A day after Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, was broadcast in North America, an online poll suggested only one-quarter of Canadians felt that Canada should remain a monarchy.
Conducted two weeks before the interview aired, the survey of 1,000 Canadian adults by opinion firm Research Co. also found that only one-fifth of them wanted Prince Charles to succeed Queen Elizabeth.
In our upcoming book Revealing Britain’s Systemic Racism: The Case of Meghan Markle and the Royal Family, we apply systemic racism theory and the concept of the white racial frame to assess the implications of Meghan’s entry into the British Royal Family. The white racial frame is an organized set of racialized stereotypes, emotions and discriminatory inclinations that motivate white people to discriminate.
A consequence of this frame is what we have termed social alexithymia — an incapacity to understand the painful experiences of oppressed people. Hostile white reactions towards the Duchess of Sussex following the Oprah interview — from Donald Trump, Piers Morgan, Megyn Kelly, Lady Colin Campbell, Tucker Carlson and even her own father, Thomas Markle — indicate that social alexithymia is common.
By questioning enduring beliefs about racial progressiveness in the U.K., our book provides an account of how Meghan’s experiences as a biracial member of the Royal Family highlights contemporary forms of British racism. We must…
