A PETITION has been launched to replace the words empire with excellence in the Queen’s honours list.
The move comes after several high profile black celebrities rejected their honour because of the Empire’s association with slavery and brutality.
Accessible
Queen’s Honours Awards experts, Bayleaf Honours, launched the petition and are calling on the government to replace the current ‘Order of the Empire’ awards with the ‘Order of Excellence’ to make the honours process more accessible to people of all backgrounds.
The issue of changing the name of the Queen’s honours was first raised in a 2004 report to government produced by Sir Hayden Phillips, Permanent Secretary at the Department for Constitutional Affairs.
However government ministers rejected the recommendation on the grounds that ‘the Order of the Empire continues to play a well understood and predominant role in the Honours system.’
Slavery
But many view the term as ‘anachronistic’ as the Empire no longer exists and, significant numbers of people from black and minority ethnic (BAME) communities, have rejected their honour because of the Empire’s association with a history of slavery and brutality.
Among those who have returned their honours in recent years are Howard Gayle, the first black footballer to play for Liverpool FC.
He declined an MBE in 2016 saying it would be “a betrayal” to Africans who suffered at the hands of the British Empire.
I get angry when I hear that word ‘empire’; it reminds me of slavery, it reminds of thousands of years of brutality, it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalised.
Benjamin Zephaniah
Spoken word poet and lyricist George The Poet turned down and MBE last year.
He said that while he “deeply appreciated” the gesture, he could not accept the award because of “the colonial trauma inflicted on the children of Africa”.
Writer, choreographer and rap artist, Jonzi D also declined MBE for services to the arts in 2012, saying subsequently: “I am diametrically opposed to the idea of empire. Man, I’m a Star Wars fan – empire is bad.”
In 2003, poet writer and lyricist Benjamin Zephaniah turned down an OBE.
Angry
At the time he told The Guardian: “I get angry when I hear that word ‘empire’; it reminds me of slavery, it reminds of thousands of years of brutality, it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalised.
“It is because of this concept of empire that my British education led me to believe that the history of black people started with slavery and that we were born slaves, and should therefore be grateful that we were given freedom by our caring white masters.”
Mike McKie, Founder of Bayleaf Honours, a writing and advice service for those wishing to nominate in the Honours process, said: “The Empire is indeed well understood – which is why it causes some people too much pain to accept an award. This is of course especially true within the black community, and the #BlackLives Matter movement is testament to the pain felt by many.
Positive
“We therefore strongly believe that, if the government is refusing to abolish the Order of the Empire completely, an equal alternative should at least be made available, allowing people to be recognised and rewarded for their work in a way that feels more positive and appropriate.”
McKie added that ‘Excellence’ should be the default award given, with the ability to opt in to ‘Empire’ for those who value it.
He added: “This would really democratise the system and the choices made upon acceptance would allow us to see what really matters to the British public. It might well be the case that very few accept the honour relating to the Order of the Empire, giving us a very strong and informed case for absolute removal.”
If you are interested in signing the petition, click here
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4 Comments
We all love Mr Benjamin Zephaniah’s mind-engaging poetry. We understand that for Mr Zephaniah to accept a Royal Title would be to dishonour our African ancestors; whose terrorised unpaid labour allowed the English Monarch; English industry, commerce and the English people to become the wealthiest Nation on Planet Earth.
But for Mr Zephaniah and his many supporters to petition to replace ‘Empire’ with ‘Excellence’ in the Queen’s annual Honours is wrong; completely misguided and does nothing to correct England’s institutional colour discrimination and racism.
My fears that the current Black Lives Matter demands for the removal of statues have become all about statues; rather than defeating England’s corporate and public institutional colour discrimination and racism: which blights the employment prospects for England’s African-skinned Subjects.
The enemy for England’s African-skinned people is corporate and public institutional colour discrimination and injustice. The remedy for corporate and institutional colour discrimination and racism is the application of Justice.
Removing historical statues; or banning “cultural appropriation” and banning corporate logos which depicts African people; such as Uncle Ben’s Rice, has subverted England’s African heritage people’s campaign for employment Justice from England’s corporate and public institutions.
England’s African-skinned Subjects must realise changing words; or historical events is a subversion we must be mature enough to avoid. Parliament’s 2017 Racial Disparity Audit reveals that all of England’s Corporate and Public Institutions treat England’s African-skinned candidates unjustly. All that England’s African-skinned Subjects want is an end to employment discrimination and injustice.
Moreover, England was made “great” from the profits of its unpaid African labour force in the Caribbean. To remove the word Empire, Mr Zephaniah, is to remove; to cloak, to further exercise from English history the massive contribution of the English Empire’s African Slaves.
The Slavic Languages of Eastern Europe are thus called because the Slavs were historically Europe’s first Slaves. Removing the word Slav because of sensitive Left-wing inspired millennials just makes discussing Slavic Slave history difficult.
African people stopped being culturally recognisable African people; with their own languages, culture and Monarchs the moment they were placed in the cargo-hold of Caucasian Europe’s Slave Ships.
At that moment they became “negro.” I, like many African-skinned subjects, do not like the historic term “negro” because it only emphasizes the colour of the African man woman and child’s skin and subtly reinforcing their skin-colour inferior status, at a time when authority, power and privilege were governed by Western European and Caucasian heritage people.
Nevertheless, “negro” is the historical word which was used and I would not petition for the word “negro” to be exercised from common or historic parlance.
The Order of the English Empire should remain because the Monarch is acknowledging that England became a ruling World Order because of its Empire. I would be prepared to start a petition to keep the word ‘Empire’ in Her Majesty’s Honours.
Abolish all these stupid bits of tat
If you see yourself as a serf, just accept the bauble from the ruling royal classes, smile and curtsey (whilst tugging your forelock).
If however you are truly free, shake your head at the absurdity of these awards which are actually decided in the main by civil servants.
Victor
I think the whole system needs a transformation to include for the society of today