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eyen the Netflix documentary Harry and Meghan, the Duke of Sussex laments the racist element of abuse Meghan has endured on social media and in the UK press. It also addresses racism in wider British society and behind the palace walls. “In this family,” he says, “you’re sometimes part of the problem rather than part of the solution.”
As a black American living in London, I am often struck by the different ways in which Britain and America battle the issue of race. In the US, despite four centuries of living alongside enslaved people and their disenfranchised descendants, many white people were surprised to learn, or at least felt, that structural racism still exists after the death of George Floyd in 2020.
In the UK, while the national conversation about the impact of racial inequality is slowly gaining momentum, one topic remains almost universally taboo: the British monarchy’s close historical ties to the slave trade and colonization. Modern royals still possess immense wealth, much of which was first acquired through the profits of slavery. This dark legacy continues to haunt the organization, constantly lurking in the background, threatening to overshadow the good causes that family members seek to support.
I wonder, though, when the royal family will finally be willing to put aside the venom surrounding this issue and find new ways to think about race. If they do just that, they can become unlikely role models for how to move this conversation forward. They might even be inclined to admit that the concept of caste was created by early colonialists, oppressors who often acted at the behest of the crown.
When the then Duke and Duchess of Cambridge went on a Caribbean tour earlier this year, Prince William himself admitted that “the horrific atrocity of slavery forever stains our history”. Yet still, he and other royals come within striking distance of apologizing for the horrific damage colonialism caused on their forefathers’ watch. In carefully scripted speeches, he always avoids admitting the kind of genuine responsibility that might give him dangerous weight to the growing calls to reform. Of course, it would be unfair to hold individual members of the royal family personally responsible for crimes committed long before their birth. However, when you are still enjoying the proceeds of those crimes without taking steps to right the wrongs of the past, you are, in fact, part of the problem.
But it would be a mistake for the new monarch, King Charles III, and his subjects to see it as inevitable that the crown would always be associated with a racist past. These are shackles that can be removed, if only the royal families commit to doing so through honest, solution-focused dialogue.
And who better to lead the way than the king’s two sons, both of whom have spoken publicly about their commitment to ridding society of racism? Along with Meghan, Harry says he is fighting racial injustice; Indeed, the couple recently won an award for doing so in New York. On 22 June this year, I attended a moving ceremony at London’s Waterloo station where William unveiled the new National Windrush Memorial, which honors the arrival of African-Caribbean migrants who played a vital role in the UK’s post-World War II recovery. In his speech, the prince condemned the racism many migrants experienced in their new home, adding that “discrimination is an all-too-familiar experience for black men and women in Britain in 2022”.
William and Harry each have unique platforms. If they can unite to create brave spaces for difficult, compassionate conversations about race, first within their own families and then with people in every corner of society, of every race and every part of the world, they can show others how to find hope beyond division. go
I pray that such a dialogue will eventually lead to the monarchy making a formal apology for institutionalized racism, and begin to seriously explore how it can pay reparations to the descendants of the victims of slavery and exploitation at home and in the former British colonies. Many good ideas already exist about how to do this effectively – for example, by giving descendants long-term access to assets – and it is worth giving full consideration to victims’ representatives. Opening a transparent, deliberate consultation process on compensation will undoubtedly also generate new and innovative proposals.
By publicly embracing such work, I believe the Crown can free itself from the burden of its racist past and show other individuals, institutions and states how to do the same. Together, William and Harry can build and lead a powerful joint campaign for racial justice that will help change the future for their children and grandchildren, as well as for us. By doing so, they can prove that their family is no longer part of the problem, but an important part of the solution. They may, if they are lucky, even succeed in healing the rift between them.
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Keith Magee is a writer and academic and chairman of the Guardian Foundation. He is the author of Prophetic Justice: Race, Religion and Politics
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