Had to get one last jokey joke off but in all seriousness, y’all know I had to write about this right?! Thank you @popsugar for the space to be honest about this legacy because (all pettiness aside) this need to be the “bigger person” is hurting my people. It’s okay not to mourn a woman who reigned for 70 years, longer than many countries have been free. Read the piece through the link in my bio under “READ TO GROW.” Excerpt below: We’ve had to watch the Queen — and Buckingham Palace as a whole — parade the monarchy’s wealth and power, evidence of colonialism. We’ve paid entrance fees to walk around museums with spoils from our nations. We’ve been regularly told to respect protocols and show decorum when said niceties have only brought our people theft and death. Why should we be expected to mourn someone who never exercised empathy toward the people who lived under her thumb? Cornel West once shared something during a speech at Harvard that everyone should keep in mind during moments like this: “you must let suffering speak, if you want to hear the truth”.