Racism is…not that complicated.
I feel like every year this conversation of interracial relationships comes up. One thing that sparked this debate particularly was the interview Megan Markle and Prince Harry did with Oprah a few days ago. They aired out all of their dirty laundry and explained why they had to leave the British monarchy.
To summarize their answer on why they left in two words — it’s racist.
It’s not a shocker, but this ties into my main point: If you’re going to be in an interracial relationship, you need a backup plan.
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The British Monarchy has done some disgusting yet unsurprising stuff to Meghan and Harry.
Let me backtrack for a bit and go a bit deeper into the meat of the interview to put everything in context.
Here are the “shocking” revelations that were displayed in that interview:
- Harry got his security taken away from him and was financially cut-off from his family when he and Meghan decided to move to California
- Meghan often contemplated suicide seeing the horrendous and racist narratives spread by the British tabloids
- A member of Harry’s family (who he didn’t name), said that they were afraid their child’s skin would come out “too dark” after she gave birth
- The royal family didn’t want Archie (their son) to have security or even a royal title
All of this should be enough evidence that the British Monarchy is racist. But that’s not what I’m here to discuss. Umm, colonialism? Harry seems like a nice guy, but his ancestors are terrible people.
Racism is global and almost all of the colonialism that happened in different countries was because of the British monarchy.
They didn’t want that one drop of Black blood in their family. Even though Meghan is biracial and white-passing, they didn’t want their bloodline to be polluted with Blackness at all.
The Royal Monarchy is essential in the system of white supremacy. It’s a system that’s centuries old.
And one biracial woman marrying into the royal family could disrupt that and make them less racist than they already are? I’m laughing.
This leads me to my next point.
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Racism comes with the whole family.
You aren’t marrying just one person, you’re marrying that person’s whole family.
A lot of people who get in interracial relationships don’t seem to understand that a lot of deep conversations must be had if you want to be one big happy family. There are some things you have to accept. Race is one of them.
I’m not trying to hate on Black people who get into interracial relationships, but you can’t discount that your race will follow you wherever you go.
Meghan and Harry are a perfect example. This girl married into royalty. She married into power and wealth. She’s biracial and white-passing. Yet she still dealt with relentless racism that destroyed her mental health.
No matter how much you love someone, something has to give. Either you deal with the racist family or your white partner has to separate themselves from them like Harry did.
Someone has to make the ultimate sacrifice and that’s the weight that interracial relationships carry.
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Final Thoughts
I’m not against interracial dating.
Some interracial relationships do work out. But most of them consist of a racist family who isn’t willing to learn about Blackness. If that’s what you’re dealing with, you need to make a decision of whether that person is really for you or not.
Easy fix: Force the white person to talk to their family about race. If they still don’t get it —you might have to leave.
Interracial relationships aren’t that complicated. Just talk about race but don’t put all your energy into educating racist people on racism. It’s not your job.
Good luck on your journey.
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This post was previously published on Medium.
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Photo credit: Jakob Owens on Unsplash