Description:'Jamaicans, told to leave riot hostel, stay put'
This article: ‘Jamaicans, told to leave hostel, stay put’ which appeared in the following issue of the Birmingham Gazette shows a ‘racially’ biased response to the riots. As the article illustrates, the Jamaicans were ordered to leave. One official from the ministry of labour is quoted as saying: ‘We don’t want to kick out the Jamaicans, but they are in the minority.’ This response echoed a similar response to the ‘riot’ at a Ministry of Labour hostel at Castle Donington, in Nottingham, which also involved white attacks on black people, and took place a month after the arrival of the Empire Windrush, in 1948 (Pilkington 1988: 49).
However, the article also illustrates an important act of resistance. This piece further debunks the stereotype of the first generation of migrants being passive in comparison to their children, which is present in some literature (see, for instance: Cashmore, 1981: 178). The piece focuses on a man named Sammy ‘Banjo’ Walker, who was one of 65 Jamaicans who had been ordered to leave the Causeway Green Hostel, but stayed. The extent of Mr Walker’s bravely is magnified still, when as the article describes, a crowd of men had broken into his room, beaten him up and broken his furniture. The major reason given by the Jamaicans for staying put, was that they would lose their jobs in Oldbury. This reason was particularly important in the late 1940s, where colour-prejudice made it very difficult to find work. In addition, there were a number of Poles in the Coventry hostel which the authorities planned to move them on to, and they would not give an undertaking that their stay there would be without trouble.
One man, by the name of Horace Halliburton, also emerges here as a very articulate spokesman for the Jamaicans. His argument stressed that the discriminatory treatment meted out to the Jamaicans was especially prejudicial as they had not started the fight, were outnumbered by four to one, and held British citizenship. Halliburton’s arguments clearly show how a British passport on its own failed to confer ‘Britishness.’
There was however, clearly a mixed response to the attacks amongst the Jamaicans. As the previous article ‘Police Rushed to Quell a Hostel Riot…’ illustrates, those who left could hardly have been said to be acquiescent: ‘They packed their bags and demanded [a] police escort.’