In the second episode of Meghan Markleโs new podcast Archetypes, โThe Duality of the Diva,โ she and featured guest Mariah Carey discuss the complexities and negative connotations associated with having that label. But it was the conversation about both of their mixed race or biracial identities that got most of the internet talking on Tuesday.
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Per People, the two discussed the in-between space of not fitting in growing up and not being treated as a Black woman or a white woman due to their identities. Meghan revealed that it was women like Mariah and later, Halle Berry, who made her feel seen and represented.
โYou were so formative for me. Representation matters so much,โ she said of Mariah. โBut when you are a woman and you donโt see a woman who looks like you somewhere in a position of power or influence, or even just on the screenโbecause we know how influential media isโyou came onto the scene, I was like โOh, my gosh. Someone kind of looks like me.โ
Of not existing in that in-between space, Meghan later divulged that it wasnโt until she married Prince Harry that she finally understood โwhat it was like being treated as a Black woman.โ
โI think for us, itโs very different because weโre light-skinned,โ she explained. โYouโre not treated as a Black woman. Youโre not treated as a white woman. You sort of fit in-between.โ
She later added, โIf thereโs any time in my life that itโs been more focused on my race, itโs only once I started dating my husband. Then I started to understand what it was like to be treated like a Black woman. Because up until then, I had been treated like a mixed woman. And things really shifted.โ
What I find commendable about Meghanโs latter point is that while the realization of what itโs like to be โtreated like a Black womanโ came later in life for her, and was obviously in stark contrast to the presumably โbetterโ treatment sheโd been experiencing most of her life, her admission of this fact doesnโt come across as self-pitying or pitying to Black women who more immediately and/or more clearly identify and occupy in that space.
If youโve lived almost your entire life being perceived as one thing by one group of people, and then suddenly find yourself catapulted into a different group where they view you as something else entirely (even if itโs been a part of your identity all along), itโs understandable for there to be some disconcerting and disconnecting feelings.
Perhaps more positively, that realization didnโt cloud the Duchessโ understanding of the magnitude of her marriage to Prince Harry when it came to representation for Black folks around the world. In fact, in a her recent interview with The Cut, she revealed a particular conversation she had with a South African actor who told her how proud and celebratory of her nuptials.
From The Cut:
Even though she avoids reading her own press, Meghan knows people see her this way. She recalls a moment from the 2019 London premiere of the live-action version of The Lion King. โI just had Archie. It was such a cruel chapter. I was scared to go out.โ A cast member from South Africa pulled her aside. โHe looked at me, and heโs just like light. He said, โI just need you to know: When you married into this family, we rejoiced in the streets the same we did when Mandela was freed from prison.โโโ Of course, she knows sheโs no Mandela, but perhaps even telling me this story is a mode of defense, because if you are a symbol for all that is good and charitable, how can anybody find you objectionable, how can anybody hate you?
In response, Nelson Mandelaโs grandson Zwelivelile โMandlaโ Mandela, commented on Meghanโs remarks explaining that he thought her comments were โsurprisingโ: โMadibaโs celebration was based on overcoming 350 years of colonialism with 60 years of a brutal apartheid regime in South Africa,โ he said per Newsweek. โSo It cannot be equated to as the same.โ
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