Did you all watch the Megan Markle and Prince Harry interview with Oprah? I’m curious to hear what your thoughts were about it. Tell me in the comments section. I’ll share my two main thoughts.
Whenever you bring up racism against Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), someone whatabouts the conversation with “whatabout poor white people.” They then use this as a derailing point to try and explain that it’s really about “class, not race” (i.e. all poor people are oppressed by their poverty and it isn’t necessary to distinguish it by race)
I thought about this “class, not race” argument when I was watching clips of Megan Markle speaking. When I first saw her on Suits, I thought she was a white woman. Seriously. I was surprised to learn she was biracial. (This is a rare occurrence since I can normally understand when people are part Black from a lifetime of being within the Black community and dealing with all kinds of Black folks). This woman — who could pass for white, who has both fame and money from her acting career and marriage, still dealt with racism. She couldn’t buy her way out of it. Her “class” as it were couldn’t raise her above her Blackness (however scant it may appear). The same goes for the racism that Oprah experiences and Lebron James and every Black celebrity that folks invoke to explain that “racism isn’t a structural problem.” Serena Williams and Beyonce both experienced potentially fatal childbirths, as do a large number of Black women (regardless of education, wealth, or fame). Race is classed. And Class is raced. Black people can’t buy their way out of racism (though people definitely try).
There’s a part in the interview where Megan Markle invokes her “diversity” as an asset that could have helped the monarchy. She didn’t put it in these terms, but it makes me think of all the diversity and inclusions statements from last summer about making “ ______(fill in the place) Anti-racist.” Like, the monarchy is built on bloody imperialism and racism. That’s literally how it came into existence. Remember the whole “the sun doesn’t set on the British empire”? or the whole dividing up Africa in the Berlin conference? Or you, know, the commonwealth countries who were brutally colonized??
You can’t add a few Black faces to the monarchy and change the overarching structure/meaning of the thing. I would argue there are quite a few other corporations, institutions that can not become anti-racist (I’m looking at you Policing). Seriously, it’s the musical Hamilton all over again. It’s what if Black and brown people got to be slave owners who rapped and sang cool songs?? instead of “what if nobody was ever a slave owner?” Can you imagine the world we could create if we stopped trying to add our faces to institutions built off of our oppression?
Anyways, I hope Megan Markle and her husband find peace and a life away from that traumatic racism.
Tell me what stuck out to you in the Interview
I watched it in parts over a 3-days period. I wasn't too "shocked" by anything that was said, but more that they shared as much detail as they did. While they didn't bring all the receipts that they could, I was intrigued by a comment from Henry as Oprah began to press him.
"I've spent many years doing the work. And doing my own learning".
This individual "come to Jesus" moment revealed a level of awareness that MUST happen before any of these systems we know exist actually change.
Also, your comments about race and class were interesting as well. It's not an either/or relationship. Both are intertwined and can be used in an oppressive, biased or discriminatory way, because, as we know, it all comes back to who has the power within the system (or people with the power in the system). We see it with lower, middle, and upper class Blacks, and other demographics as well.
Your closing question "Can you imagine the world we could create if we stopped trying to add our faces to institutions built off of our oppression?", I have to think about that one. It feels like a chicken vs. egg scenario. Theoretically, I get it I think. A global "reset"? Practically, it would be an effort that required the current institutions torn down and rebuilt in a new image. Is that a realistic goal?
When Megan made the comment about concerns over their baby’s skin color, I was shocked! (As did seem Oprah.)
But then I had to stop and check my privilege and realize that this is NOT shocking. If anything, it’s expected. As you stated in your post, racism and imperialism is the foundation of the monarchy. It still is. I appreciate that Megan was attempting to use her position to try and raise awareness of the large number of BIPOC found throughout the commonwealth. But if anything, this probably caused her to be seen as MORE of a problem to the monarchy. Because that provides space for BIPOC to identify WITH the monarchy. I’m not sure the monarchy wants BIPOC identifying with them in any way. I think such identification interferes with their (white) supremacy.