Why Are We (Still) Surprised When Racism Rears Its Ugly Head?
And what's REALLY behind the Meghan & Harry story?
Happy New Year Greetings!
I hope you and yours are well as I venture back from my Holiday Hiatus to stir things up in 2023.
Because racism never takes a holiday—or pause for even a nanosecond—we constantly have to be hyper-vigilant while striving to maintain a sense of balance and sanity.
And then we have to COPE—finding ways to process, deciding whether or how to react or respond, or merely trying to survive the onslaught of madness that can consume us if we’re not careful.
Who can blame us if we crave and seek ways to take a little break, if only to regroup, catch our breath, and gird our souls for the inevitable next attack?
But how do we consider what happens when some parents of Mixed children opt to raise their kids with a sense of racelessness? While this might seem like a progressive or utopian approach, it can leave the Mixed folks unprepared to understand and navigate systemic institutionalized racism when it inevitably smacks them upside the head.
Which brings me to the recent saga of Meghan and Harry Sussex.
In March 2022 Meghan and Prince Harry spilt major tea about racism in the Royal family in an exclusive interview with Queen Oprah herself. There were revelations about family comments during Meghan’s pregnancy about how melanated the baby might be, and other reminders that this bastion of past colonial power was not even pretending to be anything other than their white supremacist selves.
Back in 2020 when they deflected from that Royal life, the couple scored a production deal with Netflix worth a reported $100 million. Their first release, the limited series, “Harry and Meghan,” debuted in December and quickly zoomed to #1 on the streamer.
The series, which is very well made, provides important nuances and details about their journey from their perspectives, giving much-needed balance to the onslaught of tabloid propaganda about them over the years. I watched eagerly, taking notes in anticipation of my conversation with Sir Auntie Mane on the Militantly Mixed podcast.
This convo was especially valuable because Brit is part of Sir Auntie Mane’s mix, and she schooled me on several aspects of royal history and dynamics that flesh out this real-life saga and provide much-needed insights into the whole drama.
As we dove into our usual candid, no-holds-barred chit-chat, I wondered how Meghan could have waltzed into that love, marriage, and family not knowing just how racist they were going to be. Maybe it was love, and the blind idealism that a yummy romance can bring.
But I also thought about how Meghan’s lovely mother, Doria Ragland, a Black woman social worker, might have raised her Biracial babygirl with a sense of racelessness, the belief in people’s humanity over identity, and the notion that if we act, speak, and present the “right” way, we’ll be seen like everyone else.
DISCLAIMER: We recorded this episode before Prince Harry began his book promo tour, which adds even more spice and relevance to our chat…
Click PLAY below to check out the convo, and then let us know what YOU think!
XOXO,