www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/06/grenfell-bonfire-video?CMP=share_btn_tw
"There can be no excuse for the cruelty that was shown in that now infamous Grenfell video. It’s disgusting and vile. Unfortunately, many survivors and bereaved families endured the pain of watching people mock the trauma we all suffered that night. There is enough pain – we don’t deserve this.
Now the anger and outrage I felt after watching it has subdued, my only emotion is sadness. Sadness that this is what a small minority of our society thinks is acceptable – not only to mock the dead but also our community in general.
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Some of the misperceptions in the video – the “That’s what happens when they don’t pay their rent” comment – and the tone are not new to us. I feel like we have been fighting the judgment in it since day one. Although we’d rather focus on justice and change, our fight is also about being treated with dignity.
There was so much misinformation in the early days after the fire and much of it was spread by the media. Unfortunately many of those early misperceptions have stuck and, without really looking for the truth, some members of the public believe what they read and hear. It is a narrative that we are still trying to correct.
It started with the numbers of people living in the tower being wildly exaggerated, and was followed by a focus on the “amnesty for illegal immigrants”. No one followed up to say that the amnesty wasn’t actually necessary. We are Londoners: many of us grew up here, many had lived in the tower since birth, others have made London their home through hard work.
This idea that we don’t pay our way is untrue. Many of the flats may have been social housing, but we still paid good rent to live there. We had to put up with these attitudes from the tenant management organisation and contractors before the fire – that we should just be grateful to be there. It seems like, in some pockets of society, that attitude still exists.
Just last week I got a call from the BBC asking how I felt as a Grenfell survivor about the introduction of universal credit in North Kensington. I asked them why they were calling me about it as I am not eligible for benefits because I work. Editors had just presumed they could put a Grenfell spin on a benefits story, without bothering to question themselves why. Of course, some people do claim benefits because they need them. It certainly doesn’t make them bad. It’s more the lazy assumption by the media that grates on us.
If you take time to watch bereaved family members paying tribute to their loved ones at the start of the inquiry or the survivors who are giving evidence at the moment, you hear of people who called their work in the middle of the fire to apologise for not being able to make it in. You hear from business owners, managers, student nurses, university students and at-home carers, and a community that kept an eye out for each other. We come from all religions and none. And it was thanks to many brave young Muslim men returning from prayers that night, who ran towards the danger, that many of us escaped and were offered shelter.
While the media wrote about how we were getting expensive homes after the fire, few reported that while we were still living in hotel rooms, we got on with our lives, going back to work, back to school and finishing university studies. We never wanted any of this to happen to us. Grenfell Tower was home; North Kensington was our community. Every single survivor, bereaved family and the community would give anything to change what they went through that night.
We talk a lot about change coming from Grenfell. One change I hope will come as our story unfolds is that people will get to see the community that we are. We’re typical Londoners, looking after our families and trying to get by. It’s important because we know that other communities are fighting the same battles we are, to be treated with dignity and respect. If we are to stop another Grenfell happening again and other communities being victimised in the way we have, these attitudes and misperceptions must be challenged.
Regardless of the colour of someone’s skin or religious beliefs, no one deserved to die that night and no one has the right to make light of something so tragic. We must work to eradicate such hatred in our society."
•Natasha Elcock is a survivor of the Grenfell Tower fire and chair of Grenfell United, the survivors and bereaved families group