To mark the commencement of Black History Month in the United Kingdom on Thursday, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, spoke extensively with the Evening Standard on the need for Britain to end structural racism to prevent the minority youth from being relegated to the background.
Among other things, the couple also announced their Black History Month NextGen Trailblazers and touched on the impact of the ongoing global Black Lives Matter protests against racial discrimination and systemic racism – which they’ve expressed support. According to Markle, the ongoing protests and calls for swift reform have been “inflammatory for a lot of people”.
“But 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 recognise that. It is uncomfortable for us.”
Prince Harry also admitted that being with his wife, who is biracial, enlightened him further on the extent to which the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) groups were being marginalized and denied opportunities.
“Because I wasn’t aware of so many of the issues and so many of the problems within the UK and also globally as well. I thought I did but I didn’t,” he revealed.
“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?’ 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 coloured 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.”
He continued: “It is not about pointing the finger, it is not about blame. I will be the first person to say, again, this is about learning. And about how we can make it better. I think it is a really exciting time in British culture and British history, and in world culture. This is a real moment that we should be grasping and actually celebrating. Because no one else has managed to do this before us.”
The couple are currently residing in the United States with their son, Archie, after quitting the royal family early this year. Markle told the Evening Standard they’ve settled quite well and are enjoying life with baby Archie.
“We are doing well. [Archie] is so good,” she said. “We are very lucky with our little one. He is just so busy, he is all over the place. He keeps us on our toes. We are just so lucky.”
