To count as racist, does there really have to be intent?
In light of Harry and Meghan saying that questions over the skin colour of their unborn son, Archie, were racist, I was relieved to read Heather and Richard’s letters about the normality of talking about their unborn children from mixed-race marriages (Metro, Wed).
I married a southern Italian who has brown skin and eyes and black hair, whereas I’m fair-skinned, red-haired and green-eyed. During the pregnancy we often discussed what our baby would look like. It’s completely natural. We also talked about it with our relatives, all of us being curious.
Racism is a matter of intention. If you intend to insult someone racially, what you say will be insulting and racist.
Richard asked what all the fuss is about. It’s about the fact we’ve become obsessed with racism.
I was appalled at all the people who came out of the woodwork to shout ‘racist’ without knowing the intention of the unknown royal’s remarks. These people are jumping on the bandwagon. Please, let’s stop it.
Peter, Bradford-on-Avon
Heather and Richard asked why one wouldn’t naturally wonder and ask about a baby’s sex, skin tone/colour, eyes, hair type, character etc.
If a person approached Harry alone, citing ‘concerns and conversations’ – as Meghan put it – about the possible colour of the baby’s skin, it takes on a completely different emphasis.
S Gill, Warrington
Unknown to me, I’ve become a racist as I question why no proof whatsoever was given in a one-sided interview. See what I mean? How dare me!
Ian, Glasgow
I was no fan of Piers Morgan, who has left Good Morning Britain after saying he didn’t believe anything Meghan said (Metro, Thu). In fact, I was quite the opposite of a fan. But that was until Monday morning, when he called out that charade of an interview hosted by friend of the Sussexes Oprah Winfrey.
Anyone hoodwinked by that stagemanaged and inaccurate farrago needs their brain tested, as Harry clearly does too.
As for his wife, she knows precisely what’s she’s doing and it’s a tragedy that another American divorcee has been allowed to rock the British monarchy to its foundations. The crown is greater than the two of them.
Robert Sandall, London
I feel Meghan’s account of a lack of support from the palace that left her suicidal was 100 per cent genuine.
Having been in a job for a couple of years where I was also bullied, isolated, ignored and not supported at all by the HR department, even after being signed
off for a couple of months for stress and making a formal complaint, I totally recognised every emotion coming through from her.
If you haven’t experienced it, Piers, then you don’t know.
Nicola, via email
Well said, Piers. Meghan did spout ‘utter bilge’. What kind of person must she be to do this interview during a pandemic when people are really suffering? Princess Diana must be turning in her grave.
Meghan has fallen out with her own family and now with Harry’s family, thus isolating him in her self-serving, celebrity world.
Funny that a woman accusing others of racism has chosen to live in a place where there’s a huge racial divide and police officers shoot black people.
But, of course, what Meghan wants Meghan gets. Harry may be a victim of coercive control.
Lilly Smurthwaite, Twickenham
How on earth will we cope without Piers Morgan’s towering intellect and exquisite judgment?
The man who was for many years a close friend of that ultimate confidence trickster, Donald Trump, will indeed be sorely missed.
Mike, West Sussex
Nice to see Piers Morgan’s true colours. As soon as something gets a bit tricky, he does a runner. He should be easy to spot, though: he’s the one with the big yellow streak down his back.
Ian, London
If you’re a member of the royal family and say you want your independence so you can go off and do your own thing, then you can’t complain if your royal allowance stops. Isn’t that part of being independent?
Sylvia, Chatham