Interracial marriage accepted by royals

Interracial marriage accepted by royals

Jayvonna Corley,
Contributor

All African Americans should be tuned in for the royal wedding in May, because it is our time to shine and have power again. Meghan Markle, the soon to be Duchess of Sussex, is an American mixed-race actress and philanthropist who is now engaged to the youngest son of the late Princess Diana of Wales, Prince Harry, fifth in line to take the British throne. There will be an African American in the palace and it is a turning point in black history.

In an interview in November 2017 on BBC News, the couple said a mutual friend set up a blind date that connected them, they hit it off right away and were happy with the set up.

That’s right. Prince Harry stepped out of his royal ways and found American love. This marriage and engagement is exciting for numerous reasons. It shows how far this country has come and it will see Black in power. It is paving the way for the future by bringing completely different worlds together as one. If this isn’t beautiful, what is?

In an interview with Vanity Fair last year, Markle discussed being a biracial 36 year-old from Los Angeles. Her mother, who is African American, and father, who is Caucasian, raised her in Hollywood, where she attended private schools. Her father is a director and worked on the show “Married with Children.” Being on set fueled her acting career.

It was in 2006 when she had her first movie role in a movie called “Deceit.” She’s had major roles in television shows like “Fringe” and “Suits” and in movies like “Antisocial” and “Dater’s Handbook.”

Acting isn’t her only focus. On the interview with BBC News, she talked about wanting change around the world and how she wants to be a part of it. She has philanthropic efforts such as being appointed as a U.N Women’s advocate and working with Vision Clean Water campaign. She now wants to put a hold on her acting career and focus on being a humanitarian. “I’m not giving anything up, it’s a new chapter,” she told the BBC.

This shows how far his country has come because in 1924 it was illegal to date outside your race. It wasn’t until 1967 when a case called Loving v. Virginia helped with the decision to make it legal. The case was that a Black woman and a white man got married in Virginia just to be arrested and jailed for it. The crime was that the marriage violated state law known as anti-miscegenation, which was a law forbidding people to date outside their race, specifically white and blacks. They spent a year in jail and were banned from Virginia as long as they stayed together. The couple hired a lawyer that argued that their arrest was against the Fourteenth Amendment.

Interracial marriage has grown a lot in the states since then. In 1970, it was three percent to seven percent in 2003. The rate was 8.4 of interracial marriages in 2010 and 12 percent in 2015, according to PBS reports. And yet, with all this country has overcome, racism is one thing that keeps rearing its ugly head. In today’s time, it is a struggle being an African American. It’s hard for us to prosper and succeed simply because we’re Black. Black people have to change their whole persona and lives just to be acknowledged by the wealthy white people.

Black men often have to be assertive, yet not too strong-willed. They don’t want to seem intimidating or threatening. Black women are expected to be quiet with our heads down and silently support our man. Luckily our former president and first lady, the Obamas, showed us that black people can have power and keep our same personalities without tainting our image. In my opinion, they paved the way for Meghan to walk into the palace.

This marriage can pave the way for the future with bringing different worlds together. It’s sort of like a fairytale. The prince find his true love outside of the Kingdom, except this prince went way way outside of the kingdom. He was able to see past the racial barriers and see the great person Markle is.

Everyone else should do the same, especially since this isn’t the first time. PBS.org talks about the queen with black features. Queen Charlotte was known to be a biracial Queen that married into the british family. She was a descendant from Margarita de Castro y Sousa, a black branch of the Portuguese Royal House. She was told to keep her ethnicity a secret, never talking about where she came from.

That’s what makes this story different. During the interview with BBC, Markle stated how she is very proud of where she came from and what she is mixed with. So it’ll be hard to silence this one, as it should be. She is going to be able to show little girls around the world that anything can happen, just have to accept yourself for who you are.