My experiences of dating outside my race have been fairly predictable; give it enough time and someone is going to say something fairly inappropriate and quite possibly overtly offensive. In fact, if I were to pick a family to marry into which I suspected would be more likely to offend me on a regular basis with their sheltered perspective, ridgid processes and isolated culture, it would probably be the Royal Family.
So I have to admit, when people were shocked and emotionally moved by Meghan and Harry’s interview on Oprah, I was shocked. How could people have expected themnot to experience the turmoil they have experienced? How could the British public not have recognised the racialised language; the allusion to stereotypes etc. To me, it was obvious. Reading between the lines to understand true bigoted belief is a common practice, being a minority in the UK. So how, when the hardship of Meghan’s situation is so obvious, did people miss it?
I wasn’t shocked at all. Was this due to me becoming desensitised by my own experiences; so much so that I expected racism, classism, bigoted attitudes etc? Perhaps. And by speaking to a few people I eventually realised that many of the offensive rhetoric which has been sent Meghan’s way had actually been missed by a lot of people.
But on deeper exploration, I realised that Meghan and Harry’s predicament is a perfect microcosm to display life as a black person in the UK.
