Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are “feeling” the tensions in the US “just like the rest of us” as anti-racism protests continue, according to reports.
Meghan spoke candidly to the graduating class of her former high school last week, in the wake of the death of George Floyd as protests were sparked across the US.
The 38-year-old shared her “absolute devastation” over the racial divides in the US and told them: “I’m so sorry you have to grow up in a world where this is still present.”
Harper’s Bazaar has now reported that the couple is having conversations with “community leaders” about what is going on in the country.
According to Omid Scobie, the couple’s biographer: “Harry and Meghan have been having private conversations with community leaders and people at every level, to ensure that they understand current events.
“This is something that is incredibly personal to Meghan, especially given everything she has experienced. And as a couple, it is, of course, very important. They are both feeling it, just like the rest of us.”
Meghan Markle is 'absolutely mortified' with best friend Jessica Mulroney's 'tone-deaf' threats to sue a black influencer and can 'no longer be associated with her', close friends of the Duchess of Sussex tell DailyMail.com exclusively.
'Meghan is absolutely mortified that she's been dragged into this complete mess. She said Jessica is in no way a racist, but the way she handled the situation (with the fashion influencer) was tone-deaf and heartbreaking,' a close friend of Meghan's said.
Mulroney has been fired from ABC's Good Morning America and had her reality TV show canceled after threatening to sue black influencer Sasha Exeter after the pair got into a row over racism on Instagram.
'Meghan said friends reflect friends and because of what's at stake she can no longer be associated with Jessica, at least not in public. She has to do what she has to do in order to preserve her dignity and her own reputation,' they added.
The scandal brings intense embarrassment to Meghan who devoted her brief time as a royal to promoting social good and is a life-long racial equality activist.
The source added that they 'wouldn't be surprised' if this marked the 'beginning of the end of their friendship'.
They also said that Meghan cannot publicly defend Mulroney in this case or help salvage her career.
'It's not like Meghan can just call up ABC and defend Jessica,' the source said. 'There was a reason Meghan waited to so long to make a statement. She wanted to get it right. She said she urged Jessica to do the same thing from the get-go.'
Meghan made note of why she waited to make her statement on racial ineqaulity in a virtual speech to the graduating class at her former high school.
Amid protests against police brutality and the murder of George Floyd, companies are reevaluating their brands, and institutions are questioning long-standing practices and traditions in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
The Rugby Football Union announced last week that, in light of recent events, it would review the controversial use of the slave spiritual “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” which is routinely sung by fans of the England rugby union team.
Prince Harry, who is a patron of the RFU and a lifelong supporter of the sport, backs the review, a spokesperson told HuffPost on Sunday.
“The Duke is supportive of the comments the RFU made this week regarding the review, and he will follow the lead of the RFU on this matter,” a spokesperson for the prince told HuffPost, referring to Harry by his title, the Duke of Sussex.
The RFU said in a statement: “The RFU has stated we need to do more to achieve diversity, and we are determined to accelerate change and grow awareness.”
The union added: “The Swing Low, Sweet Chariot song has long been part of the culture of rugby and is sung by many who have no awareness of its origins or sensitivities. We are reviewing its historical context and our role in educating fans to make informed decisions.”
“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” is a Black spiritual that was sung both on the Underground Railroad and at Black funerals, Josephine Wright, a professor of music history and literature and Africana studies at the College of Wooster, told The New York Times in 2017. It is “unfortunate” that rugby fans appropriated the song, she added.
“Such cross-cultural appropriations of U.S. slave songs betray a total lack of understanding of the historical context in which those songs were created by the American slave,” she said.
The use of the song by white rugby fans is “a slap in the face to the history of slavery,” Cornell William Brooks, a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and former CEO and president of the NAACP, told CNN.
“Can you imagine people whose lives, bodies and beings were being sold as commodities singing about freedom, their longing for freedom, their longing for a God to free them, and have those same songs being sung in celebration of a victory on a rugby field?” Brooks told CNN in 2017. “It’s just odd and historically insulting.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Friday that he “certainly didn’t think there should be any sort of prohibition” on singing the song.
“My curiosity is why don’t people seem to know the rest of it,” Johnson said last week during a visit to a school in Hertfordshire. “I’d love to hear the rest of it.”
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle joined a conversation with young leaders from the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust (QCT) in which they discussed racism and unconscious bias, and acknowledged a need to feel “uncomfortable” while past wrongs were righted.
Harry, 35, the Queen’s grandson, said: “When you look across the Commonwealth, there is no way that we can move forward unless we acknowledge the past, and – guess what – everybody benefits.”
The Commonwealth, a voluntary organisation involving 54 nations (the highest membership it has ever had), is understood to be the achievement the Queen is most proud of from her reign. She has visited every nation bar two, Cameroon and Rwanda, that joined more recently.
Harry and Meghan are president and vice president respectively of the QCT. The QCT says it does not represent the views of anyone in the Royal Family.
Why there’s debate Harry’s comments have drawn fierce criticism in parts of the UK press, with accusations he does not understand history or the origins of the organisation.
It forms part of an ongoing debate around racism and racial injustice around the world that has been sparked by the death of George Floyd in the US.
The debate includes calls for radical change to tackle structural and institutional racism, something Harry called “endemic” in another recent message.
Some institutions have acknowledged or been told they have a past that needs to be addressed, like the Church of England or the Home Office. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby apologised for slavery in February, and said the church should “repent and take action” in June.
A report into how the Home Office dealt with the Windrush scandal found there was a culture of carelessness, and “institutional thoughtlessness” in dealing with cases.
But Harry is accused of conflating the Commonwealth with the British Empire.
Many say the Commonwealth is a force for good and has done much to progress beyond Britain’s slave owner past.
However, others say the organisation is not truly voluntary as the countries involved would be at a disadvantage without it.
Days of Our Lives actress Melissa Reeves is apologizing after catching heat from her co-stars and the long-running soap’s fans for coming out against the Black Lives Matter movement.
Days of Our Lives has fired actress Melissa Reeves after the actress’ views on Black Lives Matter sparked a backlash among her co-stars and fans.
Earlier this week it was revealed that Reeves — who has played Jennifer Horton on the NBC sudser on and off for the past three decades — “liked” several anti-BLM posts from right-wing activist Candace Owens on Instagram.
Reeves’ Days co-star, Linsey Godfrey, wasted little time responding. After one Twitter user defended Reeves’ right to express her opinion, Godfrey countered, “Nah there is no difference of opinion on racism, homophobia, transphobia and xenophobia.”
When another fan noted that she found Reeves to be “completely lovely and non-judgmental” after encountering her at several Days fan events, Godfrey responded, “Yea but even the nicest people can have awful views. Plenty of nice people have awful moral compasses. I can’t associate w/ it because it makes me a hypocrite. I condemn all those hateful & harmful beliefs.”