Absolutely nothing will grind my gears more than seeing Black and Brown people mourn or try to police other Black or Brown people into feeling some sort of sorrow for the death of Britain’s late queen. Nothing will aggravate me more than seeing people jump through all sorts of hoops trying to explain how the monarchy was somewhat beneficial to the third world. But here we are surrounded by the most obscene displays of respectability politics.
I am trying my best not to be overly annoyed by people’s pity party for a woman who was once part of an institution with a bloody past, which also happens to continue to disassociate itself from full accountability. But if I am to be honest, I, too, once looked at the monarchy in absolute awe as a child growing up. I remember attending Mae’s School as a young girl and being put into neat lines along a main street to shout, “Do Stop” when the cars transporting royal visitors drove by.