Harry and Meghan: Royals get far more attention than they deserve

When I completed graduate school in 2007 and moved out of university residences, I was offered accommodation in Wales by a White man with whom I lived for nearly a month until I returned home. 

You may be wondering why I have to refer to someone by his skin colour, but as you read on, it will become apparent that I had to.

I did contribute some money for utilities and bought my own food, but I did not pay rent. It was a kind gesture for which I was very grateful.

My host was unmarried and much older than me, but we chatted freely about many things. We talked about religion — he was passionate about matters of faith — politics and a host of other things.

One day, we had a conversation about White Welsh women dating Black men, some from Africa. I had seen several mixed-race couples walking the streets of Cardiff, the capital of Wales, where my host had his home.

Then he said something I will always remember — and it says a lot about race relations, racism and how conscious humans are of skin colour.

He said: “I have seen mixed-race couples, but I am looking forward to the day I will not notice that I have seen such couples — because then everything will look natural and normal.”

I am sharing this anecdote because of the story of the Duke (Prince Harry) and Duchess (Meghan Markle) of Sussex, which has dominated the headlines but should not.

If you are Black or biracial, as Meghan is, and you live in a place with a predominantly White population and you think you will escape racism, you are probably naïve.

Black people, and people with a tinge of blackness, are at a distinct disadvantage because when life began, other races, for reasons of their own, decided to discriminate against them, setting in motion something that now seems like a tradition.

We had assumed that because Meghan is pretty much White and married a royal, she would not be a victim of racism. 

But racism is more alive than Covid-19. We do not see it in its true colours because there are laws against it — and the vast majority of racists are afraid to behave like Donald Trump.

Two quick examples drive my point home. Only weeks ago, the new boss of the World Trade Organisation, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, was called “this grandmother” by a Swiss newspaper in what was widely seen as a racial slur. The paper has since apologised.

Last year, the US news agency Associated Press cropped Vanessa Nakate, our own and a climate change activist, out of an image where she had posed for the camera with White people.

 The agency apologised, and its top editor described Ms Nakate as a person of colour as if White people have no colour.

The sad thing about Harry and Meghan’s story is that it is diverting our attention from the world’s most pressing problems: poverty and disease.

We give royals far more attention than they deserve. Yet being a member of the royal family (anywhere) is an accident of birth; it is not and has never been an achievement. 

Royal weddings are beamed around the world and cost millions of dollars, but the money often comes from people who toil for a living.

Meghan did not have to contemplate suicide. She should have called a tell-all news conference at the time she was facing racism. And media outlets should focus not on royal racism but on important issues.

Mr Namiti is a journalist and former
Al Jazeera digital editor in charge of the Africa desk
[email protected] @kazbuk