The British Empire, though has a fancy name and its commonwealth branch does a lot of good today, it has a dark past–having colonized several countries during which time many people died and suffered in the hands of the British.
For instance, during the Second Boer War (1899-1902), the British rounded up around a sixth of the Boer population – mainly women and children – and detained them in camps.
These camps were overcrowded with scant food rations and were prone to disease outbreaks. In fact, out of the 107,000 people interned in the camps, 27,927 Boers died, along with an unknown number of black Africans.
With such atrocity and many others in the books of the British Empire, several people think the Empire should not be celebrated or painted as though it was a splendid regime.
And one of such people is Former Liverpool FC Player-Howard Gayle, who has turned down a nomination for MBE because he says, it would betray the many Africans who died and suffered as a result of the British Empire.
In a facebook post, Howard Gayle revealed he has turned down an MBE nomination.
He wrote:
Most of you who are on my FB page are aware of the work that I do tackling racism and the work I do for Show Racism A Red Card.
And for that work yesterday I was nominated for a MBE. Which unfortunately I had to decline the nomination for the reason that my ancestors would be turning in their graves after how Empire and Colonialism had enslaved them.
This is a decision that I have had to make and there will be others who may feel different and would enjoy the attraction of being a Member of the British Empire and those 3 letters after their name, but I feel that It would be a betrayal to all of the Africans who have lost their lives , or who have suffered as a result of Empire. ????✌?️.
MBE refers to Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, a grade within the British order of chivalry–a honour bestowed on people for their exceptional work, dedicated to humanity.