Many may know Queen Elizabeth as the longest reigning monarch in England. This highly respected and loved figure was born April 21st, 1926 and crowned Queen of England on June 2nd, 1953. The queen has a younger sister, Princess Margaret who is  four years younger than herself. Though many recall Queen Elizabeth as their hero, however, may shockingly portray her as a villain. The death of Queen Elizabeth greatly  emersed feelings of sadness and mourning towards those especially in the royal community. The toll of the Queen’s death, however, did not have as great of an effect on many Natives or African Americans – Queen Elizabeth is arguably the number one symbol of white supremacy. Everything Britain retains, as far as cotton, sugar, and tobacco, were all supplied by slave laborers in the Carriebean and the Americas. 

Queen Elizabeth witnessed the dismantling of her empire. She was a monarch during the brutal subjection of the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya in the fifties – the power of this Monarch was sickening. The British had a harsh response to the Mau Mau rebellion against colonial rule. Even if the Queen was not the one to suggest the response, she was involved by association. Not to mention, the queen was in power when the government supported the Nigerian Suppression of Biafran, which led to millions of children dying of starvation in the late 60s. 

Those in the black community see these actions as a demonstration of the Queen’s racism. For example, A British prime minister suggested that Jamaicans needed to “get over slavery.” Following this statement, two years after Elizabeth was appointed to the throne, a young poet was thrown into jail for protesting on the rule of the British Empire over the South American colonial territory.

Elizabeth had a reign of 70 years and 214 days. On the afternoon of September 8th, 2022 the queen was pronounced dead and the cause is still unclear. Although this death is very unsettling to many, we cannot forget the things the Queen did to our people during her reign.