• AS a community campaigner, a UK-born, second-generation, black African, I was raised by my west African parents and taught to always hold my neighbours close to heart. The same goes for the communities that I feel I belong to.

Just a few weeks ago, locals came out to stand side-by-side to celebrate the best of our communities – hundreds came out to give advice to European Union citizens and show support for those who work in our schools, health care services, and other public services.

They must feel safe, needed, and a part of our society.

I’m bitterly disappointed that the Conservative party won the general election. We have been yet again forced to see many from the Caribbean diaspora told they do not belong in our society.

Not a lot has changed politically, as many feel the Caribbean story of the Windrush is similar to that of EU migrants – suffering a “hostile environment”. Who should be citizens in the United Kingdom?

Many are being faced with more uncertainty because of hostile policies. But while EU migrants can attend surgeries, many Africans and Caribbeans will be forced underground due to fears and obvious differences. Some no longer feel a part of our once so open, tolerant, society.

I recall my Nan, who was the first in my family to migrate to the UK during the 1960s from Ghana. She shared stories with me about her days as a police canteen kitchen cook.

The only west African woman employed to cook, she was accepted, and provided some of the best cultured dishes in south London.

My Nan always told me as a youngster how important, in those days, it was to have the correct documents on you. And in the black community many Africans made sure to have their identification. It was a must!

She said many from our Ghanaian community were so proud of their little black books, they showed off their ID passports when going abroad, especially as they had the right to go wherever they wanted without fear!

Which leads me to thinking about the last three years and my campaigning with groups like Movement for Justice, Stand Up To Racism and many other amazing campaign pressure groups like Hope not Hate, Barrack, and with trade unionists.

When I read articles like the ones about the Jamaica50, the men who were deported after serving prison sentences, it brings me down. It’s like Windrush all over again. We are never free.

Many Africans, like my Nan, came over to the UK and were able to get the right documents. She enabled my family to be free to call the UK home.

But many from the African and Caribbean diasporas now are fearful for their future prospects in the UK. And especially now, with Brexit, many Africans are being turned away.

But many from the Caribbean diaspora are being deported because, unlike my Nan, they weren’t able to get their ID documents sorted.

It is a scary and sad prospect, the thought that someone’s life could be wiped away just like that because of not having identification.

I can only imagine how distraught I would feel if all my family or close friends were told to go back “home” just because of a lack of documentation.

People living within our communities deserve a say in where they should live, love, learn, or work.

Imagine leaving your family, friends and life behind, and being told this is not your home because you’ve been judged again for a crime for which you have already paid time.

How would you go on? There is still too much uncertainty for many migrant people.

VALERIE BOSSMAN-QUARSHIE