For many in Britain, the very notion that the treatment of Meghan Markle in the media is rooted in racism is unfathomable. For some reason, (the reason being the privilege of being white in a white supremacist society) a large portion of the British public seem to have the impression that we live in a post-racism world. In this post-racism world, artists like Stormzy cannot state racism is “definitely 100%” prevalent without media in order to provoke public uproar and comments suggesting he “take a one-way flight to Accra”.
Outrage at statements like this stems from the misconception that racism is solely perpetrated through individual hate crimes however, the simple fact of the matter is that racism is a much more sinister beast.
The “hidden” form of racism Stormzy alluded to in his wildly misinterpreted interview is the fact that racism is primarily systematic and therefore it lives, breathes and thrives within societal institutions.
The discourse surrounding Meghan Markle on daytime television has served as a microcosm of race relations in Britain today. The never-ending cycle wherein people of colour step up to explain the facts of their lived experiences of racism and are maliciously undermined by the wilfully ignorant and beneficiaries of white privilege is indefensible.
For people of colour, this is our Groundhog Day. Only for the time loop to end, white Britain needs to come to terms with some uncomfortable truths regarding how many of their opinions regarding Meghan Markle are founded in unconscious racial bias.
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