Meghan Markle on returning home during George Floyd unrest: ‘just devastating’

August 15, 2020

In an online interview Friday, Meghan Markle blasted the “toxicity” of journalism and complained it was “just devastating” to be in the U.S. during the civil unrest over police brutality.

“It was so sad to see where our country was in that moment,” Markle said of the protests, speaking during an interview with Emily Ramshaw, the  co-founder and CEO of the non-profit “The 19th.”

“There is so much toxicity out there in what is being referred to as — my husband and I talk about it often — the economy for attention,” she said of herself and Prince Harry.

“That is what is monetizable right now. So if you’re just trying to grab someone’s attention, you’re going for something salacious versus what is truthful.”

The group, named after the amendment that gave women the right to vote, bills itself as a non-profit newsroom that  empowers women who are underserved by the American media; Markle was keynote speaker for the group’s 2020 virtual summit.

“If there’s any silver lining in that,” she said of the protests, “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.”

Markle and Prince Harry moved to California in March after leaving the royal family — right as the coronavirus pandemic hit and shortly before Floyd was killed.

“From my standpoint, it’s not new to see this undercurrent of racism and certainly unconscious bias, but I think to see the changes that are being made right now is really — it’s something I look forward to being a part of,” Meghan said.

“And being part of using my voice in a way that I haven’t been able to of late.”

Markle said she’s had her eyes on the upcoming election and has been talking to Gloria Steinem about the importance of voting.

“People are craving a change,” she said. “In the place we’re all in right now, there’s such a moment where people are starting to question the systems we’ve always believed in.”

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