Dear White People Meghan Markle Haters- We Are Not the Same
First off, I am not a hater. I was a huge fan at first and I wish her the very best, but after remarks on her podcast and documentary that confirms anti-Black sentiments, I am taking off my cape. I still have compassion for her- she does not deserve what happened.
Moreover…I will never cosign with a white person’s negative opinion of her because it’s rarely objective and nuanced. But also…I have no idea what they have to be upset about. I’m Black and annoyed that she is misrepresenting Blackness and have Black women- whom she doesn’t claim- in a chokehold. Tf is y’all mad at?
Here are some of y’all’s top 3 weak points that completely miss mine:
“She is only Black when it suits her.”
-This is false because she never has and never will claim to be Black at all. She will say she’s a “woman of color”, “mixed” and that her mom is Black. But she will never say that she is Black (which is fair because she’s not). Furthermore, she frames her blackness as an inconvenience. Being Black does not suit her.
“Does she even HAVE real friends?”
-Yes of course she does- but they are all white. And I’m not talking about other POC- her friends are just HWHITE. Which happens when you’re a Black kid in middle America. But as an adult in LA- to not at least have Asian or Mexican friends is pretty difficult. Like you kinda have to go out of your way to maintain a homogenous circle. Her Black friends are all newly-acquired celebrities and they are NOT in her inner circle.
“She is a master manipulator”
-this is in the realm of Pierce Morgan talking points so just save that foolishness
Now that we’ve gotten these out of the way, I kindly ask you to stop this- because you are taking away the nuance in this discussion.
The fact is that she talks like she was “found out” to be Black. She framed it as if the emphasis of her Blackness was an unfortunate incident that happened to her. Why? Because she was passing. And passing is an act, and a series of choices that you make in order to appear white. We will never see her in anything other than straight hair. She clearly had work done to her nose. And for those two things, I can forgive. For having only white partners, I can forgive. For only having white friends as a child…all that I can forgive. For acting like Black is synonymous with victimization and struggle? Not cool. Not cool at all.
For acting like a global feminist and doing nothing at all for African Americans- yikes. And I’m not one of those “you gotta give back to the hood” people. But Harry is all about the veterans, PTSD and mental health. It’s a part of his identity where he is trying to make an impact for others. What would it look like if Meghan took a page from her husband’s book?
Her Black friends are newly acquired and wealthy. But her inner circle is white. That being said, a lot of hateful white people like to say that she’s planned to move back to CA the entire time. But I believe that she wanted to be a European princess through and through. That’s why it kills me when she whined on her podcast, the documentary and the Elle article about “why should I have to choose [my race]?” When what she actually meant was “why should I have to be Black?”
I myself am admittedly an Anglophile and I actually know quite a bit about British Royal history but Meghan shed light on that “what if” for so many of us, that (while the history is still fascinating), it’s no longer appealing. So thanks for that, Meghan. Why tf would she want to go back to California when she could have been even further from African Americanness for the rest of her life?
