PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — As people across the globe mourn the death of Queen Elizabeth II, a conversation is surfacing in some communities about the monarchy’s role in colonization and mistreatment of poorer nations. To many people, her death is not a moment of somber mourning, and some of those people are marking it with joy.
Kimani Nehusi, associate professor of Africology and African American studies at Temple University, said no one should celebrate a person’s death, and he understands the grief of the family and loved ones of the queen.
But he believes lingering anger from people who were oppressed in nations including Ireland, Africa, Australia and India is legitimate.
Although Queen Elizabeth II’s tenure saw a dramatic pullback from the United Kingdom’s colonial empire, Nehusi said atrocities and crimes like rape, murder and theft that occurred in those nations under the long history of the royal family’s leadership cannot be ignored.
“Ask people in Africa about enslavement and colonialism. Ask the people in the Caribbean. How about the Aborigines in Australia?" he said.
He adds the queen benefitted from that history, undercutting her being presented as a figurehead of blessings and justice.
“We must remember that kind of propaganda was partially successful, but more and more people from these devastated and oppressed lands have become conscious of what happened,” said Nehusi.
He adds that King Charles III must do more than give lip service to the wrongs of the past.
“Make certain that the billions he has from this kind of activity are paid out to the people who they made to suffer and are still suffering,” said Nehusi.
"I hope that the possible desecration of a somber moment of mourning by the sentiments expressed will bring the people in power to their senses."
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