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The complexity of mourning Queen Elizabeth II and questioning her legacy


A wave of sadness swept the globe when Queen Elizabeth II, 96, died Thursday afternoon, marking the end of an era. Throughout the past week, Britain's longest-reigning monarch has been memorialized for her grace, power and longevity by politicians, celebrities and even everyday Americans.

But the queen was not universally loved. Her legacy as a participant in Britain's history of colonialism in Africa, the Caribbean and Asia often goes untold, and at times, is downplayed or romanticized (even having been controversially framed as a "long-standing relationship with Africa" in a BBC tweet). Critics have highlighted her role in this historic empire that perpetuated colonization, racism and the suppression of independence movements and calls for reparations

When grieving a controversial figure, it's possible to both admire and abhor them for past actions. It's a reality that makes the already-complicated grieving process even more difficult. But choosing to  fixate only on their good traits, while ignoring the bad, provides an inaccurate representation of their humanity, experts say.

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Zoya Sattar, a South Asian American who has family in England, tells Paste BN her grief was complicated; on one hand, "when there is a loss of human life, that's something that should never be celebrated. We have to hold some space for it." At the same time, the queen "was the figurehead of the monarchy … and after decades of being put forward as the symbol of this royal institution responsible for colonization, then to turn around after her death and pull her from that, it just doesn't work that way."

The lines of inappropriate and appropriate conversations about deceased figures' lives are often blurred and unacknowledged. David Kessler, a grief specialist and founder of Grief.com, says our culture, once fixated on depicting the deceased as angelic beings incapable of wrong, is now changing.

"There's a movement shifting away from, 'don't talk badly about the dead,' to 'let's talk about people more authentically.' And these more authentic conversations include acknowledgement of both the good and bad in all of us,'" Kessler says, adding that it exemplifies the complexity of humankind. 

Can we honor Queen Elizabeth II while acknowledging her role in colonialism?

In the case of a figure as high-profile and influential as Queen Elizabeth II, the polarizing discourse surrounding her good deeds – as well as her wrongdoings – is expected. 

It may seem honorable to glamorize her in light of her death, but Melvin L. Williams, associate professor of communication studies at Pace University, argues that completely ignoring her perceived lack of atonement for past sins of the royal family, as well as more recent racial embroilments, also does a disservice to affected communities.

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Queen Elizabeth's legacy will "bear complicated and nuanced stains of Britain's colonialism, imperialism, racism and oppression of Asian and African communities," Williams says. For the Economic Freedom Fighters,  a South African political opposition party, her death is "a reminder of a very tragic period in this country and Africa's history," they said in a statement:

"During her 70-year reign as Queen, she never once acknowledged the atrocities that her family inflicted on native people that Britain invaded across the world." 

As a result, public reactions to her death will be "varied, passionate and cannot be reduced to simplistic emotional expressions of anger, grief, happiness or sadness – which ignores the lived experiences of her opponents and proponents," Williams says.

Instead, consider the nuance of grief for someone so complex, whose historic rule spanned 15 British prime ministers and 14 U.S. presidents. We are allowed to mourn and honor the queen's many feats and accomplishments, while also calling attention to her controversies. We can eulogize and respect her legacy, without pretending she is perfect and faultless. 

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