The form of racism that is widely held around the world is this: black men and women hanging from trees with a noose around their neck, police brutality, and the denial of basic human and political rights within the United States. While it is important to show the world that these actions are racist, if we only focus on these aspects, this specific form will then be thought of as the only form of racism around the world. As a result, microaggressions and colorist beliefs are not taken as seriously as they should be because that is not what the world believes racism looks like. And Great Britain is guilty of this in how they discuss the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle.
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For many people of color, the British Royal Family is a symbol of colonization and racism; it is one of the whitest and most patriarchal spaces a woman of color will ever enter, and the British Media will never let the world forget this fact. It looks like Britain is not the racial utopia they often preach to British citizens. The degree of racial dog whistling that the British media has done for the past two years concerning the Duchess of Sussex is akin to the dog whistles of the white American Media. The Daily Mail publicized one of its stories with a tweet reading “From slaves to royalty, Meghan Markle’s upwardly mobile family.” And in 2016, the newspaper again suggested that Markle was “(almost) straight outta Compton” despite the fact that Markle studied in private schools and her father is an Emmy winning lighting director. Journalist Rachel Johnson, the sister of British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, once wrote in The Mail on the Sunday newspaper that Markle could help bring “rich and exotic DNA” to the royal family. This was a racist narrative against Markle BEFORE she was married. Henry Bolton is the UKIP party leader, and his girlfriend was exposed sending racist texts to her friends stating that “This is Britain, not Africa.”Image source: Pexels
One would think that this woman would have severe ramifications; instead News Outlets, such as Good Morning Britain, gave this woman a platform to explain why she is not a racist. Most of these events happened before Meghan Markle was married. Now with a new royal baby on the way, Meghan Markle is being accused of faking her own pregnancy similar to the conspiracy of when Beyoncé was accused of faking her pregnancy with Blue Ivy. How strange that only women of color who are in positions of power are the only ones bearing these insane exaggerations? Meghan Markle needs to be protected, because, in such a white and patriarchal space that she now lives in, no one will.