By NAN Editorial Team
News Americas, FORT LAUDERDALE, FL, Mon. Mar. 8, 2021: By now most have seen the clip or the segment of the Prince Harry, Meghan Markle interview with Oprah Winfrey on Sunday night, that dealt with the shocking revelation that some Royals had questioned if their child would be dark skinned.
If you haven’t, here’s the summary. Markle specifically said there were “concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born.” Meghan declined to answer Winfrey’s question of who made that comment, saying the revelation would be too damaging.
Later in the interview, Winfrey pressed Harry on the issue, asking him who was behind the racially charged comment.
But he also declined to give any details stating: “That conversation I’m never going to share.”
“It was awkward. I was a bit shocked,” he added, while also adding that the conversation happened early in his romance with Meghan. “That was right at the beginning: What will the kids look like?’”
What a wicked thing! To quote our Rastafarian friends: “Fyah bun dat.”
This from a monarchy that is still head of 54 Commonwealth countries, including several in the Caribbean, where the majority of the population of those countries are either black or brown.
In the Caribbean, the Queen is still recognized as the head of state of Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
The majority of the population of these independent former British colonies are also black and brown, aka, “dark skinned.”
Why they have chosen to be independent nations but still hold on to the colonial trappings of their former slave master is anyone’s guess. But the question now is, after last night’s interview, what are they going to do about removing that last colonial vestige – aka, the Queen as their head of state.
It is time these Caribbean nations emancipate themselves from the mental slavery and the last shackle of colonialism. If the Meghan/Harry tea spilling has revealed anything, it is the obvious racism that exists at the top of the so-called Royalist ticket.
In 2009, the majority of nationals of St. Vincent and the Grenadines failed to support a referendum to remove the Queen as its ceremonial head of state. But Barbados said last September, it will move to remove the Queen as its head of state as of November 2021.
“The time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind,” Barbados Governor General Sandra Mason said in a speech on behalf of Prime Minister Mia Mottley, which announced the country’s decision to remove the Queen. “Barbadians want a Barbadian Head of State. This is the ultimate statement of confidence in who we are and what we are capable of achieving.”
Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago and Dominica have already done that in the past. Guyana first in 1970, four years after independence; Trinidad and Tobago in 1976 and Dominica in 1978. The Jamaican government has also now indicated that becoming a republic is a priority.
The removal process lies in the constitution of these countries which requires that two thirds must support the move via a referendum.
Regardless, it is now time for every Caribbean country, still following the rule of Britannica and hailing the Queen through a governor-general who carries out her day-to-day duties, to follow this example and free themselves completely from their colonialist master once and for all.
Don’t do it for Meghan or Harry or Archie; do it because its long past due.
Do it for your own self-respect; do it for your children and their children’s children. Time to to emancipate yourselves from mental slavery once and for all.
