The The death of Queen Elizabeth II It led to the flow of thought and reaction online. But it wasn’t all sadness – some young Africans have instead shared photos and stories of their elders, who experienced a brutal period of British colonial history during the queen’s long reign.
One wrote on Twitter: “I can’t mourn”, post a picture from what she described as her grandmother’s “movement permit” – a colonial document that prevented freedom of travel for British-ruled Kenyans in the East African country.
else Wrote Her grandmother “was telling us how they were beaten and how their husbands were taken away from them and left to take care of their children” during the colonial era. “May we never forget them. They are our heroes,” she added.
Their refusal to mourn highlights the complexity of the Queen’s legacy, who despite her widespread use was also seen as a symbol of oppression in parts of the world where the British Empire once spanned.
Kenya, which has been under British rule since 1895, was named an official colony in 1920 and remained that way until it gained independence in 1963. Among the worst atrocities that occurred under British rule during the Mau Mau uprising, which began in 1952 – The year Queen Elizabeth assumed the throne.
The memory of the Queen in Africa cannot be separated from that colonial past, Kennesaw State University’s communications professor Farouk Kairoji told CNN.
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