Everyone’s been recently buzzing about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s recent interview with Opera. The details behind the royal family’s treatment towards Meghan Markle came as a shock to most. In the New York Times article, What We Learned From Meghan and Harry’s Interview, they shed light on many issues regarding race within the royal family. The New York Times claims that after Meghan and Harry had their firstborn, Archie, the royal family stated that the child wouldn’t be given a title or security. It is most likely assumed to be because of the child’s skin tone since before Archie was born, there were talks about how “dark” the baby would come out. The racist comments were not the only thing pushing the couple away from the U.K. The couple claimed that false narratives were being spread about Meghan saying that she had “diva-like behavior,” bullied her staff, and argued with her sister-in-law, Kate. The royal family also apparently cut off Harry financially after bringing Meghan into the picture. All of the hate towards Meghan from the royal family obviously derives from the institutional racism that takes place in most western countries to this day. The royal family’s actions toward Meghan make it seem like they want the monarchy to stay “white,” and anyone other is not welcome. Their interview also demonstrates that racism still exists today in a family that the whole world looks up to.
It seems like nothing much has changed from the 1890s when Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness takes place. In this novel, a significant theme is colonization. Marlow, a European sailor, goes on the Congo River with a Belgian Company to trade. In all of the spots he and the Company stop at, they witness native inhabitants being poorly mistreated by the people working at the Company stations. He notices how the western employees basically enslave the inhabitants. The ultimate reasoning behind this is because anyone who was seen as “other” to the white colonizers did not deserve to be treated equally. The native inhabitants were colonized in their own land and became slaves to the racist ideologies embedded within the white colonizers. The theme of racism and colonization is seen throughout the entire novel and characterizes the infamous Kurtz. Kurtz is seen to be a reputable man that everyone looks up to based on his accomplishments of colonization. After seeing the horrors done to the natives, Marlow recognizes that Kurtz is not as great as everyone thinks and instead is the mastermind behind the horrors done to the natives.
Meghan Markle’s interview shows that racism and othering still exist in 2021, and there is still a lot of work that needs to be done more than 100 years later. Like the native inhabitants in The Heart of Darkness, Meghan Markle was “othered” by the royal family’s racist attitudes and mistreated because of her skin color. She had every right to be treated equally to Kate, just as the natives had every right to be treated like humans in their own land. The royal family also reminds me of Kurtz and how most people are blinded by power and do not realize that these influential figures are perpetuating systematic racism. It is crazy that in today’s day in age, we still witness racism in some of the systems and people we look up to the most. Without the interview, many would not know the real reasoning behind why Meghan and Harry left the royal family. It makes you wonder what really happens behind closed doors in other families, institutions, and power structures in society even today.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/08/world/europe/recap-of-harry-meghan-oprah-interview.html
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