Friday, September 09, 2022

Today's News: The Queen is dead. Long live the King.

What an amazing number of places she went and people she met! This thread shows many of them:
 [*full disclosure: I met the Queen once, like 35+ years ago, at a reception for journalists on the Royal Yacht Britannia. Somewhere tucked away I still have the nametag and the security clearance from that day.] Of all the photos ever taken of the Queen, I found this one to be the most moving -- when she had to mourn Phillip alone: I know Diana was called The People's Princess, but Elizabeth was no slouch in that department either: Irish Twitter was something today: I hope King Charles III will do well -- after waiting a lifetime for this, I expect he will want to make a mark in the world. But he doesn't have a lot of time to do it. 
I just hope he doesn't stumble by trying to do too much too quickly -- I expect the British tabloids will be searching to find something to blast Charles about, either him or Camilla. And of course, this:

In news closer to home, the grieving continues at James Smith Cree Nation.
First, compare and contrast: 
Monday Thursday Yes, people noticed. Tanya Talaga writes
... We have seen what happens when we fail to deal with the social fallout of residential schools and racist policies such as the Indian Act. There have been countless reports warning against continued inaction by Canada – from the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s four volumes, to the National Inquiry on Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls. 
So it is time for Canada to take responsibility and enact a giant Marshall Plan of change. 
Come together with our communities. 
Listen to Indigenous peoples and leaders. 
Bring true reconciliation to that cold, empty word that has left us in a state of seemingly inevitable, violent flux. 
Myles Sanderson’s story is all too familiar. But it doesn’t have to be. 
The New York Times  published a lengthy piece today which describes the events of what happened in James Smith Cree Nation and in Weldon -- here is a link to a "gift" copy  of the article. This is how it ends: 
On Thursday, at a news conference on the reserve, Darryl Burns, whose sister Gloria was among the dead, brought Damien Sanderson’s widow, Sky Cloud Sanderson, up to the microphone and asked her to accept the forgiveness of the community for her husband’s role in the killings. 
“Damien was caught up in a life,” Mr. Burns said. “Damien was caught up in a moment.” 
Sky Cloud Sanderson broke down in uncontrolled sobbing. 
Ivor Wayne Burns, a community elder who was also a brother of Gloria Burns, said he forgave the killers. 
“We forgive them,” he said, “because if we don’t, our anger will turn to hate and resentment and we will never heal. To move on, we have to forgive them boys.” 

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