Twitter took deliberate steps to delete a tweet posted by a Black professor that expressed sentiments about Queen Elizabeth’s death that the social media company said violated its rules.

Uju Anya, a professor in Carnegie Mellon University’s college of humanities and social sciences, reacted in part to the news of Queen Elizabeth’s death by taking to Twitter and joining in the chorus of tweets from the ambivalent to the gleeful, and every apparent emotion in between.

MORE: A Royal Disgrace: We’re Discussing Racism All Wrong

A prolific tweeted, Anya let her feelings about Queen Elizabeth II be known when it was reported Thursday that the matriarch of the Royal Family was on her deathbed.

“May her pain be excruciating,” Anya tweeted.

full chest screaming from the rooftops, may her pain be excruciating!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/E6Ja5q7uM3

— sister himbo (@sisterhimbo) September 8, 2022

But that post was suddenly deleted, as evidenced by Twitter’s accompanying note: “This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules.”

Anya explained in a subsequent tweet that Queen Elizabeth’s death was personal for her.

“If anyone expects me to express anything but disdain for the monarch who supervised a government that sponsored the genocide that massacred and displaced half my family and the consequences of which those alive today are still trying to overcome, you can keep wishing upon a star,” Anya tweeted.

If anyone expects me to express anything but disdain for the monarch who supervised a government that sponsored the genocide that massacred and displaced half my family and the consequences of which those alive today are still trying to overcome, you can keep wishing upon a star.

— Uju Anya (@UjuAnya) September 8, 2022

Anya’s tweets about Queen Elizabeth are not too far off from the collective sentiment from Black Twitter, the powerful portion of the social media network that identifies with the Black experience.

Tweets with evidence of the lingering residual effect of colonialism on Black people, in particular, went viral, theoretically making it clearer why Anya would tweet what she did.

Real question for the “now is not the appropriate time to talk about the negative impact of colonialism” crowd:

When is the appropriate time to talk about the negative impact of colonialism?

— Eugene Scott (@Eugene_Scott) September 8, 2022

One of those tweets, posted by German-based DW News back in June and meant to mark the so-called “Platinum Jubilee” of the queen’s 70-year reign, shared video footage of a Black woman identified as an “Independence fighter” named Muthoni Mathenge who was demanding reparations from Queen Elizabeth.

“She was tortured with axes during Kenya’s struggle for independence from British colonial rule,” the tweet says of Mathenge. “As Britain celebrates the Platinum Jubilee of its monarch, this old fighter wants to send her a message: ‘Let Elizabeth bring what belongs to me.’”

She was tortured with axes during Kenya’s struggle for independence from British colonial rule.

As Britain celebrates the Platinum Jubilee of its monarch, this old fighter wants to send her a message: “Let Elizabeth bring what belongs to me.” pic.twitter.com/EofKAOqFtW

— DW News (@dwnews) June 2, 2022

To be sure, Black people aren’t the only ones who haven’t forgotten the queen’s real and involved history of colonialism.

At least one white woman in the U.K. getting interviewed by CNN following news of Queen Elizabeth dying specifically cited “British colonial history” as a reason why she was neither “the biggest fan of the queen” nor “upset or overwhelmed by” her death.

CNN reporter asks British woman about Queen Elizabeth, who says she’s not “the biggest fan of the queen” so she’s not “upset or overwhelmed by it.”

She adds it’s because of “British colonial history” and “quite shady” things like Prince Andrew.

“Fair enough,” reporter reacts. pic.twitter.com/M9FUQeBpiG

— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) September 8, 2022

Another tweet suggested Queen Elizabeth’s death was the result of karma specifically for her role in maintaining the colonization of Africa. That the tweet went viral without even mentioning Queen Elizabeth by name speaks volumes.

For Africa pic.twitter.com/ifOpLzp5YO

— taurus girl (@jaxajueny) September 8, 2022

 

A closer look at Twitter’s rules suggests Anya may have been in violation of the app’s policy about “abuse/harassment,” which forbids “wishing or hoping that someone experiences physical harm.”

(Even for someone who allowed physical harm to happen for extremely racist reasons.)

However, there was no shortage of other tweets that echoed Anya’s language and remained live as of the time this article was published.

One tweet, in particular, was absent of any lies about the queen’s legacy of colonialism:

Reminder that Queen Elizabeth is not a remnant of colonial times. She was an active participant in colonialism. She actively tried to stop independence movements & she tried to keep newly independent colonies from leaving the commonwealth. The evil she did was enough.

Reminder that Queen Elizabeth is not a remnant of colonial times. She was an active participant in colonialism. She actively tried to stop independence movements & she tried to keep newly independent colonies from leaving the commonwealth. The evil she did was enough https://t.co/SDGi0boCzx

— Nsafoa’s Feminist Duck (@YaaAsantewaaBa) September 8, 2022

Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan, found irony in the queen’s supporters telling people how they should react to the death.

“Telling the colonized how they should feel about their colonizer’s health and wellness is like telling my people that we ought to worship the Confederacy,” Thomas tweeted Thursday.

Telling the colonized how they should feel about their colonizer’s health and wellness is like telling my people that we ought to worship the Confederacy.

“Respect the dead” when we’re all writing these Tweets *in English.* How’d that happen, hm? We just chose this language?

— Ebony Elizabeth Thomas (@Ebonyteach) September 8, 2022

Meanwhile, Carnegie Mellon tweeted that while it does “not condone” what Anya tweeted, the Pittsburgh-based university respected her freedom of expression.

A statement regarding recent social media posts by Uju Anya. pic.twitter.com/NinpPa4rZg

— Carnegie Mellon University (@CarnegieMellon) September 8, 2022

This is America.

SEE ALSO:

Meghan Markle’s ‘Dark’ Claim Spotlights Racist History Of Buckingham Palace

Meghan Markle And Prince Harry’s Critics Cry White Tears After ‘Independence’ Announcement

 

The post Twitter Censors Black Professor Who Tweeted About Queen Elizabeth’s ‘Excruciating’ Death appeared first on NewsOne.