It has been fascinating this week to watch reactions to the death of Queen Elizabeth II at the age of 96. My mom got her first tv in 1953 so that her family and all the neighbors could watch the coronation of the queen. For her this death is a reminder of her own morality, it reminds her of family and friends who are long gone. As a British citizen living in the US for the last 40 years it also reminds her of home and her childhood. Her grief is one of gratitude and nostalgia. Others have responded with sharp criticism for an empire marked by colonialism and racism. Others lament the cost of the monarchy and question its relevance. Others see this institution as key to their identity and an important piece of British culture. So many different perspectives on the death of this one woman, all linked to history and experience and sometimes difficult to understand.
My mom is allowed to be sad. Uju Anya,is allowed to express her pain and rage. While I don’t fully understand those who have lived with the harmful impacts of colonization, destruction of culture, theft of resources, and barbaric treatment my own life is tinged by the imperial, racist, sexist policies of the British Empire. I am very proud of being Scottish, but I’m lucky that my parents decided to go back to Scotland to start their family. Before 1983 British citizenship could only be passed down through “legitimate” male citizens. So even though my mom is Scottish I am a citizen because of where I was born. After 1983 mothers can pass down their citizenship one generation, just like men have been able to do for years. So my daughter is a British citizen by descent. In the colonial era men could marry foreign nationals and retain their citizenship, women lost their British status. Men however did not always legally marry their wives in the colonies, sometimes leaving behind an entire family who did not have access to British protection or rights.
The Hudson Bay Company practiced this same policy in the American Territories of the 1800’s. Men who served with the company had to go back to the place where they entered service when they resigned. Men who married native women had to go back alone, leaving behind their families and then make their own way west again. Many could not afford to do so and again these women and children were not British citizens as the marriages had not taken places in churches since no churches were to be found in the wilds of the territories.
This may seem minor in our modern world, but these laws were life and death to so many. The examination of our history, of the way laws and institutions such as the church have continued to prop up privilege, racism, and sexism is how we make the future better and more holy.
As for me I’m sad about the Queen’s passing as she has been a fixture in my life and part of my Scottishness. At the same time I acknowledge the painful, brutal empire she represented and served and know the challenges of Scotland as ruled by another. As people of faith we can stand in places of complexity and tension, in grief and accountability and together try to build a world where all are seen and valued, heard and respected. This is the deep work of the people of God.
-Eilidh
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