Harry and Meghan say Commonwealth ‘must acknowledge the past’
London: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have said the Commonwealth “must acknowledge the past” even if it is “uncomfortable”, as the couple spoke of historical injustice, unconscious bias and racism in light of the Black Lives Matter movement.
On the Commonwealth
They said the Commonwealth, which grew out of the British empire and is headed by Prince Harry’s grandmother the Queen, needed to follow the example of others, and they accepted it would not be easy.
Their comments came in a video-link discussion on justice and equal rights with young leaders from the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust (QCT), of which Prince Harry and Meghan are president and vice-president respectively. The QCT has said it has started a conversation about how the Commonwealth’s past – “of colonialism, of the subjugation of peoples and the ongoing legacy of such historic injustice – can and should shape the identity of the organisation, how it develops its offer and how it works in the future”. During a debate on historical injustices such as the slave trade, Prince Harry, speaking from the couple’s Los Angeles home, said: “When you look across the Commonwealth, there is no way that we can move forward unless we acknowledge the past.
“So many people have done such an incredible job of acknowledging the past and trying to right those wrongs, but I think we all acknowledge there is so much more still to do. It’s not going to be easy and in some cases it’s not going to be comfortable but it needs to be done, because guess what, everybody benefits.”
Meghan added: “We’re going to have to be a little uncomfortable right now, because it’s only in pushing through that discomfort that we get to the other side of this and find the place where a high tide raises all ships. Equality does not put anyone on the back foot, it puts us all on the same footing – which is a fundamental human right.”
Prince Harry said the young leaders inspired “optimism and hope … because there is no turning back now, everything is coming to a head. Solutions exist and change is happening far quicker than it ever has done before.”