(Warning: as you can probably tell from the title, this blogpost discusses racism throughout)
I don't give a damn, one way or t'other, about the Royal family.
I mean that. I don't wish them any harm, but if they all abdicated tomorrow that would be fine by me.
As a good little Welsh girl, I both reject monarchy from a Socialist standpoint, and because I still don't forgive them for the conquest of my country, and the slaughter of our own Royals.
(...I know it was centuries ago - Welsh people can hold a grudge, ok? And the oppression by the English never really let up)
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| Mark Jones/Wikimedia Commons |
They can do what they like as far as I'm concerned - be royal, don't be royal, work at Tesco's, have your own business, whatever!
...so long as they don't cost us any more than they do now, I really don't care.
Good luck to 'em, even. They need to do what they can to be happy. And it looks like Harry and Meghan are gonna do just that.
The UK press sucks, though.
Because even the ones that aren't overtly racist (The Daily Mail is, imho, racist from first to last,) are saying that the treatment of Meghan by the press was somehow nothing to do with her being Black.
Let's be clear: there were racist (and misogynistic/misogynoiristic) elements to the press coverage of Meghan. From the moment their relationship was reported on.
You can read a full explanation by Maya Goodfellow at Vox, here.
A lot of it is the hard-to-prove stuff. Double-standards. Sly comments which can be smoke-screened as legitimate criticism or as completely innocent reporting.
You know the girls in school who are like:
'Oh I love your shoes'
...and their tone tells you that they mean the exact opposite, but if you report them to a teacher they'd be like:
'God, she can't even take a compliment!'
...like you're the unreasonable one?
That's basically what the UK press is like with Meghan right now.
...Only in a racist way.
You can see some of the double-standards in this Buzzfeed article by Ellie Hall, which shows the different framing of articles about Kate vs articles about Meghan
So, yeah, this whole thing is bugging me - because the press is being racist af.
And it's not OK.
And however much I'm indifferent to the Royals as individuals, racism is not something I can, or should, stay quiet about.
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| Via Giphy ...Like, sorry-not-sorry Daily Mail, no matter how many times you tear her down, that's a princess! |
Because People of Colour (PoC)/Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people shouldn't have to put up with this sh**.
And they certainly shouldn't have to be the ones to explain to the (White) British public that yes, we do still have a problem with racism.
No, it's not perhaps as extreme or overt as a lot of the racism in other countries.
That doesn't mean it's not there.
That doesn't mean it's ok.
And White Privilege (a term that's come to the fore and been criticised during the media storm around this, and following Dr. Shola Mos-Shogbamimu's interview with Phillip Schofield) doesn't mean that everyone who is White is rich and/or has led a comfortable, struggle-free, life.
What it means is simply that we are not at a societal disadvantage because of the colour of our skin.
It also means, therefore, that we enjoy the benefits of being 'the default' in a racist system - of not having to face discrimination, and benefitting from opportunities that PoC/BAME people are denied.
This is the ultra-simplified version. You can find out more with this article by Cory Collins at Teaching Tolerance.
So, I don't blame Meghan and Harry for wanting to get away from - and raise their son away from - all that.
And I think that the press is getting defensive. As we White people sadly tend to do.
I also think that some sections of the press (such as The Daily Fail) are also lamenting the potential loss of an easy (and, to them, enjoyable,) target.
This may be the last shot they get at Meghan (who is the target here, rather than Harry,) so they're gonna throw the whole arsenal at her. And shame on those racist b*****ds.
What do you think of this whole thing?
Is the press being unfair? Are they even aware of their own coverage?
Do White people need to speak up more?
(Any racist comments and/or hate comments will be deleted.)
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I totally agree. I have been a Megan Markle fan long before she became a royal. She was a brilliant actress and did so much for charity. I was excited to see her in the public eye more and thought that the UK would love her. Boy was I wrong.
ReplyDeleteI think what pisses me off the most is that Harry’s own family NEVER defended them. I don’t care about protocol. His own brother never even batted and eyelash. And I think this very much ties into White privilege. William should have stood up.
I’m am so happy that they are getting out of that, and I know they will do great things outside of the horrible system they were in.
To be fair, they've broken more protocol than the Royals tend to, but I agree that standing up for them more a long time before this would've been better.
DeleteAnd it's *bound* to cause tension between Harry and William when the papers were *constantly* comparing Kate and Meghan, and (surprise, surprise) finding in favour of Kate. Even if that's not Kate & William's fault (cos, I mean, they didn't write it,) it's gonna put a strain on things!
To be fair, Harry has stood with her since before they were married on this - he put out an official statement explicitly telling the press to back off with the racism back when they were dating. I think, after it became clear that this sort of stuff was gonna start to affect Archie, and Meghan had (rightly) had enough, they figured it was time to cut their losses - and good on them.
Definitely! I am very excited for their future. I hope Megan brings back her blog and old social media accounts. I think the Royal life was just way too restrictive.
DeleteI think they'll probably keep a low profile, for a while at least, and then maybe they'll start picking things back up again
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