Meghan, you should have known….
When Harry met Meghan, as a Black female dark-skinned Brit, I was feeling a little optimistic. Here was a guy who fell, head over heels in love, with this new woman in his life and here was this woman, not only was she sophisticated and accomplished but who openly acknowledged the ‘white’ part of herself but also made it perfectly clear, that her love for her African American Mama was for real and ‘there was no Imitation of Life drama’ to be found.
But I soon became disappointed: annoyed that I should have known better but felt so should have Meghan.
After the new year, there was the shock of the two of them wanting to ‘step back’ from their royal duties because of the media intrusion and the racism experienced by Meghan. It was all too much. Of course, I was happy when the BBC promptly sacked the radio presenter Danny Baker for his stupid ‘monkey’ comments and cringed when reading of Meghan’s ‘exotic DNA’ along with other bigoted descriptions.
The thing is, Meghan is university educated, highly articulate and able to deliver speeches without the use of an autocue or reading from a script. I didn’t get the chance to look at her blog, but my understanding is, it was well written and a well-presented blog. So, given all of that, Meghan is taken aback by the hostility, the viciousness and of course, the racism received from not just her new family, but from the press and by extension, the public.
My point is, did she not know what she was about to receive when joining this family? Or did she feel, the effect she had on Harry would filter through the rest of the family? Or more to the point, perhaps she felt her light-skinned complexion would obfuscate her African lineage, making her palatable to all those she came across. Here, we know how pedigree, class, and bloodlines in England, are paramount.
As written in an article by the black British journalist Afua Hirsh for the New York Times — Black Britons know why Meghan Markle wants out. If she had familiarised herself with some members of the black community, we could have saved her the trouble and told her not to bother herself. It also shows that during all of this, how the community is so invisible — I’m amazed that other than Afua, our opinions have not been sought!
And also, I do not recall a time, where it has been made so clear by the media that no matter how ‘white’ or ‘light’ a black person is in complexion, they still are and will always be perceived, as being ‘black’ as their darker mates.
