#Issue 4: On the Death of Queen Elizabeth II
“The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”
I often think about how the things we do in our past affect us and other people, in the present. And does it matter that we change, that we repent, that we say ‘sorry’? I think about my past a lot. My time in secondary school: was I a good student to my teachers? Did I give them headaches? Did I make my teachers cry? Was I part of the reasons they returned home to their families, sad and depressed? How about my fellow students? Was I a good senior student? Did I do well as a prefect or was I a monster? A bully? Does it matter who I was? I am now a different person. I now try to be a good person. Why should anyone hold my past actions against me? How does my past affect my present reality? How does my past affect other people’s reality?
I started thinking about all these when the death of Queen Elizabeth II was announced and Twitter became Fuji House of Commotion. I must admit that I like it when there is a trending topic on Twitter and everyone is weighing in, hot takes here and there, opinions flying up and down. Then words like ‘disingenuous’, ‘factual’, ‘imperative’, and ‘actually’ are thrown around. It’s hilarious and interesting at the same time, how everyone wants to say something and everyone wants to say it now. As a reader, it is always a good time to just sit back and read one Twitter thread after the other while bookmarking some others.
As to the matter of the Queen and whether or not her death should be celebrated or mourned, I have no opinion. Or rather, I do have an opinion, an incomplete one, which I do not intend to share. I realize that conversations like this are never black and white; it is never this or that. There is a lot of grey area. A whole lot of white, a whole lot of black, mostly grey.
Again, as a historian (I think that’s what they call people who studied History in university), it’s hard picking a side for such a nuanced subject. My friends have asked me questions and I have shared my thoughts. I was up at 1 AM writing long essays in friends’ DMs. It’s a difficult subject really and I think we all should educate ourselves about it.
Throughout last week, I read a couple of essays that give what I would call a balanced approach to the subject of the Queen’s death and how her reign should be viewed while considering issues such as colonialism in Africa and India, the Apartheid in South Africa, and the Irish subject. Today, I will be sharing these essays with you. I so badly wish that I had written one myself to share my opinion on how Africa should respond to the death of the Monarch under whose reign the continent witnessed an abuse so heinous, that it pales only in comparison to the Atlantic Slave Trade.
But I have not written anything that should be made available to the public yet so I will wait. I will read more and write my thoughts out clearly and (hopefully) share them with you when I do. In the meantime, here are some essays/Twitter threads I think you should read to expand your opinion on the subject matter.
The first is Maya Jasanoff’s essay in the New York Times, a Harvard professor of History. In this essay, Maya tries hard to separate the queen as a person from the queen as a monarch/the empire. I am not sure that worked. But she expressed viewpoints that are worth noting. Read Maya’s essay here.
The second is a Twitter thread by Jairo I. Fúnez, PhD. In the thread, he explained how it is difficult for the British (West generally) to see the Queen, the empire, and colonialism as an evil trinity. While Africa was experiencing some dark days during the colonial era, the children in the United Kingdom and some other countries in the Global South were being taught that the colonizers were saviors, adventurers, and good people going to save savage Africa from itself. Read Jairo’s thread here.
Lastly, you should read this Twitter thread by Victor. He makes a compelling case for why the British monarchy (not necessarily the empire) should persist, and why it is not in the good of history and humanity for the monarchy to be wiped out. I do not agree with everything he mentioned here but there are keypoints to take away. Read Victor’s thread here.
The death of Queen Elizabeth II forced us to have difficult conversations. Her death forced us to face ourselves, the colonizer and the colonized, and to finally voice out our hearts. To say, ‘You did this to me. Why did you do this to me?’ And a chance for the colonizer to say, ‘I am sorry I did this to you. I am sorry. Give me a chance to make this right. How can I make it right?’
That exchange did not happen I know but that’s how it played out in my head.
It has been an interesting exchange of opinions and I have enjoyed every bit of it. I think you will too if you read these essays and threads, especially if you are African. If you have no interest in history (and you should have an interest in history), read it still. If you don’t understand what is going on, still read. Read to know, then read to understand, then read to remember.
If you read anything on the subject matter that you think I should read, please drop the link in the comments or reply to this mail. If you think this edition of The ER Club was out of our usual soft and chill conversation, then you’re right. This is not what a regular edition of the newsletter feels like. But this is needed so we are doing it, uhn?
I wish you a beautiful week and hope you smile and remain a glorious being.
Cheers! 🎉
If you have some thoughts to share or an essay you think we should read, you can write back to me by replying this email or tweet about it using the hashtag #TheERClub so we can find it.