Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Condemn Structural Racism, Celebrate the UK's Black History Month
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex celebrated the start of Black History Month in the UK with a passionate op-ed and interview with the Evening Standard. They also shared a list of "NextGen Trailblazers" they wished to highlight: "a group of notable leaders whose influence is making a positive and lasting impact on British culture," as the royal couple explained in their article.
"Some may question why this is needed, or why we think it is important. For us, it is about education and awareness," they wrote, adding, "For as long as structural racism exists, there will be generations of young people of color who do not start their lives with the same equality of opportunity as their white peers. And for as long as that continues, untapped potential will never get to be realized."
In a video interview with the Standard, the couple spoke about the Black Lives Matter protests in the U.S. and elsewhere, and Harry explained how his relationship with Meghan had helped him understand the gravity of the situation.
"I wasn’t aware of so many of the issues and so many of the problems within the UK and also globally as well," the Duke explained. "I thought I did but I didn’t... You know, when you go in to a shop with your children and you only see white dolls, do you even think: ‘That’s weird, there is not a black doll there?’"
He continued, "And I use that as just one example of where we as white people don’t always have the awareness of what it must be like for someone else of a different colored skin, of a black skin, to be in the same situation as we are where the world that we know has been created by white people for white people."
Asked about the Black Lives Matter protests, Meghan said that while they had been "inflammatory for a lot of people," there was something "beautiful" about the movement. “When there is just peaceful protest and when there is the intention of just wanting community and just wanting the recognition of equality, then that is a beautiful thing," she said. "While it has been challenging for a lot of people certainly having to make this reckoning of historical significance that has got people to the place that they are, that is uncomfortable for people. We recognize that. It is uncomfortable for us."
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