Queen Elizabeth’s Death Poses Serious Questions Of Legacy

For a while it seemed Queen Elizabeth II was going to live forever. She had been on the throne for 70 years. It must’ve been a hard role for a young woman in her mid-20s to move into even if she was raised in the Royal Family. While I offer my sympathies and condolensces to the family, some people might be questioning if we should be mourning her death or viewing it as the end to a by-gone era of oppression and violence.

Hours before it was announced Elizabeth had passed, Uju Anya, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, posted the following tweet that reads: “I heard the chief monarch of a thieving and raping genocidal empire is finally dying. May her pain be excruciating.” It went viral and caused some backlash.

But some people also on social media have agreed with it and agreed with the sentiments from Jamaica they get reparations for the past years of enslaved people. During Elizabeth’s reign, the British lost its history of colonization. The British had a colony in Southern Rhodesia from 1924 to 1964 before it became the Republic of Rhodesia until 1979 and it’s now Zimbabwe.

Forty years ago, the British and Argentine military fought a war that lasted about 10 weeks over control of the Falkland Islands. Argentina suffered 649 casualties and 1,657 injuired while the United Kingdom had 255 casualties and 755 injured. It’s still considered a British Overseas Territory.

Hong Kong went back to China in 1997 even though some people say it was probably better under the UK.But can you really blame Elizabeth for the sins of her ancestors around the world? She was just a kid during the British Raj period.

I think after World War II and the Vietnam War, it became apparant to a lot of people that the days of colonization were over and it was pointless to continue to have colonies while fighting a huge war to stop Adolf Hitler who himself was trial to turn parts of Europe and North Africa into a colony of Germany.

Elizabeth may have been the first pop star of the British crown. Even though she lived a very dignified life to traditions, you can’t deny that Elizabeth had a level of popularity in the later part of the 20th Century. She came to the throne a little before Elvis Presley and a decade before The Beatles. People change and the popularity of Princess Diana changed the way people looked at the crown.

For a while Prince William was more suited for TigerBeat than the throne and then Prince Harry proved to be break traditions and fell in love with Meghan Markle bringing more fame to the Royal Family on a different global scale. Yet there was controversy over their marriage as well as their children.

No one has a perfect life. Not even Queen Elizabeth. As a teenager, she worked as a truck mechanic for the war effort during WWII. But there was controversy surrounding the death of Princess Diana which was 25 years ago with her response was considered cold and insincere. But she was a product of a lifestyle that she was born into and when you’re living in a fishbowl existence as Tom Petty once sang, “You don’t know how it feels to be me.”

What do you think? Please comment.