Grenfell proves how racist the Tories are (like we needed proof).
“Grenfell you say? Oh yes, terrible tragedy and all that. Let’s have an inquiry. Don’t dig too deep though hey old chap? In fact let’s just appoint a panel member who received funding from the company who made the flammable cladding. Nobody’ll notice. Oh they did notice? Quick better get rid of her then. Goodness me, the picanninies have become literate, have they? What’s that?The companies involved want an assurance they won’t be prosecuted before they’ll give evidence at the inquiry? Sounds perfectly reasonable.”
It sounds like it came straight from the pen of the hottest satirist in town, right? Unfortunately however, it’s all true.
The Tory government doesn’t give two fucks about black and brown people. It follows then that they don’t even give half a fuck about poor black and brown people. They are happy to let them burn to death in a literal towering inferno. I repeat. They are happy to let them burn to death in a literal towering inferno.
Let’s look at the facts: On June 14, 2017, 72 people burned to death in Grenfell Tower. I cite the official death toll here but in reality, it’s much higher. I’m no conspiracy theorist, but logic dictates it was much higher. the fire happened during Ramadan and there would have been lots of people there for Iftar (breaking the fast). There were also probably quite a few undocumented migrants living there too. I’m from the area, born and bred, and anyone from there will tell you 72 dead is pie in the fucking sky.
The residents of Grenfell lost their lives because their rich neighbours complained that the building was an eyesore. Kensington & Chelsea council (a bastion of Conservatism) dutifully covered the structure in highly flammable composite cladding. The residents warned the council about fire safety for years. The council didn’t listen. Poor black and brown people are an inconvenience in the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, the richest borough in the UK.
In the aftermath of the fire, the Tories true disdain for the poor has become ever more apparent.
Immediately afterwards, Theresa May set up a public inquiry because the victims’ families were “owed an explanation.” You’re all heart Theresa. She appointed former high court judge Martin Moore-Bick to head up the inquiry. However, Moore-Bick declined to consider “questions of a social, economic, and political nature,” questions that go right to the heart of the matter and basically render the inquiry a sham without being answered. The Maybot wholeheartedly agreed with Moore-Bick. Shocker.
You might need to sit down for this next part.
In December 2019, Boris Johnson appointed Benita Mehra as a key member of the inquiry panel. Mehra had previously run an organisation that received a £71,000 grant from Arconic, the company who made the death cladding. Boris Johnson personally appointed this woman ((facepalm emoji). If you looked up “conflict of interest” in the dictionary, Mehra’s face would be right next to it. After ten days of pressure from the victims’ families, Mehra was forced to resign from the inquiry, apologising for her “regrettable oversight” in not declaring her links to Arconic. I can’t. Moreover, the only reason her dealings with the company came to light is because of the work of Grenfell United (the survivors and bereaved group). If it weren’t for them holding the authorities to account every step of the way, I dread to think what other horrors the Tories would have inflicted on them.
Wait, it gets worse. If you were sitting down for the last part, it might be time to reach for a handful of Xanax right about now.
The inquiry was due to resume at the end of January but has been delayed because, wait for it, the corporate entities involved are asking Moore-Bick to ensure that anything they say at the inquiry can’t be used against them in future criminal proceedings.
I just had to go for a walk around the block to calm down. Dear God, the rage.
Two things spring to mind here:
1) If you have nothing to hide, why so shy?
2) The disrespect to the families beggars belief. The companies involved are basically admitting murder and then demanding to be acquitted. I need a hot beverage.
OK. The chamomile tea has taken effect now. Woosah!
These are only some of the salient points of the last three years. From day one the survivors and bereaved have been treated with utter contempt by both the Tory run local and national governments. There was a small glimmer of hope in 2017 with the election of the first ever Labour MP for Kensington, Emma Dent-Coad, who really went into bat for the victims, but she was beaten by Felicity Buchan (a nice, compliant Tory MP) in the last general election who, although, making all the right noises, has taken very little concrete action to help so far.
The fact is Grenfell’s cladding was installed because rich white people didn’t want to be reminded too much that there were poor black and brown people living down the road from them (David Cameron used to live literally three streets down from Grenfell). The tenants were ignored and neglected for years by the council. Their worries over the cladding were dismissed because they were “only” council tenants in the poor end of the borough. If this had happened in an affluent, white neighbourhood… Scratch that. It would never have happened in a rich, white neighbourhood because it would never have been allowed to happen
Even in death (much like in life) the residents of Grenfell are being treated like something to be dealt with, an irritation, rather than people who have suffered immense trauma and need kindness, compassion, and above all, justice.
This tragedy shouldn’t matter to me more than others, but it does. I grew up in the shadow of Grenfell. I played there as a child and went to school around the corner. I want justice more than anything for the people whose lives have been ruined by the fire, but in the hands of an uncaring, cold, callous, racist Tory government, I fear that justice will take years to materialise, if indeed it ever does.
