A majority of the free world is over the proverbial moon about Prince Harry being engaged to Meghan Markle.
This is the case for a number of reasons…
ONE, Harry is a member of The Royal Family and many folks go crazy bananas for any news surrounding these British people, let alone wedding news.
SECOND, Markle is an American.
THIRD, Markle has been an actress for years on the surprisingly successful USA Network series Suits.
FOURTH, Markle is divorced, which would have made her persona non grata in the Royal Family just a few decades ago.
FIFTH, Markle is of mixed heritage, a fact that unfortunately has led to some online harassment by a certain awful section of the Internet… but which has been celebrated by another section of the Internet.
You see, Markle’s mother is African-American. And her father is white.
Questions about her background have caused the search term “Meghan Markle mom and dad” to increase by 450% every since she was confirmed as Harry’s fiancee:
ABC News, meanwhile, posted an article titled For many black women, Meghan Markle’s engagement offers ‘hope” on December 5.
It cited the trending nature of hashtags such as “#blackgirlmagic and #blackprincess” as evidence that Markle was resonating with many African-Americans.
Danielle Belton, managing editor of an online magazine dedicated to black culture, said in the piece that Markle’s engagement makes fairy tales seem attainable for black women.
“It’s a fantasy where even though you didn’t get Prince Harry, part of you thinks maybe I could’ve … maybe he was available,” Belton told ABC.
But is this really a fair assessment?
Should an entire culture really place so much responsibility and assign so much importance to one person who happened to fall in love with a prince?
Moreover, is Markle actually black?
We most definitely don’t care.
But the Twitterverse has been debating these questions ever since she burst on to the international scene.
Just consider the following points and arguments being made on the social media network:
We also liked this Tweet by @UnRoyalReporter:
Must admit I am curious to see how a smart, black, American, feminist who quotes #Chomsky reacts to a life locked in a dusty damp palace with dullard toffs who’s only interests are horses, hunting & hierarchy #teamMeghan @meghanmarkle.
There’s something insulting about reducing Markle to nothing but her skin color, isn’t there?
She’s clearly a very intelligent and layered woman, regardless of what ethnicity she qualifies as in the eyes of strangers.
Sadly, though, controversy has already broken out over a magazine allegedly editing Markle to look more white, although at least neither Harry nor Meghan are caught up in these silly debates.
“At the end of the day I am proud of who I am and where I have come from and we have never put any focus on that, we have just focused on who we are as a couple,” said the actress in a joint interview with Harry.
To that, we say… amen!
