Meghan Markle and Black Woman Stereotype
Meghan Markle did not experience racism in the royal family. She did, you know why? They used the stereotype of a black woman when she lived in their midst. What is a stereotype? Latino women are like this. Dakota, Ojibwe and other indigenous women are like this. East Indian women are like this. Let’s look at an example.
One woman from India was married to a white English Language professor, at one of the two universities in town. She dreaded faculty social functions: wine, cheese, crackers and tales of shopping expeditions gone wrong. One question was inevitable. Can you help me cook my curry right? So, she decided not to wait for it. They will enter the party and she would introduce herself. “My name is ….. . I don’t do curry.”
In Meghan’s case, palace hangers-on used the angry black woman stereotype. Servants allegedly found her difficult to work for. If one of her staff left, it was attributed to the stereotype. Michelle Obama went through it during Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.
The irony is that for people who hold the royal family in high esteem, Meghan Markle is perfect for that family. She is black yes, but her life’s journey prepared her for being Prince Harry’s wife, who adores her because they are both ‘philanthropists’, something we shall unpack in another blog.
Her father is white, so communicating with royals with gray hair is no problem. She has university education, speaks with the required diction, eats the same food like them, dresses impeccably and likes pets.
Therefore, she doesn’t fit the angry black woman stereotype. By the way, there is nothing like that. Women of all races become angry, when they don’t have financial resources to keep home fires burning, while the man has dinner at his club or pub.
By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.
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