Meghan’s experience shows glacial pace of ‘progress’ on racism

THE Royal family is an antiquated and outmoded institution that I care not for.

However, I’ve been paying attention to the Meghan/Harry fiasco, not least because of the racially hostile treatment meted out to Meghan by the UK press.

This was alluded to by a cross party letter signed by 72 female MPs in 2019, which amongst other things, referred to the press coverage as containing “outdated colonial undertones”.

In private (and anonymously on social media) many in the UK echo the sentiments of the former UKIP leader Henry Bolton’s then-girlfriend Jo Marney, whose racist text tirade published in 2018 included how Meghan would “taint” the royal family with “her seed” etc.

In public, such people are not so forthright, instead speaking and writing more euphemistically.

For example, Boris Johnson’s sister Rachel wrote in the Mail on Sunday in 2016, how Meghan would “thicken their (Royal family) blood with some rich and exotic DNA”, for which she later apologised.

Watching the TV interview, the couple spoke of their concerns when they said a senior member of the Royal family voiced disquiet wondering how dark the skin of their first child might be.

They also stated that racism was a major contributor to their decision to, in effect, flee the country.

Listening to Harry, like most white people, he was oblivious to what we as black people have had to bear for all our lives.

I thought to myself, welcome to our world. With no sincere plans to address racism from the current government and with a Labour leader who often acts and sounds more like a Tory on the subject, black people can look forward to the perpetuation of glacial pace ‘progress.’

And people wonder why the BLM protesters were angry.

Vinny Tomlinson