What the Empire doesn’t want you to know
*Trigger Warning* Indian colonial trauma, Hindu colonial trauma
To my Indian community: Happy 75th Independence Day.
To my non-Indian community: Did you know that the British burned many empire papers when India attained Independence? They did it to hide all their past criminal acts, and also to hide all the plans they'd already put in motion to continue to harm us, plots and deceptions that still bleed India to this day.
Just like any other gang, Britain set fire to the evidence of their criminal activities.
This is why comedians like Eddie Izzard can make jokes about how the British empire somehow wasn't as brutal as other empires - because Eddie Izzard's ancestors burned the evidence that they were in fact the most brutal empire the world has ever seen. Eddie Izzard can therefore gaslight everyone into thinking that the British were a "gentle empire" and make money while doing so.
Local news reports in Delhi told of the great "pall of smoke" that hung over the city in the run up to Independence, because of all of the years and years of empire records the British were burning. Seattle happens to be in a "pall of smoke" right now and it's really comfortable on our lungs, isn't it? Imagine how many papers they must have burned to create such smoke in Delhi. The pall of smoke hanging over us all right now in Seattle is from entire forests going up in flames both north and south of us.
Even before the British burned all those papers, only certain documents were allowed to be seen by the Native bureaucrats.
"Documents marked 'Guard', for instance, could be disclosed to non-British officials as long as if they were from the Old Commonwealth - Australia, New Zealand, South Africa or Canada." - The white countries.
"Those classified as 'Watch' and stamped with a red letter W, were to be removed from the country or destroyed. The marking 'DG' was said to be an abbreviation of deputy governor, but in fact was a protective code word to indicate that papers so marked were for sight by "British officers of European descent only"."
The British did this all over the Empire but it started in India since India was the first country to gain Independence and lead all the Global South countries to achieve Independence.
Officials were told to send proof to London that the documents had been burned. They were told to burn anything that might be "embarassing" for the Crown. Yes, THAT CROWN that Netflix keeps trying to convince you is somehow special. That Crown ordered that any documents that showed "racial or religious" prejudice in particular were told to be burned. You see, the British were perfectly well aware of just how evil and racist and Hinduphobic they were. They knew that it wasn't about "attitudes of the time" or that "things were different then". No. They knew that they were full of hate and violence. They knew that they purposely and knowingly murdered 60 million Indians in planned and coordinated famines. They knew that they purposely and knowingly abducted and trafficked Indian women and children, particularly HINDU women and children to sate their lust for our bodies. They knew that they purposely and knowingly tortured millions of Indians in the Wars of Independence. They knew that they purposely and knowingly pillaged and desecrated our sacred Indigenous traditions. They knew that they purposely and knowingly stole billions and billions from the Indian people ($45 trillion in today's value). They knew that they were purposely and knowingly stealing our children and brainwashing them into hating their own people while converting them to their colonizer religion of mental slavery also known as Christianity. They knew that they purposely and knowingly divided and conquered the Indian people with made up lies about their history (lies that still smear India and Hindus to this day).
The average life span for an Indian during British rule was 27 years old. The population of India in fact didn't increase for 74 years during British rule, despite a very high birthrate, because the British caused the deaths of that many people. The British knew exactly what they were doing then and they know exactly what they're doing now. They haven't changed and they never will.
Just like the USA hasn't changed and never will. You can't reform an empire. You can only smash it to pieces so it can never hurt anyone ever again.
Resources
National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1–800–656–HOPE (4673)
National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1–800–799-SAFE (7233)
National LGBT Hotline: 1–888–843–4564
Hotline for 2SLGBTQIA+: 1–519–752-HELP (4357)
1,000 Years of Hindu Colonial Trauma video presentation series
Britain burned “embarassing” documents: Times of India
Seattle smoke