By Dr Masimba Mavaza | Queen Elizabeth’s death revives criticism of Britain’s legacy of colonialism and untold suffering of the black community in Africa. Critics are responding to “the relationship of the monarchy to systems of oppression, repression, forced extraction of labor, and particularly African workmanship, and exploitation of natural resources and forcing systems of control in these places. The triggering point is that the Queen or any member of the Royal family offered an apology for all the evils done in Africa and Asia.
The death on Thursday of Queen Elizabeth II prompted an outpouring of grief from millions across the world, it also revived criticism of her legacy, highlighting the complicated feelings of those who saw her as a symbol of the British colonial empire an institution that enriched itself through violence, theft and oppression.
“If anyone expects me to express anything but disdain for the monarch who supervised a government that sponsored the genocide that massacred and displaced half my family and the consequences of which those alive today are still trying to overcome, you can keep wishing upon a star,” Uju Anya, an associate professor of second language acquisition at Carnegie Mellon University, tweeted Thursday afternoon.
Many accounts of blacks on Twitter went overdrive.
“Long live the Queen? Not on Black Twitter’s watch.
It’s said that one should show respect for the dead. But some would argue it depends on who died and what they did in life. Not even few hours since the news of Queen Elizabeth II’s death broke out, Black Twitter didn’t exactly mourn. It shrugged and then did what it’s known for: clapping back with a vengeance.
Some users highlighted their indifference, others resorted to comedy and a few pointed out the Queen’s connection to colonialism across the Caribbean and Africa.
In our society and indeed our humanity when someone is overtaken by death it is common for the loved ones and enemies alike to ask for prayers. Even if you wish that person dead the wishes are never spilled publicly If this person should die, it is natural for everyone who has been praying for them to become sad. It does not matter whether your prayers where good or bad it is decent to be seen to be feeling sorry for the dead and their loved ones. Following the death, a mourning period ensues with the goal of remembering the life of the dead and in a good amount of situations still wishing he or she were alive. In this period people are expected to be nice to the relatives of the deceased. This is what made us human. It is called compassion. To those who are Christians the bible is very clear on what is expected when one dies. Mathew 5:4. clearly states
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
Surprisingly these days we see people blinded by history and opposition politics trapped in evil instances where they wholeheartedly hope that someone dies and they celebrate instead of mourn when they do pass away? They anxiously wait for the news of more deaths. We must always realise that Loss hurts like hell, and it’s something that each and every one of us will experience at some point in our lives. Everything that lives must also die, and as the years roll along, it’s inevitable that we will lose those close to us, including friends, family members, animal companions, and mentors. Although there isn’t any balm that can heal our pain completely, sending messages of sympathy and reassurance will help a great deal. If someone you know has experienced the pain of loss recently, sharing one of the sympathy messages may lighten their spirits a little bit, and remind them that they are cared about by others. We should at least be human enough to say “I’m sorry. I know those words are inadequate, but I am truly sorry for what you’re experiencing right now. Please let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.” The only thing which identify us as humans is when you say “Wishing you peace and strength during this difficult time.” This does not kill you instead it spells your humanity. We should remember that even if we offer our condolences we cannot take away their pain, but we can listen and hope to touch one’s heart.” It is more human to comfort than to add salt on a wound. We all know that no words can really help to ease anyone’s loss, but just let them know that they are in your thoughts even if you are lying.
Unfortunately we now see messages on Facebook whatsapp and Twitter which gets us thinking about whether it is morally wrong to celebrate a person’s death. We have seen videos showing some inhuman evil people celebrating upon learning through their phones and word of mouth about the deaths of the British Queen. At that point, humanity takes a clear back seat, and the evil monsters blood sucking vampires masquerading as politicians get in a frenzy.
We might not have a clear opinion on whether it is morally “wrong” to celebrate an evil person’s death, but we are able to see both sides of the coin regarding this question. Technically speaking, one human life isn’t worth more than that of another human. However, we as a society are quick to label people as “good” or “bad” and these labels no doubt affect the value we place on people.
Queen Elizabeth II’s death aged 96 has sparked a flood of tributes and fond words for a beloved monarch who reigned for a record-breaking 70 years before passing away on Thursday.
From world leaders to members of the public, the social media landscape has been filled with expressions of both sadness and sarcasm in the hours since it was announced that the sovereign had died at Scotland’s Balmoral Castle.
Sadly a number of Black Twitter users have taken the opportunity to mark the Queen’s death as something of a moment to celebrate, with a range of memes and explanatory threads filling the timeline.
Those who find no words of comfort in this dark time argue that “The British Empire at the height of its power was described as the “the empire on which the sun never set” and commanded 23 percent of the world’s population in 1913. It controlled countries across every continent and today 14 overseas territories remain under British sovereignty.
“Black Twitter is absolutely Black Twittering right now,” said The Atlantic contributing writer Jemele Hill, who defended people questioning the queen’s legacy. It was during the Queen’s time that a lot of despicable things were done on Africans”
Another journalist Hill defended the outpouring of hate saying,
“Journalists are tasked with putting legacies into full context, so it is entirely appropriate to examine the queen and her role in the devastating impact of continued colonialism,”
To illustrate her point, Hill shared a link to an op-ed for The New York Times, in which Harvard professor Maya Jasanoff wrote in a guest essay: “We should not romanticize her era. The queen helped obscure a bloody history of decolonization whose proportions and legacies have yet to be adequately acknowledged.”
“This is what I mean by considering the full history of the Queen,” said Hill in a quote tweet. “It’s ok to pose questions and think about the fullness of legacies.”
Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, an associate professor at the University of Michigan’s School of Education, spoke out against a pushback toward those who were questioning Queen Elizabeth’s II’s legacy.
“Telling the colonized how they should feel about their colonizer’s health and wellness is like telling my people that we ought to worship the Confederacy,” she tweeted. “‘Respect the dead’ when we’re all writing these Tweets *in English.* How’d that happen, hm? We just chose this language?” She asked.
With the Anti monarchy supporters in social media they find it safe to claim that the Royal family are persons with evil intentions. As much as warped intentions of these social media witches lives of Royal family members isn’t worth any less than a “good” person’s life, per se. Everybody is a person first before he is aligned to a political party or a system. Although the majority of people in the social Media thought similarly, obviously not everyone believed that the dead heroes are evil persons.
The British people have lost a mother and a good leader and those who respected her definitely had a different reaction than the Devil’s celebrating in social media.
Ultimately, I think mourning or celebrating a person comes down to several factors. One of them is how you value a life. If you think that all lives are equal, then perhaps you may think it is wrong to celebrate ANYONE’S death. Another factor is obviously your relationship to the person. The Royal family relates to each and every dying person as a human being and therefore deserves our respect.
We must not advocate for either side, but we must certainly do think this is a viable question that has several variants of both sides of the coin.
Coming together over a death has more to do with the living than the dead. Loss, even when expected is a jarring experience. You’re never ever going to see that person again. Never talk to them, hear from them, or go to them.
We humans are a society species. Loss is best handled together. Those who feel the impact of the loss benefit from being with others in the same emotional place. Celebrating or grieving isn’t really the issue. Some are devastated, but if it’s a farewell celebration, it can give that person a modicum of peace…to hear others express the high points. The funeral, is a finalization of the first step of closure. Whether into the ground, scattering of ashes or a Viking boat set afire …we gather again for closure, in sadness or in celebration. Those who lose truly loved ones, have found deep comfort with others who loved and lost them. But for one to take to the social media to express joy because a person who thought differently from you has died is horrible. If you are made happy with the suffering of others indeed you are a witch.
There is no need whatsoever to insult the dead in actual fact you will be insulting the ones who are alive.
“For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing at all, nor do they have any more reward, because all memory of them is forgotten” Ecclesiastes 9:5 NWT
Since the dead know nothing at all they would be unaware they were in heaven or anyplace else for that matter. They are in the grave; not in heaven, hell, purgatory, or any other sort of after life.
“for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest” Ecclesiastes 9:10 KJV
When someone dies they have no knowledge or wisdom because they are dead. Jesus Christ performed resurrections during his brief ministry of three and a half years; one of those was the resurrection of his friend Lazarus.
“Lazarus our friend has fallen asleep, but I am traveling there to awaken him.” 12 The disciples then said to him: “Lord, if he is sleeping, he will get well.” 13 Jesus, however, had spoken about his death. But they imagined he was speaking about taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus said to them plainly: “Lazarus has died” John 11:11–14
It is interesting that Jesus likened death to sleeping. When in a deep sleep you are unaware of the passing of time. Someone who has been dead for a thousand years and then was resurrected they would not be aware that a thousand years had passed. Lazarus could not have known he had been dead for four days.
Those Christians who celebrate the death of others must remember God’s words
“Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die” Ezekiel 18:4 KJV
Everywhere we look we see death. It is a part of every life cycle, from plants, to animals, to humans. The beautiful flowers that sit on your counter, the blooming trees in your garden, the fish in the fishbowl, or the cheetah flying across the planes of the Africa will all pass away. Most devastating is the death we encounter when someone we love dies. We must never forget that what we wish for others will also happen to us. We must mourn the dead or simply keep quiet if have nothing good to say.
Death is hard. It can rip your world apart and turn your life upside down. It is a part of the curse brought on by sin. Death is horrible in every way and so it is okay to mourn. It is normal to feel brokenhearted, devastated, and sad. But Paul tells us that though we mourn those who died, we don’t mourn the passing of Christians as those who have no hope (vs.13).
While death steals beloved ones away from us, they are not lost to us forever. Death is but a temporary state and a gateway into the presence of God and an abundant eternal life.
Death is no longer the end, but the beginning of life without sin, without evil, without tears. It is the beginning of life with Jesus, in the presence of God, perfected and made holy. It is the beginning of full joy.
The Thessalonians were afraid that the believers who had died were going to miss out when Christ returned, but the good news is that even there, death cannot hinder the believer. Paul explains that when Christ returns the dead will be raised to life so that they too will witness the glory of Christ’s second coming.
Death is ugly and dark. It is bleak and filled with hopelessness for those who do not love Christ. But for the children of God, the darkness of death has been banished with the light of Christ’s power.
Yes, death causes pain for those who remain here on earth, but we have hope that Christ has overcome death, and that on His return it will be forever banished.
Looking to Jesus. How would you face the Queen when Christ comes after you have allowed your historical emotions to take the better of you.
The real hope for true Christians lies in the resurrection.
“having hope toward God, which these also themselves look for, that there shall be a resurrection both of the just and unjust” Acts 24:15.
You might have wondered the reason for drawing parallels between the Biblical doctrine to the debacle in the world today after the demise of the Queen. Every death naturally is cause for grief to the families and the community. The worry about the Ones who are celebrating the Queen’s death and their misguided zealots is the misplaced thinking that the death of an enemy is a victory to pop out champagne and flood social media with unprintable insults to the dead. What a shame? This simply is unethical. The morals of such people in our society, whether openly drumming up the poisonous empty platitudes or under the cover of social media is certainly rotten. To wish that all leaders must die is diabolic. While these zealots are celebrating the deaths of the Queen and wishing more leaders to die is the failure to realise that death does not discriminate between Royals and every body else.
This is not the only death that revealed people rejoicing. Adolf Hitler. Saddam Hussein. Pol Pot. Qassem Suleimani. As life goes on and more enemies are killed people will rejoice.In all this, an ethical question arises: should any one rejoice in the death of an enemy? Where Rejoicing Over the Wicked Is Wrong.It must be frankly admitted that there is a reason why blacks struggle with this. Proverbs 24:17-18 says:
“Do not rejoice when your enemy falls and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; or the Lord will see and be displeased and turn His anger away from him.”And the passage echoes other passages. Job, for instance, sees himself as righteous because he hasn’t rejoiced at the death of his enemies (Job 31:29). Or when we see the wicked doing it, we automatically know it isn’t right. Indeed, the Proverbs goes on to be careful with gloating at all over disaster (Proverbs 17:5) and call for the righteous to care for their enemies—to clothe them and feed them (Prov 25:21) something our Lord Himself says (Lev 19:17–18; Matt 5:44) and which Paul repeats (Rom 12:14).This whole idea of not rejoicing for the wicked is evidenced when God says (Ezekiel 18:23; 33:11)
“As surely as I live,” declares the Lord God, “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, oh house of Israel?”
or when there is still hope for them:
But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you… (Matt 5:44)God would rather the people repent. Peter echoes this idea when he looks back and sees that God’s forbearance is the only reason people haven’t been wiped out (2 Peter 3:9).Obviously we see that rejoicing over the death of “my” personal enemy is wrong. It seems to indicate that the personal tramping on an individual’s enemy is not something that is applauded. We see that although God judges the wicked, he’s not happy about it but rather patient, affording time so that they may repent. That is a concern that Christians, who have been shown so much mercy, should cling to patient hope.
At the same time, we are not to rejoice at the eternal condemnation of evil people. God does not desire that evil people spend eternity in the lake of fire, and He definitely does not rejoice when they go there. Neither should we. We must all know that death is not a weapon against the Royal familyso those jokes insulting the dead do insult the living. Then we do take this personally.
We must bring the loose witches to order. They must stop showing their blood tainted teeth pretending to be smiling. We can never wish any one dead. Not now not tomorrow. If a political party wishes its opponents dead indeed they are potential perpetrators of political violence. We cannot even begin to imagine what the Royal family is going through and how difficult all this must be for them.Words, however kind, can’t mend their heartache, but those who care for them share their grief and wish them comfort and peace of mind.”
We do trust in God and we will never wish death to any person. This is the time of mourning not of celebration. We have lost a human being. She might have a political history which is obnoxious. If we part ways as people let it not be over political beliefs or political inclination.
Please let us be humane. We are all made in the image of God. Do not let those celebrating the death of the Queen divide us.
The bashing of the Queen is again caused by the brutal cruel unreasonable attack on African leaders by the British Media. The British media is brutal and demonises every leader who
Is not theirs. But we are wiser than that we must not change our character our culture our humanity because of how the British press behave. We must never allow our humanity to be used in a vengeance crusade.
Let us not lambast the dead.