The Brits are the OGs of Hate (This Black-Ass Life)
Welcome to the 88th installment of This Black-Ass Life! Oprah’s interview with Meghan and Harry had the whites melting down. Also, we have media recommendations in our Other Things!
Don’t forget: We've managed to grow this list thanks to y'all forwarding to friends so please keep it up! Forward this link to subscribe to five friends. And send us topics you'd like to see covered, texts from your Black-ass people, and any Black-ass anything from around the world and web.
I. The Facts
British colonial history is racist and the country today, according to many of its inhabitants of color, is rife with racism. You wouldn’t know it by the way conservatives are rushing to the crown’s defense alongside a good chunk of the white English public.
First, this isn’t surprising. 43% of Brits thought the British Empire was a good thing (!!), and 44% were actually proud of Britain's history of colonialism(!!). Wow.
At its height in 1922, the British Empire ‘governed’ 1/4 of the world’s population and here are the ‘good things’ that many are so proud of:
Before the Germans brought you concentration camps, the Brits did it first with Boer Concentration Camps which systematically imprisoned more than 115,000 Dutch Boers and Africans. Over 25,000 people died in the camp.
Think American law enforcement came up with the idea of shooting unarmed protesters? Think again. Learn about what is now known as the Amritsar Massacre, where British officers murdered at least 379 Indian unarmed nationalists and injured 1,100. Their crime? Protesting the British government’s forced conscription and heavy taxation.
Speaking of India, the partition of that country in 1947 immediately uprooted over 10 million people and left a million dead in the aftermath.
Oooh, another concentration camp. During the Mau-Mau rebellion, between 20,000 and 100,000 Kenyans were murdered for simply wanting to govern themselves. Hundreds of thousands more were raped and tortured.
This fun quote: “I hate Indians. They are a beastly people with a beastly religion. The famine was their own fault for breeding like rabbits.” - Sir. Winston Churchill, national English hero and virulent racist responding to the famines that killed up to 35 million Indians while under British rule. The English had this nasty habit of diverting food from India to England and to British soldiers.
Most of these atrocities, perpetrated by the family and institution now decrying they are not, as Harry said in the sit-down, “colonialist,” all happened within the last hundred years.
Why does it matter?
The congenial aristocratic veneer of shows like Downton Abbey or The Crown, romanticize the English in a way that distorts the facts that the royal family is a nazi-loving, inbred klan and that the English stood and obviously still stand firmly on their belief of white supremacy.
Why have they yet to be held accountable? At the same time that the Germans were genociding millions, the English starved an estimated 3 million Bengalis to death through their war-time policies. Why don’t we all know that?!
Don’t let these people gaslight us. Looking at you William! All of their wealth and standing is entirely from their legacy and continued work thieving from Black and Brown people.
What can my Black ass do?
It’s so difficult to fully wrap our heads around colonization, but we suggest reading about globalization and modern imperialism.
Laugh. Y’all, between that British guy who met Meghan once quitting his job, Archie’s uncle with the hairline *allegedly* hiring this Black woman to be Black in his presence and the guy who blamed racism on low blood sugar, the whites are delivering high-quality humor.
Enjoy some Black-ass creativity. There is so much going on and we deserve to rest, dream and celebrate our talents.
ll. Other Things
Podcasts, videos and an olive branch.
Give Black people their things! Amber J. Phillips brought a tik tok to attention of an actor saying she was painted darker to be on Lovecraft Country. Amber talked about colorism and erasure of dark skinned people, especially fat dark skinned Black women. THEN when the video went viral, Amber was erased from a story she broke and framed from “mainstream” white outlets AND Black outlets. Y’all, give Black people their things and their credit!
Ryan Ken provided essentially the only important royal news coverage.
Drunk History: WandaVision is something we did not know we needed!
Maintenance Phase is a great podcast exploring how endemic anti-fat bias is to U.S. culture. Check out their episodes on Master Cleanse and the President’s Physical Fitness Test.
An olive branch to those of you, like me (Jumoke), who are not spades players.
We cannot even begin to process the perfection that is this giant baby.
Our Black-Ass song(s) of the week (Mitu):
I know she is so problematic, but Doja gave us PERFORMANCE and peak Kofi with Streets.
Things we are looking forward to / things we are not looking forward to:
I (Jumoke) look forward to travel with Mitu post-Vaxxy! Plans include this dirty ass spa in Salt Lake City, walking around Howard and spending the holidays in Berlin.
I (Mitu) look forward to all of the above plus Saturdays, the latest Marsai Martin joint.
lll. Text from a Black-Ass Parent
My (Jumoke's) mama likes podcasts now.
Stay Black, thrive and recommend a good podcast to Jumoke’s mama! We’ll hit your inbox next on March 29.