Culture

Prince Harry and Meghan Address Racial Injustices in New Video Message

During a Queen's Commonwealth Trust video call, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex spoke to young leaders about equal rights.

by : Hannah Ziegler- Jul 7th, 2020

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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle dialled into the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust (QCT) weekly video call this week, which focused on responding to the Black Lives Matter movement. QCT has been running weekly video discussions with youth, examining different forms of injustice.

Harry and Meghan kept their roles with the trust after stepping down as senior working members of the British royal family earlier this year. Harry, who is president of the QCT, said: “There is no turning back now, everything is coming to a head.”

Meghan, vice president of QCT, said: “We’re going to have to be a little uncomfortable right now, because it’s only in pushing through that discomfort that we get to the other side of this and find the place where a high tide raises all ships. Equality does not put anyone on the back foot, it puts us all on the same footing, which is a fundamental human right.”

“So many people have done such an incredible job of acknowledging the past and trying to right those wrongs, but I think we all acknowledge there is so much more still to do,” she added. “It’s not going to be easy and in some cases it’s not going to be comfortable, but it needs to be done, because, guess what, everybody benefits.”

The Duke and Duchess were joined on the call by Chrisann Jarrett, co-founder of We Belong, an organization led by young people who migrated to the UK; Alicia Wallace, director of Equality Bahamas; Mike Omoniyi, founder of The Common Sense Network, and Abdullahi Alim, who leader of the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers.

Markle also recently spoke out about racial injustices in a video message for her alma mater, while Prince Harry used his platform to speak out about racial inequality in a video message for the Diana Awards, honouring his late mother Princess Diana.

Watch a clip from the video below.