Meghan Markle's experience with the Royal Family shows reach of Anti-Blackness | Sunday Observer

Meghan Markle's experience with the Royal Family shows reach of Anti-Blackness

21 March, 2021

On March 7, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex sat down with Oprah Winfrey for one of the most raw and revealing interviews that a member of the British royal family has ever made.

Although there was huge expectation about what Meghan Markle and Prince Harry would say in their sit-down with Oprah, nothing could have prepared the world for what they shared: their truth, including the rampant racism that’s seemingly inherent to the institution. In her descriptions of racist treatment by the public and the palace, it calls to question where in society Black women are safe if a Black member of the Royal Family wasn't.

Harassed

Since Meghan’s first public appearance as Prince Harry’s partner, the former Suits actress has been harassed and hated by British tabloids. A week after making the relationship public, in November 2016, Harry felt the need to write a public statement calling out “the smear on the front page of a national newspaper, the racial undertones of comment pieces and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments,” directed toward his then girlfriend.

Over the following months, it only got worse. No matter what she did or said, Meghan was seemingly already guilty in the public eye. She wasn’t able to put her hands in her pockets, have a traditional wedding bouquet, or hold her baby bump.

When she said she likes avocados, it was met with claims that she was “fuelling drought and murder.” In contrast, the health benefits of avocados were widely celebrated when Kate Middleton ate them. Even the decision to leave the royal family that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex made together was renamed “Megxit,” seemingly placing the blame solely on her.

“Exotic DNA”

In more overtly racist incidents, Meghan was portrayed as “gangster royalty,” “uppity,” and having “exotic DNA.” Her Los Angeles upbringing was described as “straight outta Compton,” and her son was compared to a monkey. The tabloids implied time and time again that a Black girl from “the hood” had no business marrying a British prince, and faced little to no consequences for it.

Evidently, the royal family’s determination to protect the institution did not apply to Meghan. While Buckingham Palace was willing to open an investigation into The Times’ claims that Meghan bullied her staff, they weren’t willing to help Meghan when she herself was being bullied. Prince Harry himself admitted that, although his family could have “(shared) some truth or (called) the dogs off,” they chose silence, leaving Harry and Meghan feeling “desperate” and concerned about “history repeating itself.”

In some ways, it already has.

The parallels between Meghan and her late mother-in-law are immediately evident. In 1991, Princess Diana, Harry’s mother, taped herself saying that she threw herself down the stairs when she was four months pregnant, out of sheer desperation, which some have said was a suicide attempt. In her interview with Oprah, Meghan opened up about experiencing suicidal ideation, so much so that she asked the palace for help. She, like Diana before her, was denied.

Taking into account this context of public hatred and harassment, it may not come as a surprise that the racism the Duchess of Sussex faced extended to her son.

Denied title

Talking to Oprah, Meghan and Harry alleged that Archie was deliberately denied a royal title, and therefore, access to the protection that comes with it, putting his life potentially at risk. The couple even suggested that this decision was taken in light of the child’s mixed-race heritage.

“In those months when I was pregnant, all around this same time so we have in tandem the conversation of he won’t be given security, he’s not going to be given a title, and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he was born,” Meghan said. “It was really hard to see those as compartmentalized conversations.”

It’s hard to ignore that the royal family’s treatment of Meghan echoes how Black people in Britain are treated. A 2020 Home Office report found that Black people in the UK were five times more likely to have force used on them by the police, and the Independent Office for Police Conduct found that Black people in England and Wales are nearly twice as likely to die while in custody.

Painful truth

Black people in Bristol are significantly more likely to be homeless, unemployed, and victims of crime. If a Black woman isn’t protected even when she’s under the family’s wing, how can our non-royal citizens ever feel safe?

And, how can these citizens feel safe speaking up against power? Well, maybe that’s the point. The British press’s hatred toward Meghan and the Crown’s refusal to protect her seems like a sign of society’s desire to silence Black women and reveals a very painful truth about the racism embedded deep within British society: that it’s still very much alive. The hope then lies within the people who are willing to call it for what it is.As Diana once did, Meghan has found her voice and is calling out the racism that she suffered. Now it’s time for us to listen, and be better.

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