Leer en Español
70 years have passed since Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II assumed the crown. Her presence has been a constant presence in Western pop culture and her offspring have created stories and myths that live on, even today, in our memories.
Both the happy chapters — this Jubilee — and the undesirable ones — basically everything to do with people like Prince Andrew or Meghan Markle — have been embedded in the history of the Crown, making it a phenomenon that never grows old or goes out of fashion.
This week on The View, each panelists views on the Jubilee were analyzed. Sunny Hostin, who some time ago struck me as a charming and conciliatory woman, displayed her recent radicalism in condemning a phenomenon of which she herself was a fan.
“But now that I learned a little more about the history of England and the colonization, of the imperialism (…) and the fact that Britain and the monarchy took $1 trillion from Africa (…) Now I’m not as enamored of the pomp and circumstance, because it was built on the backs and souls of slaves. So, I’m just not as interested as I was before”, she said.
To the surprise of many, it was Whoopi Goldberg who called her down to earth, reminding her that many of the Royal Family’s expenses are paid for by their own estate. To Hostin’s response, “they made it from slavery”, Goldberg lashed out, reminding her that those who reign today are not those who reigned in the past.
The debate about the importance of the monarchy in today’s society is perfectly valid. To think it is unjustified or a system of the past is understandable, but to blame those who hold the crown today for the decisions of the past is to live in illogical resentment that builds nothing worthwhile.
Unfortunately, Sunny Hostin has become a hunter of popular opinions that earn her public applause, even though her radicalism may leave her exposed for her lack of any real basis for her opinion on certain issues. And I deeply regret this, because it does not do justice to who we Latinos really are.
