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 myself don t even know our true names or our true historical culture. I am not one of those who are obsessed with their roots and I m certainly not suffering from a crisis of identity; my obsession is about the future and the political rights of all people. Benjamin Zephaniah OBE - no way Mr Blair no way Mrs Queen. I am profoundly anti-empire.