Remember, Remember When It Fell.3 min read

As a young person, a person of colour, or a person of a certain race or religion, though it is not limited to these categorisations, we have been systematically subjugated by the establishment, and consequently deprived of our voices. Such subjugation has progressively reduced our voices to those of a nuisance and disruption to the public order. This public order forever confines us to shadows at the bottom of a sociopolitical hierarchy orchestrated by the political elite – a social hierarchy that serves to benefit the establishment, its sponsors, and its associates first and foremost.
The inferno that engulfed Grenfell Tower was no accident, for accidents are caused by an unknowing mistake. It was willful neglect that imperiled Grenfell’s residents to inefficient and unacceptable standards with a view that the type of demographics and social positions belonging to the residents were fitting of the establishment’s lack of deserving treatment and care. This was not like the Bourgeoisie of Kensington. Not at all.
The lives of hundreds of people have been jeopardised and lost. Many refugees were in that fire: Mohammad Al Haj Ali, a young Syrian refugee, was the first announced to have perished in that fire. I went down to Latimer Road that day, the day after, and the day after that. Every time the underground train, moments away from Latimer Road station, drove past the Tower, what I saw shattered my heart. Grenfell Tower looms over Latimer as a dark reminder of the tragedy that befell.
I’m not one to cry easily, in fact I hardly cry, but that day I cried three times. I cried as I stood watching from a distance the burnt remnants of the Tower. Hundreds have perished inside Grenfell Tower, abandoned inside in charred remains, beyond recognition, undiscovered, undisclosed. I cried as a Somali woman sobbed painfully into her hands whilst praying, almost pleading. I cried listening to a young Caribbean woman, clearly fatigued, distraught, telling me she had not moved from the same spot for two days desperate for news of her pregnant sister who hadn’t escaped the 18th floor.
Remember, it was gentrification at the expense of the poor, the marginalised and the minority communities that had put aesthetics at the center of what should have been ensuring health and safety first and foremost. If it were a matter of collective conscience for all those responsible at Kensington and Chelsea Council, they would have acted immediately. Resoundingly, it must be said that the establishment and monopolising mainstream organisations – yes even the Red Cross, with its massive warehouse full of donations for the families who are unaware of them and far from receiving them, cannot be relied upon.
This tragedy simply should not have happened, but it has bought to light so many structural and institutional flaws which continue to perpetuate an ever-increasing social divide based on class, race and status. We can no longer just sit back and let our voices remain unheard.
Remember. Remember. Do not forget.
#JusticeForGrenfell