Meghan Markle at The 19th Represents: On Race & Gender

Posted on August 14, 2020

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Duchess Megs pops up for a little conversation on some very un-Duchess-like topics and popped out onscreen in a notably bright and eye-catching top in the process. We’ll get to the un-Duchess-like topics in a second, but we want to be our shallow selves and note that she looks great and a little more glamorous – in a very relaxed sort of way – than her time doing more Duchessy things.

 

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It’s nothing shocking, of course; just that she spent most of her royal duty period trying to pin her her hair up in a manner that didn’t really suit her and sticking rather rigidly to the most neutral (and ultimately most depressing) color scheme possible, even though she looks amazing in pretty much any bold or rich color.

 

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The surroundings are SoCal Chic, the styling is low-key but impeccable in a Steinem-esque sort of way, and she just looks much more relaxed and comfortable doing this sort of work in this sort of way.  Image-craft aside, it’s notable in the extreme what she spoke about and to whom she was speaking and why. The 19th is a nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy, with a mission to center the voices and perspectives of the traditionally under-represented. In a conversation with The 19th’s co-founder and CEO Emily Ramshaw, Meghan talks about George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, The Black Lives Matter movement, the importance and limitations of the 19th amendment, voter suppression, media tactics, feminism, race, and the current political scene in America.

“It was so sad to see where our country was in that moment,” she said. “If there’s any silver lining in that, I would say that in the weeks after the murder of George Floyd, in the peaceful protests that you were seeing, in the voices that were coming out, in the way that people were actually owning their role…it shifted from sadness to a feeling of absolute inspiration, because I can see that the tide is turning.”

What’s even more interesting as a royal-watcher is how deftly she does all this without ever being overtly partisan in her remarks. She doesn’t get into the particulars of who you should vote for so much as she points out what she considers the most important reasons to vote. Which makes us wonder if she has to restrain herself from overt partisanship in her remarks. The Royal Family may seem trivial – and for the most part, they are at this point – but as long as Elizabeth is alive at least, they remain national figureheads who routinely meet with other heads of state and serve in a sort of de facto diplomatic capacity (with very little legal power). We’re just saying. We wonder if she and Harry are forbidden from making partisan statements about the election and if that means there’s little to the rumors that she’s politically minded about her future. She’s an excellent speaker and as smooth as a political/media figure can get. Without being too bitchy about it, she really is much better at this than almost any of her in-laws.

You can watch the whole thing conversation below:

 

 

 

 

 

[Still: The 19th/YouTube – Video Credit: The 19th via YouTube]

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