Imagine. Even the Palace can’t keep a black woman safe from the perpetual disrespect of the ignorant. On Tuesday, October 1st 2019, Her Royal Highness, the Duchess of Sussex has filed a claim against Associated Newspapers over the misuse of private information, infringement of copyright and breach of the Data Protection Act 2018.
Meghan Markle has been subjected to some of the most blatant, relentless racism from the British Media since it became clear she was here to stay. To see this woman who has only ever conducted herself with grace (as far as I’ve seen) shown her intelligence and compassion (through the charity work and public speaking she’s done outside of her career) and being a bloody good actress (if you’re not addicted to Suits, I don’t know you) be dragged daily, hourly, by the British press for being black has been a wake up call to anyone who was still in the dark.
For a black woman to be treated this way publically, despite being married to the Prince of England shows that even when silent, we are not safe. Even when we try to look past it, they come harder. The second a word is muttered you are turned into an aggressor and it’s not only you who suffers. It’s the people around you who know who you are and what you stand for. Who see past your skin colour to the person inside and judges you on that alone.
Regardless of my personal feelings about the Royals and the part they play in English society, I have to be thankful that we have an interracial couple in the Palace. If they weren’t brave enough to take a stand and speak their truth, it would make it harder for others to. We need to see that courage, mostly from him; because a whole lot of the time, it’s the allies who are heard before the marginalised. They are the ones who will overhear what we won’t and can challenge in a way that we can’t and we need them to; because the time for being silent is over. Complacency is not satisfactory.
When we stick together and speak for each other, then We Fly.
