Harry and Meghan -- Why I dislike them BOTH

[PipinwasAuntieMabelsdog]

I keep seeing threads that say everyone who dislikes the Sussexs is based on some form of racism and I wanted to put my view across. I will set the parameters of my points:

1. Meghan absolutely did receive racist coverage from sections of the British media.

1. I believe that there were threats to their safety by far right loons.
2. I believe they were both unhappy as working members of the RF

However...

I still find them both very disingenuous. They highlight and speak up against the racism of others, whilst failing to address Harry's previous and documented racist behaviour. As a Jew I cannot understand how Meghan can just remain silent about her husbands former mistakes. This makes her seem untrustworthy to me and seems like she will put up with anything for money and cache, whilst arguing (rightly) that racism is totally unacceptable. He keeps saying others need to learn and he is right, but he should acknowledge that he too needed to learn, acknowledge the support needed to help others learn and offer that support to others (including his own family, if needed).

Their attitude towards the public also seems 'off' and ungrateful to me and they seem to collocate the press and the public as the same thing. There is a lot of footage of the public support for them before, during and after their wedding. Yet, apparently, they did not want the big public wedding and the 'UK' was racist towards them. Harry particularly understands the 'deal' between the monarchy and the public and ought to have explained this to Meghan, the comments re the wedding on Oprah came across as quite spiteful and tone deaf. Almost like, 'we suffered through the big wedding for the plebs.' Ditto all the strange behaviour around Archie's birth. They could have followed the Tindall's approach if they wanted to avoid press intrusion.

During financial pressures around the world they are still complaining and not acknowledging their wealth and privilege, whilst claiming to give voice to the needs of those living in poverty and suffering. The Africa interview was a prime example for both of them. It just all comes together to make them feel untrustworthy to me, and makes me dislike them. I do not wish them any ill, but I wish they would acknowledge their fortune and live private, useful lives.

Goodness me.

Is she a human or a chameleon??

PS, no one "plays an ethnicity". Actors play people, not ethnicities.

I'm only going by what was reported at the time @MrsMaxDeWinter and apologies for my terminology - her CV listed that she could play people of various ethnicities, given how she looks.

No problem at all. That's a much better way of putting it and thanks for the kind engagement. I agree that Meghan looked racially ambiguous to many people, but it does not mean that she did not know who she herself was as the biracial child of a white father and a black mother.

She wrote really well about it for Elle, if you are interested in her own experience in her own words. I've attached the link.

https://www.elle.com/uk/life-and-culture/news/a26855/more-than-an-other/

Interesting article and great pic of her. I just love that she embraces her freckles. One of my DDs has far more than Meghan, she loves them too!

Meghan referred to herself as a ‘chameleon’ in that article, and to the ‘ethnicities’ she could play

Perhaps you should have a word with her too @MrsMaxDeWinter

Her story about not having a box for her always resonated with me. In NZ way back when I went to school we could only tick one ethnicity box, and when I had to do it I refused because in my head I thought it would be a lie. The principal ticked Maori for me in the end because they got an extra $60 for me in school funds- I think a treaty issue, we take everything you have and pay you back with scraps like $60 a year for your school 🤷🏽‍♀️ It is really interesting people can’t believe there are some out there who don’t see her as black or biracial. Because I’ve come across that all my life, I’ve had people say to me ‘your mum is black’ ( Maori are brown not black ) and I’ve had people say she ‘kinda passes’. So it’s unsurprising to me but I guess if you haven’t been around it then it may come as a surprise. I’ve always felt that people would prefer if they could just put me in one neat box. In Australia they used to refer to mixed race aboriginal people as ‘abominations’.

I have sent her a message!

Really.

In the UK, studies that tested for racial discrimination in recruitment processes have shown that “people from ethnic minorities were less likely to be successful with their applications, even discounting differences such as age and education”. While this relates only to the early, pre-interview stage of the recruitment process, researchers had to send out 74% more applications for minority-ethnic candidates compared with white candidates.

You will notice that the number is not 100% - there will always be people from underrepresented communities (women, POC, people living with disability and LGBT people - and people with combinations of all of those) who will be able to do well. The issue here is that playing field is not even (statistically accounting for mediocrity as you put it).

Oh nevermind I’ve seen the subsequent dissembling

I look ethnically ambiguous myself and though it may sound strange, she is being honest with the chameleon comments as my colourings also change depending on the weather to the extent that I may look 'more this' or 'less that' in Summer or Winter.
I think that it is a huge advantage as people are fascinated by ethnically ambiguous faces. I have been intensely stared at and speculated upon my entire life. very few people have managed to work it out. It has been my fortune.

It is also hard for racist people to make targeted comments because they are even less likely to be able to work it out. Therefore, I would say that I have never experienced racism when out and about because the occasional 'forriner' comments are too general to hurt and I could not be more British if I tried.
I even wonder whether the fascination generated by Andrew and Tristan Tate is due in part to people being mesmerised by their ethnically ambiguity appearance enough to be drawn to their content.

The audition of actors for specific parts are one of the few areas equal opportunities law doesn't apply to. Acting is about fitting into a specific role and ethnic specificity is allowed. So directors can ask for an Hispanic hot girl, or a ditsy blonde teenager. So actors play a part, to a person.

I’m also ambiguous, I’m actually Mediterannean but I have often been asked if I am Middle Eastern.

meghan also used a lot of fake tan, here is her without it.

Yes, she is quite heavy with the bronzer, but I think living in a warmer climate, she's probably got more of a tan.

Yes, DD's skin colour changes a lot over the course of the seasons/where we are living or holidaying. It is paler now we live in the UK, which annoys her!

I am paper white in cold climates and dark olive six months later in the sun without any fake tanning or bronzer. Peoples assumptions about my ethnicity can change quite dramatically. Even though my skin usually (but no always!) comes out the same as white people on an IPL machine, it has a warm undertone which you would not find in Northern European skin.
My son is matt white all year round but my friends say that the only giveaway that he is not Northern European is that his eyes are almond shaped and brown whereas a white child would not have quite the same combination. It is extremely subtle and the untrained eye would miss it completely and categorize him as white British without even thinking about it.
Anyway, it is nice to be able to discuss multiracial colourings in an accusation-free conversation 😄

Discussing multiracial skin tones by people of colour relaying experience is quite different from the comment that started this earlier:
Look, Meghan Markle herself says she never was treated "like a black woman" (can you believe it?!) until she got to the UK. Let me tell you as someone who lives in the US, that's a very bold statement for an American biracial woman to make publicly. Very. It's an own-goal, it's unintelligent, it's insulting, it's divisive, it's messed up - I could go on.

Where the above poster accused Meghan of being unintelligent.

Anyone who is mixed race or biracial knows the difference between the kind of conversation we are having about it, and the kind of comments I copied above or the kind I have received growing up or the weird offensive comments my husband got before our first was born.

@Bambooflowers posting that pic reveals quite a lot about you. People of colour can get darker naturally through the seasons. Like lots of people.

@Whaeanui you don’t need to turn everything into a fight and attack people. We can have a discussion without animosity, and yes I myself am ambiguous and like many my skin colour changes, we all are aware of this phenonemen.

Oh please, don’t pretend you weren’t insinuating she is naturally light and uses fake tan when you literally said it and used the worst photo you could find.

But she is naturally light at times if the year and she does use spray tan, she even discussed it in an interview for goodness sake. I don’t understand what’s wrong with the photo or why you’re so upset.

POC don't generally darken their skin. Unfortunately, colourism is still rife (despite what some may claim). and lighter skin is seen as more desirable in many ethic groups and has been for centuries. I see it in my area where a lot of parents are poc. Many of the mums (but none of the dads) use skin whitening products. and when they are out as a family it can be really obvious. I don't have an ethnic community as such but my friends who do have talked about the bullying that happens in families when one of the daughters comes out darker than their siblings.

I think thats incredibly sad, but I think lighter skinned children of POC living in a predominently white society face less discrimination and are seen as more acceptable, at a superficial level, than darker skinned kids. At DSs little school there are only a handful of kids of different ethnicities, and within the primary sector seem to be more accepted. DS was walking with a (the only) black kid in his school and had a conversation regarding recognising this boy out and about. I froze expecting DS to say, I recognised you because you are black, but he actually said I knew it was you because of your silver coat.

He clearly is 'colour blind' at the moment and I'm sure that he'll notice differences at some point because we all recognise difference. This kid will be bullied at some point I'm sure, but kids are bullied for ginger hair, short stature, non designer clothes etc. However, I think the racist aspect is far worse because of all the hidden issues, but from a ginger and a black child's perspective, bullying is just as painful.

Brave @purpledalmation , you know you are going to get swarmed any second!

Yep. Don't give a shit 😂

🤣 @purpledalmation, your a braver woman than me!! 👌

@jeffgoldblum - nobody is going to waste their time with @purpledalmation - green / orange - whatever they are today.
If she believes that a child being bullied for the colour of hair is the same as being bullied for the colour of skin - good for her!
It just reinforces what we know is that many white people will just never get it and that's fine.