Meghan Markle speaks to students at her L.A. alma mater about George Floyd’s death
Former actress Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, has shared her sadness about racial divisions in the U.S., telling students at her alma mater in Los Angeles that she felt moved to speak out because the life of George Floyd mattered.
The wife of Britain’s Prince Harry told graduates at the Immaculate Heart High School that she wrestled with what to tell them given the days of protests after Floyd’s death in Minneapolis.
“I realized the only wrong thing to say is to say nothing, because George Floyd’s life mattered,” she said in a virtual address.
Floyd, who was black, died after a white police officer pressed his knee into his neck May 25.
Days of protests have shaken L.A. and other cities in the U.S. Charges have been filed against the officers who were present when Floyd lay pinned to the ground for several minutes.
Markle, who has an African American mother and a white father, said the unrest reminded her of riots that took place in L.A. after police officers were acquitted in the videotaped beating of Rodney G. King.
Royal women face a lot of media criticism, but the attacks on Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, also have a racist edge.
“I remember the curfew and I remember rushing back home and, on that drive home, seeing ash fall from the sky and smelling the smoke and seeing the smoke billow out of buildings,” she said. “I remember seeing men in the back of a van just holding guns and rifles.
“I remember pulling up [to] the house and seeing the tree that had always been there completely charred. And those memories don’t go away.”
The duchess’ video was first reported by the U.S. magazine Essence.
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