The Queen is Dead, God Save the People
After seven decades of reign, Queen Elizabeth II died in Balmoral, Scotland, at 96 years old. Queen Elizabeth ascended the throne at age 25 and is the world's second longest reigning monarch.
The Queen passed surrounded by her four children - Ann, Charles (the new king), Andrew (who stopped being a working Royal after his involvement with Jeffrey Epstein’s business came out), and Edward - and a few of her grandchildren, including Prince William (the new Prince of Wales), Prince Harry and Duchess of Sussex Meghan.
At the moment of the Queen's death, Prince Charles became King Charles III, inheriting the sovereign title, job and all assets and property. His official coronation date has not been set as of yet.
The death of my beloved Mother, Her Majesty The Queen, is a moment of the greatest sadness for me and all members of my family. We mourn profoundly the passing of a cherished Sovereign and a much-loved Mother. I know her loss will be deeply felt throughout the country, the Realms and the Commonwealth, and by countless people around the world. During this period of mourning and change, my family and I will be comforted and sustained by our knowledge of the respect and deep affection in which The Queen was so widely held
- Statement by the new King of Canada (and 13 other commonwealth nations) and the United Kingdom, King Charles III
There are two major perspectives around the death of the Queen; one will become the prevalent narrative and dominate news cycles that continue to uphold and center whiteness and white comfort. It will sing praises of the Queen, speak about her stability and leadership over seven decades, and talk about how well-loved she was.
The other perspective, one we share, will be forced to the margins and ignored by most mainstream media.
Both narratives deserve to take up space (especially when you consider how CBC NEWS had a forced-birth advocate on after Roe v Wade was overturned).
It's unfair that the feelings of so many in the global majority will be ignored, dismissed and shamed.
TBH, we've been mentally and emotionally bracing ourselves for the news cycle to feature wall-to-wall coverage of the Queen Passing (ignoring the climate emergency in Pakistan or the humanitarian crisis in Tigray) for the videos of white people (and a token racialized person) crying on the news, and for the onslaught of tweets and articles praising her legacy.
Look, we're clearly not royalists, but we do have empathy for the Queen's family, and even for her subjects who loved her. What sucks is that same empathy is rarely reciprocated to the global majority (BIPOC) whose families and ancestors experienced (and continue to experience) violence and harm because of the Queen and her family. The truth is, the British monarchy is a white supremacist institution and is responsible for the theft of land, lives and resources - and all the intergenerational trauma and death that resulted from it.
I see that there are people who are upset with the timing [of a post critical of the Queen's legacy] — tbh I’m upset too. I’m upset for my family, and for billions of families around the world.
I’m upset about the orchestrated genocides and famines. I'm upset about the manufactured divisions of hatred among communities that continued after the British "granted" independence and the intentional political and economic instability left behind in colonized countries.
I’m upset about the stolen resources, stolen land, and stolen lives — none of which have received even a performative apology. We haven’t seen reparations, we haven’t had any justice — And yet, when she passes, it’ll just be about how wonderful she was.
So don’t tell me you’re upset about [our POV], bc you don’t get - won’t get - can’t get what this feels like - not really. So please stop asking me, and other BIPOC to erase and/or minimize our lived and ancestral experiences for your white comfort.
- Sam Krishnapillai, Founder & Editor-in-Chief of On Canada Project
