George the Poet: 'If I accepted an MBE, what would my descendants think?'

The poet, rapper and podcaster says he rejected an MBE as the British Empire’s actions were ‘pure evil’

When George the Poet turned down an MBE, he joined a long tradition of cultural figures who refused the honour because of the British empire’s legacy.

Howard Gayle, Liverpool’s first black footballer, declined becoming a Member of the British Empire in 2016, saying: “My ancestors would be turning in their graves after how empire and colonialism had enslaved them”. In 1977, Ken Loach said he couldn’t accept because the British empire was a “monument of exploitation and conquest”. Benjamin Zephaniah went for the pithy “No way Mr Blair, no way Mrs Queen. I am profoundly anti-empire” when he was offered an OBE in 2003.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/34JRLhX