Darkness under the Crown (Part II)

Janelle Griffith is a national reporter for NBC News focusing on issues of race and policing, She says that “Queen Elizabeth II was a symbol of the British colonial empire—an institution that enriched itself through violence, theft, and oppression.” Uju Anya, an associate professor of second language acquisition at Carnegie Mellon University, tweeted Thursday afternoon, “If anyone wants me to express something other than disgust for the king who supervised a government that supported the genocide that killed and uprooted half of my family and left those who are still alive struggling to escape its consequences, you may keep wishing upon a star.

Furthermore, Anya, claimed in an interview on Thursday that she is “a child of colonization” because both her mother and father were born in colonial Trinidad.  In the 1950s, when they were transferred to England for education as colonial subjects, they first met.  They got hitched there before relocating to Nigeria.  She added that human enslavement occurred in the Caribbean in addition to colonization on Nigeria’s side.  So, I have a clear ancestor to both individuals who were colonized and people who were held as slaves by the British, in addition to those who were colonized.

While Elizabeth ruled as Britain navigated a post-colonial era, she still bore a connection to its colonial past, which was rooted in racism and violence against Asian and African colonies.  In recent years, there have been growing calls for the monarchy to confront its colonial past.

Zoé Samudzi, a Zimbabwean American writer and an assistant professor of photography at the Rhode Island School of Design, wrote on Twitter: “As the first generation of my family not born in a British colony, I would dance on the graves of every member of the royal family if given the opportunity, especially hers.”

Matthew Smith, a professor of history at University College London who directs the Center for the Study of the Legacies of British Slave-ownership, said: “The reactions indicate the complicated and mixed relationship that people have had with the British monarchy, particularly in the Commonwealth and particularly in the Caribbean.  “I think when people voice those views, they’re not thinking specifically about Queen Elizabeth,” Smith said in a telephone interview from London.  “They’re thinking about the British monarchy as an institution and the relationship of the monarchy to systems of oppression, repression, and forced extraction of labor, particularly African labor, and the exploitation of natural resources and forcing systems of control.

When Queen Elizabeth II headed the British monarchy from Feb. 6, 1952, As king, she managed thousands of royal engagements during her 70-year reign—the longest of any British monarch and any female monarch in history—she worked with 15 prime ministers, met 13 of the previous 14 American presidents, and made 89 state visits abroad.  The queen’s constant presence served as a symbol of stability during a time of significant change.

During her reign, national liberation and communist movements spread throughout the colonies, demanding independence from British rule, which were often met with brutal repression by occupying forces. Colonialism bears responsibility for several problems in these countries, including the survival of racial, ethnic, and religious animosity in some of them.  We have many examples of crimes acknowledgment in history like Willy Brandt, the German chancellor who acknowledged the repression of Germans against Poland, who was on his knees in the Warsaw ghetto in 1970.  Italy acknowledged his colonial crimes to Libya, Japan to Korea, and even Britain to New Zealand, but the British royal family and British government never accepted the colonial repression of India and Africa.  Some colonial theorists still promote the benefits of the colonial democratic system as a gift to the Indian subcontinent despite the 200 years of oppression and suffering brought forth by colonists.  What an idiotic argument.

Most of her subjects have never known a monarch before; others were born after the queen’s coronation.  Her reign should be remembered as a symbol of the sheer brutality that the British empire unleashed on its subjects and the lengths it would go to maintain regional dominance.

 The Monarch’s Role in Government 

The queen is still in charge of the British state and serves as the country’s top diplomat both at home and abroad.  The Prime Minister, however, oversees the British government.  One acts as a representation of the nation, while the other is the head of state.  King Charles III spoke to the British Parliament for the first time as head of state on September 12, 2022.  Throughout her reign, Queen Elizabeth II regularly addressed the nation at the beginning of each new session of Parliament and made public appearances and speeches on important days and holidays.  The Queen was in constant communication with the Prime Minister and received regular updates on all significant national and international issues, but she never publicly expressed an opinion on political discussions.