Skip to main content

Meghan Markle and Racism

It's a general rule that if you criticize Meghan Markle for any reason, someone will be along shortly to call you a racist. ("Jealous" is another common critique, but I won't deal with that here.)

It's ironic that so many WoC seem to be seeking validation from a woman is half-white, married into a white family, and seems to have only white past partners and white friends. (No, transparent publicity friendships like Serena, Priyanka and Amal do not count.) She even pledged a white sorority in college.


In addition, Meghan has altered what was once a clearly "black" nose and doesn't wear her hair natural. I see very little evidence of her having celebrated her African heritage in the past, although she wrote a few magazine articles about the experience of being biracial.


We also see very little of her Black family, except of course her Mom, who is always kept quiet so people can project their own idea of strength and dignity on her.


(Don't get me wrong - Doria looks great, and unlike Meghan she's always appropriately dressed for public appearances. But we know very little about her except for public information like her university degrees, business filings, bankruptcy proceedings and traffic tickets. She reportedly has a long-term partner we have never seen, and I don't blame the partner - who would want to get involved in this mess if they could avoid it?)




There are a few genuine racists who attack Meghan, and they are easy to spot by their "monkey" comments and other gross nonsense.


But the vast majority of people who dislike her are not necessarily racists.



I've said it before and I will probably say it again, but a white blonde Deal or no Deal Girl would have never gotten as far as she has.  The very people who adore Markle would have been tearing Debbie-the-Briefcase-Girl-From-Texas to pieces if she'd married Harry.

Markle's (half) ethnicity is an asset as far as her fan base is concerned, and it also makes it more difficult for the Royal Family to penalize her if she doesn't respect the family (see: announcing her pregnancy at Eugenie's wedding, or groping Harry's thigh on official engagements in Australia). 


It becomes a factor in every discussion, such as whether or not Harry and Meghan's children should have HRH designations. (What! You don't want to give the partly Black baby a title! What kind of sick racist are you? Never mind that Princess Anne's grandkids don't have titles, and Eugenie's presumably won't either.)


Bottom line, Meghan is a grifter, and she will use whatever she can to get what she wants. (It's already noticeable how many of her photo ops in the UK involve Black or Black Muslim women.) If being part-Black is useful to her, she'll use that, end of story.


But it doesn't make anyone who disagrees with her about anything a racist. 

Comments

harpers1niter said…
I just found you. Someone snipped one of your responses and posted it the FB group MMTCD. I know how I am spending the rest of my evening. You write incredibly well. I just had to say hi and I am fangirling heavily right now.

Off I go, thank you for your voice.
Now! said…
Thank you - I'm so glad you enjoy what I write!
Unknown said…
Extremely well said. I’ll probably spend much time now checking out your blog.

I’m a silent observer of the current SM wars regarding MM. Personally, I’m not a fan and it started under a biased opinion on my part based on the fact that she just doesn’t “look kind” to me. My feelings have blossomed based on how over-exposed she has become (people aren’t dumb and the ridiculous puff pieces come across as desperate).

The official page of the Royal Family states that the role of the Monarch, supported by her immediate family, is to “bring focus to national identity, unity and pride, give a sense of stability, recognize success and excellence and support the ideal of voluntary service”. I feel that the Monarchy has always successfully accomplished this and demonstrated that they are public servants to the country. However what PH and MM have been doing goes appears to me to go against every aspect of that defined role. They’ve made it into a red carpet, entertainment junk news puff piece second rate reality-esque show that is overshadowing the focus on amazing patronages.

Getting back on track though, What has disturbed me the most is how quickly people in SM throw out words like “race” and “bully” when they don’t agree with an opinion. It increases the hate and builds a much larger ��

Now! said…
I had lunch with a female friend who is Black the other day. She doesn't follow royalty gossip closely, but she reads the Black media, and her takeaway from what she'd read was "Now they're trying to make this Black woman out to be a bitch."

My response was, "Yeahhhhh....I think she might actually be a bitch." Three pieces of evidence support that: the lack of family and (real) friends at her wedding; the fact that the Royal Family doesn't seem to have embraced her in the way they've accepted Kate, Jack Brooksbank, Mike Tindall, and Autumn Phillips; and the multiple resignations of staff members.

My friend acknowledged my points, and said that what bothered her was that Meghan didn't seem to have any Black friends or past partners. "I grew up around White people and work with White people all day," she said, "but you can bet I keep my Black friends close."

At any rate, Meghan Markle to me doesn't seem to deserve the loyalty of the Black community - what has she done to earn it?
I found you through AJ Benza's podcast, Fame Is A Bitch. I'm soo glad to be here!!

Popular posts from this blog

Cliff Hanger

Deadlines for responses have passed.  Will they show?  Won't they show?   And, rumors of demands for money to cross hands to make appearances (new level of pay to play). Such drama.  You would think this was a soap opera where every episode ends with a crazy cliff hanger story plot to drive the next installment.  Sadly, I don't expect it to change any time soon either.  No.  For them, there appears to be way too much energy left in the will they, won't they to end it now even though everyone else is pretty much tired of it.  Hardly something one can point to and claim that they are trying to reconcile with those who feel distressed about what was printed. Just noticed something: remember that talk of trying to reach out and reconcile after the book, etc.?  It seems to have drifted away, hasn't it?  Hmm.  Interesting.  I wonder if that is recognized as a total lost cause or just delayed into the summer (or fall) campaign (c...

Here comes Trevor

If you're a Beatles fan, you'll know that in the fifty years since the group went its separate ways, almost everyone involved with them has sold his or her story. Only one major figure has not: Jane Asher , who was Paul McCartney's girlfriend for five years during the heyday of the group, and accompanied him on the famous trip to India in 1968. An actress, Jane went on to become a TV personality and famous cake-baker. She has never spoken about her time with McCartney and dislikes being asked. Until recently, the Sussex saga had included a similar figure: Trevor Engelson, Meghan Markle's ex-husband.  Trevor has never spoken about Meg. But he has done well for himself: he married a wealthy woman , continues to work as a producer , and seems to have a loyal (and multi-racial!) circle of friends , unlike some people we know.  He appeared to have excused himself from the whole soggy mess.  Until yesterday, when he was papped. Driving his black Porsch...

Adventures in Starting a Business

I admit, I made a mistake.  I thought it was a vision board, not a mood board at first.  On some levels being a mood board and not a business plan may actually show more window dressing and even less planning and thought for the business. The photo(s) of the board drew a lot of criticism of too forced looking to be real and similar.  And that is true.  It is, I suspect, that influencer look influencing how the just so perfectly curated look that influencers spend a lot of time and effort - to look effortlessly.  Most small business offices I have been in never looked curated.  Messy was more like it.  I have worked in offices with positive, uplifting posters (which no one really talked about - they filled blank wall space). But in the real world of business, there is nothing technically wrong with nice positive affirmations.  We can all use some positive pep talk.  But it isn't a business plan.     Yeah, making positive stateme...