'I cannot mourn': Former colonies conflicted over the queen

[JoeOtterbein]

York (PA) Dispatch

CARA ANNA, DANICA COTO and RODNEY MUHUMUZA

NAIROBI, Kenya — Upon taking the throne in 1952, Queen Elizabeth II inherited millions of subjects around the world, many of them unwilling. Today, in the British Empire's former colonies, her death brings complicated feelings, including anger.

Beyond official condolences praising the queen's longevity and service, there is some bitterness about the past in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and elsewhere. Talk has turned to the legacies of colonialism, from slavery to corporal punishment in African schools to looted artifacts held in British institutions. For many, the queen came to represent all of that during her seven decades on the throne.

In Kenya, where decades ago a young Elizabeth learned of her father's death and her enormous new role as queen, a lawyer named Alice Mugo shared online a photograph of a fading document from 1956. It was issued four years into the queen's reign, and well into Britain's harsh response to the Mau Mau rebellion against colonial rule.

"Movement permit," the document says. While over 100,000 Kenyans were rounded up in camps under grim conditions, others, like Mugo's grandmother, were forced to request British permission to go from place to place.

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[Happy Hoosier]

1. I think that's fine.

I have some Indian friends who are not in any way mourning. Understandable, so long as they aren't telling other people how they must feel.

[oldsoftie]

2. But remember the queen also pushed for statehood for former colonies.

And most of them have continued to stay connected to England long after gaining independence.