Sylvia Wynter's Dream

by Kandice Thompson

Queen Elizabeth II of England died. The world is shaken. I am a rock in the sea, jutting out above the crashing waves…unmoved. As the rock would be wet from the splashing of turbulent waters, I too am not unaffected, just not moved. Not moved to tears, sorrow, or any particularly passionate expression. The Queen was not a relic but an important figure of colonialism. As a Jamaican woman, living in the post post-colonial, alive during one of her visits to my country, I am aware of the significance of her passing. I understand how others older than I may feel conflicting emotions, those younger may be wholly detached, never experiencing any controversy during her reign, ignoring or unaware of the implications of her existence.

I would hope the re-emergence of the British Royal Family’s history and their crimes would stoke the anti-colonial flames needed for cutting the final ties to this kingdom that has taken so much, and wreaked havoc on Black and Indigenous Peoples for centuries. I cannot help feeling annoyed at the Jamaicans expressing their sorrow publicly. Do they not know their history? Have they forgotten what we were taught in primary school? Then I remembered that we received, in essence, a colonial education. We were conditioned to position ourselves as other, lowly, beneath, and lesser in relation to “The Great British Empire” and its descendants, as ours were “primitive” beings that were conquered and civilized by them.

With this attention redirected to the Queen’s participation in colonialism and attempts to halt emancipation efforts for the then colonies, I wonder if our citizens will rally with fervor to eschew British sensibilities and remove their constitutional powers, however symbolic. Then, I think of the Governor General’s medal with royal insignia depicting a white angel trampling a black devil and how quickly the outrage was washed out of the news cycle and i chide myself for my idealistic naivety. My hopes for seeing Jamaica become a republic in my lifetime, dwindles to dispirited resignation that we as a people will remain entrenched.