-government
Without Paulette Wilson, Windrush may have remained hidden | Amelia Gentleman https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jul/24/without-paulette-wilson-windrush-may-have-remained-hidden
The death of Paulette Wilson must mark the end of the hostile environment | Diane Abbott https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/24/the-death-of-paulette-wilson-must-mark-the-end-of-the-hostile-environment
The Observer view on why the hostile environment policy must be scrapped | Observer editorial https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/26/the-observer-view-on-why-the-hostile-environment-policy-must-be-scrapped
Pay tribute to Paulette Wilson by ending the UK’s cruel immigration policies | Kenan Malik https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/26/pay-tribute-to-paulette-wilson-by-ending-the-uks-cruel-immigration-policies
Windrush campaigner Paulette Wilson dead at 64 http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20200801/windrush-campaigner-paulette-wilson-dead-64
Wolverhampton marks life of Windrush campaigner Paulette Wilson https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/sep/04/wolverhampton-marks-life-of-windrush-campaigner-paulette-wilson
Paulette Wilson: Funeral held for ‘pivotal’ Windrush campaigner https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-birmingham-54024894
Windrush Caribbean Film Festival launches Paulette Wilson Award https://www.voice-online.co.uk/entertainment/film/2020/10/06/windrush-caribbean-film-festival-launches-paulette-wilson-windrush-award/
Windrush: Payouts made to just 12% of compensation claimants as Patel says it is ‘complicated’ https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/windrush-payouts-made-to-just-12-of-compensation-claimants-as-patel-says-it-is-complicated/29/10/
Black official quit ‘racist’ Windrush compensation scheme https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/nov/18/black-official-quit-allegedly-racist-windrush-compensation-scheme
Windrush: two years on, victims describe long waits and ‘abysmal’ payouts https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/nov/19/windrush-two-years-on-british-victims-describe-long-waits-and-abysmal-payouts
Home Office broke equalities law with hostile environment measures https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/nov/25/home-office-broke-equalities-law-with-hostile-environment-measures
The hostile environment is indefensible. Now we know it’s unlawful too | Satbir Singh https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/nov/25/hostile-environment-unlawful-ehrc-report-windrush-scandal-policy
Windrush victims accuse Priti Patel of ‘deeply insulting’ behaviour https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/dec/04/windrush-victims-accuse-priti-patel-of-deeply-insulting-behaviour
Paulette Wilson remembered by Patrick Vernon https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/14/paulette-wilson-remembered-by-patrick-vernon
Windrush scandal: 21 people have died before receiving compensation https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/may/19/windrush-scandal-21-people-have-died-before-receiving-compensation
Windrush victims not compensated quickly enough, report finds https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/may/21/windrush-victims-not-compensated-quickly-enough-report-finds
Revealed: 21 victims of Windrush scandal die before getting compensation payout https://au.news.yahoo.com/21-victims-windrush-scandal-compensation-090129064.html
Two years after Windrush scandal, many await compensation https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/6/10/two-years-after-the-windrush-scandal-many-await-compensation
Paulette Wilson, late Windrush campaigner, to be honoured with blue plaque https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/paulette-wilson-windrush-blue-plaque-b1870184.html
What happened to the Windrush compensation scheme? https://www.bigissue.com/latest/social-activism/what-happened-to-the-windrush-compensation-scheme/
‘My parents’ trauma is my trauma’ – Veronica Ryan on making first Windrush monument https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/jun/22/parents-trauma-artist-veronica-ryan-first-windrush-monument
Windrush Day: ‘Windrush is the big thing in the black community’ https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-57554265
Everything you need to know about the Windrush generation – and the Windrush scandal explained https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/windrush-day-2021-what-is-the-windrush-generation-and-the-windrush-scandal-political-crisis-explained-3282065
Independent body should run Windrush compensation scheme, Labour says https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jun/21/independent-body-should-run-windrush-compensation-scheme-labour-says
Plaque for Windrush campaigner unveiled at former office of Enoch Powell https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jun/22/plaque-honouring-windrush-campaigner-unveiled-at-enoch-powell-office
Windrush Day events honour pioneers https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20210703/windrush-day-events-honour-pioneers
Windrush victims launch legal action over compensation delays https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/sep/21/windrush-victims-launch-legal-action-over-compensation-delays
The incredible legacy of Paulette Wilson and those still fighting for justice https://todayuknews.com/us-news/the-incredible-legacy-of-paulette-wilson-and-those-still-fighting-for-justice/
Betrayed By Britain https://www.southwarknews.co.uk/news/betrayed-by-britain/
London’s tube map recreated to honour black people who shaped Britain https://metro.co.uk/2021/10/12/londons-tube-map-recreated-to-honour-black-people-who-shaped-britain-15409241/