When dignity reigns supreme

Zephaniah shook middle England to the core when he informed the Prime Minister and the Queen what they could do with the honour: 'Up yours' he told them. "Empire", he continued "reminds me of slavery, it reminds of thousands of years of brutality, it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and forefathers were brutalised".

The majority of Black Briton applauded Zephaniah for his courageousness in standing for what he believes in. One Black youth commented on a radio phone in, 'the brother cannot be bought'. But it wasn't all plaudits. The head of the CRE Trevor Phillips, who received an OBE some years back accused Zephaniah of 'gesture politics' and undermining the efforts of other recipients such as Bill Morris, Patricia Scotland and Floella Benjamin who Phillips argues, deserve to be recognized for their efforts for social justice.

Phillips is right yet profoundly wrong. He is right to argue that there are many Black people such as Morris, Scotland and the army of unsung Black heroes who deserve recognition for what they do. But the present honours system is deeply flawed on two levels. What ever way you dress it up the British Empire killed more people than Nazi Germany. Any denial of the abomination of the Empire, therefore, particularly from a Black person must render them in a vortex of denial. Even if you stack up the imperial benefits a mile high with things such as: railways, roads, international commerce, law, consensus democracy, it must be outweighed with slavery, colonialism and the legacy of the two.

At the Berlin conference of 1884 the powerful European nations literally carved up the African continent for their own commercial gains. These colonial monsters only ended their rule a generation ago, only to hand over power to African dictators who colluded to protect Western interest. The Rwandan genocide and other recent conflicts in the Congo and beyond can be easily traced back to the systematic manipulation of tribes by European powers. Equally appalling is the legacy of slavery that has left 40 million people of African descent bereft of any history prior to slavery. Uncomfortable as it is for many Black people the Empire erased our history and our names only to bestow us names from our slave masters.

But the rejection of an honours system that has had its time is only part of Zephaniah's objection. In his poem 'Too Black to Strong', Zephaniah asserts that writers go soft when they are bestowed such honours from the state. Their effectiveness is undermined because it is difficult to criticise those in control when you're invited not necessarily to the power table to have a glimpse of it.

This tension between the radical voice the establishment bringing you ever closer to the source of power is very real. Lord John Taylor was never a radical voice but he could have been if he had honestly told the country what they already knew: that the Cheltenham Conservatives were racist. Instead he kept is mouth shut and was awarded a place in the House of Lords. Getting close to power is very seductive and worse still when you've tasted it. Just look back over the last few months to see how high profile politicians were unable to relinquish power and save their own integrity.

Claire Short for example fooled no-one but herself when the illusion power made her break her promise and not resign over the Iraq war. She did resign afterwards but her integrity was in tatters.Me? I thought, OBE me? Up yours, I thought. I get angry when I hear that word "empire"; it reminds me of slavery, it reminds of thousands of years of brutality, it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalised. It is because of this concept of empire that my British education led me to believe that the history of black people started with slavery and that we were born slaves, and should therefore be grateful that we were given freedom by our caring white masters. It is because of this idea of empire that black people like me don't even know our true names or our true historical culture.

With a few simple words to the Her Majesty the Queen: 'Thanks, but no thanks', the acclaimed Black poet Benjamin Zephaniah unleashed an international incident that has rocked the British establishment.