Reparations Daily (ish) Vol. 89
Emerging Narratives Surrounding The Death of Queen Elizabeth II
Happy Friday —
People worldwide are reacting to the death of Queen Elizabeth II, who passed away peacefully in Balmoral Castle yesterday.
Despite all of its valid critiques, Twitter is still a fantastic public forum, particularly when news breaks that brings the entire country, and in this case, the world, together.
In today’s Opinion section, I highlight some emerging narratives (at least within my Twitter algorithm) and discuss what they might mean for conversations around colonialism, settler colonialism, and reparations moving forward.
Next week, I’m hosting a conversation with former Alderwoman and Founder of First Repair, Robin Rue Simmons, for Next City. Please donate what you can to Next City so they can continue to host free webinars like these.
Some recent news and old takes on colonialism that I’m reading:
What the UK owes to the world.
Vox released the second episode of its podcast series — this episode features Dr. William Darity and Kirsten Mullen.
Ukrainian citizens are seeking war reparations from Russia.
The ongoing conversation about reparations at the state level.
This 2015 paper by Dr. Evelyn Nakano Glenn, ‘Settler Colonialism as Structure: A Framework for Comparative Studies of U.S. Race and Gender Formation.’
This 2020 paper by the good folks over at the NDN Collective, ‘Land Back: A Meta narrative to help Indigenous People Show up as Movement Leaders’
The impact of colonialism on Sierra Leone — the country my family hails from.
The history of conflict diamonds and German colonialism in Namibia.
The argument for reparations to post-colonial states and the ongoing return of stolen artifacts.
The history of worldmaking after empire.
With radical love,
Trevor
Opinion
“Did you hear the Queen died?” my mother said to me over Facetime in a slightly solemn tone a few hours after the news broke.
“Whose Queen? Not mine,” I shot back. “When did Sierra Leone gain its independence from the UK?” I asked her.
“1961. A year after I was born,” she responded.
There were many immediate reactions to Queen Elizabeth II's death and subsequent narratives divided by generation, age, race, ethnicity, and location. For instance, a crowd formed outside Buckingham Palace immediately after the news broke.
Meanwhile, my Twitter feed mostly looked like this:
As I’m writing this, white supremacy is trending:
Social media, particularly in moments like these, open a window for new narratives to be seeded and an opportunity for us to organize around them collectively and nourish their growth.
In these moments, those of us who care about justice, liberation, and sovereignty must ask ourselves, ‘where are their opportunities to build power around new (or existing) narratives?
Here are some opportunities I’m observing:
Narrative #1: We shouldn’t mourn systems (or figureheads) of oppression.
Perhaps the most significant Twitter news story that resulted from the reactions to Queen Elizabeth’s death was the story between a Black college professor, Uju Anya, and Jeff Bezos.
Anya tweeted this (I had to upload a screenshot since Twitter has since removed it):
Bezos responded with the following:
Thousands of Bezos-apologizers rushed to Anya’s profile to condemn her. To which she responded:
It sparked a larger conversation about death, mourning, loss, the history (both past and current) of British colonization, and respectability politics.
People of color worldwide are pushing back against our current conception of normal “decorum” when a figurehead, such as Queen Elizabeth II, passes away.
Some might call this cancel culture — I call it accountability and reparative politicking.
While I personally would not have used the exact words Anya chose, I am entirely in support of the conversation she helped spark.
The New York Times published its first opinion piece on the matter earlier this morning, titled ‘Mourn the Queen, Not Her Empire.’
People, particularly Indigenous, Black, and other colonized communities, should not have to choose between the two.
Narrative #2: Colonialism and settler colonialism never ended.
There is a belief that colonialism and settler colonialism are relics of the past, and tweets like the following have been pushing back against that idea:
I hope (and expect) to see plenty of op-eds discussing colonialism, settler colonialism, imperialism, and neocolonialism in the coming days. I hope (but don’t expect) that most of these pieces will be written by Indigenous, Black, and writers of the Global South.
Narrative #3: Our Repair is Interdependent
Every so often, the racial/ethnic identity Twitter caucuses unite, but yesterday was unique in the history of Twitter and social media more broadly.
Black, Irish, Indigenous, Indian, and the variety of African-sub Twitters, collectively uplifted each other’s thoughts, ideas, memes, jokes, and narratives.
This, to me, is the most crucial emerging narrative that we must organize around — both domestically here in the United States and internationally.
If we can replace the zero-sum narratives that undergird so many of our policy disagreements with stories of how our struggles are interdependent, I think we’ll see the large-scale systems change we so desperately need.
International News
New York Times: Mourn the Queen, Not Her Empire
Washington Post: Queen Elizabeth II and the end of Britain’s imperial age
National Indigenous Times: Indigenous reactions to Queen Elizabeth II’s death from Australia and around the world
Smithsonian Magazine: Elizabeth II Was an Enduring Emblem of the Waning British Empire
CBC: After Queen Elizabeth's death, some Indigenous people in N.L. reflect on her legacy
Business Insider: Commonwealth history, evolution from the British Empire, and why countries still fight for independence from royal rule
The Guardian: Flags at half-mast and a complicated colonial legacy: Pacific countries remember the Queen
NBC News: Queen Elizabeth's death revives criticism of ain's legacy of colonialism
USA Today: Fact check: United Kingdom finished paying off debts to slave-owning families in 2015
The Spectator: Why Germany must pay war reparations to Poland
ACLU: UN Racial Justice Review Gives Biden Opportunity to Center International Human Rights
National News
Cornell: The Coming Enlightenment: The University Sector and Reparatory Justice for Slavery and Colonialism
The Root: Black Twitter Responds To The Death Of Queen Elizabeth II And It Ain't Pretty
Bloomberg: Today’s Anti-LGBTQ Laws Trace Their Roots to British Colonialism
The Grio: White Water Welfare: Jackson, Baltimore and the other racial wealth gap
Forbes: Why Biden Canceling $10,000 In Student Loan Debt Helps Close The Racial Wealth Gap
Sacramento Observer: What Steps Some States Have Taken to Provide Reparations for Black Americans
New York Times: Teddy Bears and Racial Justice: How St. Louis Became a Laboratory for Social Work
New York Times: A Premature Victory Lap for Black Lives Matter
Wall Street Journal: How Teachers Are Secretly Taught Critical Race Theory
Salon: Beyond the right-wing panic: Why "critical race theory" actually matters
Regional News
Chicago Tribune: Reparations committee, city hoto encourage cannabis sellers to set up shop'
NJ.com: White supremacists crashed N.J. town’s Labor Day parade, mayor says
The Guardian: A white nationalist pyramid scheme: how Patriot Front recuits young members
KGOU: What we know about teaching since Oklahoma’s so-called critical race theory ban went into effect