MSNBC guest says Queen Elizabeth's legacy should not be viewed through 'rose-tinted glasses'
During and episode of "The Reidout" Thursday, MSNBC guest Shola Mos-Shogbamimu told host Joy Reid that people should not look at Queen Elizabeth II's legacy "through rose-tinted glasses" on racial issues and colonization.
On MSNBC's "The ReidOut" Thursday, guest Shola Mos-Shogbamimu said the late Queen Elizabeth II would have more "legitimacy and credibility" if she had been more "visible against racial injustice and inequality in Britain."
The Queen died Thursday at 96 years old. Several progressive media figures immediately slammed her because of British colonialism.
"The British Empire was a colonizing empire. Which made her a colonizer Queen," Mos-Shogbamimu said. "Part of her legacy is that colonization. It is the atrocities that were committed in the name of Queen or country during the colonizing period."
PROGRESSIVE MEDIA FIGURES SLAM QUEEN ELIZABETH AS ‘OPPRESSIVE RULER,’ ‘MOSTLY KNOWN FOR RACISM’
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles in full court dress (Paul Edwards - WPA Pool/Getty Images)
"Many countries fought hard, many of them, many lives were lost. People imprisoned. Even tortured in order to be set free from Britain's colonization so to speak. And she was the Queen during that time," Mos-Shogbamimu continued.
"For a number of people, while people are trying to be respectful of her passing, cause I'm respectful of her passing, I can respect her sense of duty but what I cannot do is to look at her legacy through rose-tinted glasses and I don't think that would be right to do," she said.
NEW YORK TIMES ESSAY ARGUES QUEEN ELIZABETH 'HELPED OBSCURE A BLOODY HISTORY OF DECOLONIZATION'
Queen Elizabeth II of England at Balmoral Castle with one of her Corgis, 28th September 1952. (Getty Images) (Getty Images)
Mos-Shogbamimu argued that "for a lot of people like me, if she had led by being vocally visible against racial injustice and inequality in Britain, and address both historical and present day systemic racism, she would have had a lot of legitimacy and credibility in a number of nations, including those that still have her as head of state."
World leaders including President Joe Biden, former Presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama, former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and more have expressed their condolences for the Queen.
ASCOT, ENGLAND - JUNE 22: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Andrew, Duke of York attend Royal Ascot 2017 at Ascot Racecourse on June 22, 2017 in Ascot, England. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images) (Chris Jackson/Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Queen Elizabeth first rose to the throne in 1952 when President Harry Truman was in office and Winston Churchill was the British Prime Minister.