Race and the Royal Fandom by thesussexroyals

A repost of thesussexroyals post from Nov 2018.

This is going to be a long post, but its been something that has been stirring in me for a while. I super scared about posting this, but just need to say it.

The royal fandom has a race problem. You may say to yourself, well “duh Zea” but for something so extraordinarily obvious, folks sure like to ignore, deny or minimize.

I have been a royal watcher now for a little over a decade. Let me tell you, its a lonely thing to be a royal watcher of color; doubly so as a black royal watcher. The main royal families of interest are the European houses (in and of itself a commentary) where there is very little POC representation.  By and large, the royals we know too much about are white, specifically, white women. I am not going to go into how white womanhood is foundational to white supremacy, that is something for a whole other post, but it needs to be noted briefly.

So, for me as a royal watcher of color, I never really had a royal I connected with per se. I was fascinated by the history, bedazzled by the jewels, intrigued by the drama and inspired by the work (I stan hard for my Queens Letizia and Maxima), but I never felt *personally* connected to any of the royal ladies I admired.

Enter in Meghan. PHEW! I remember when I first heard the rumor and brushed it off because no way was the royal world ready for THAT! A black/biracial, American, actress, who is also divorced? Doing the MOST Henry! But it started to become increasingly more obvious that this may be *real* and perhaps even something special. And I begin to learn more about this Meghan; her dreams, her history, her advocacy. For the first time in my royal watching years, there was finally a figure in the royal world whose life and experience connected to me as a black woman trying to work my hustle.

But then the pile on started. The racial slurs on the front pages of national papers, the pap harassment, the bile in the comment sections, on tumblr, on royal forums. I have never seen a more contentious time in the royal fandom. The weeks leading up to Harry’s statement were terrible to witness as a royal watcher of color. When Harry released his statement, I was so happy and proud! FINALLY, there is some recognition and maybe some accountability for the racist bile about this woman who just happened to have the audacity to catch the eye of a prince.

But the pile on continued. And continued. And continued. National newspapers had “niggling”concerns about this woman and her mother. Royal watchers just couldn’t put their fingers on it, but there was something not “right” about her. Some of y’all ran right past the dog whistle and dove right into the out and wild racism.

But there also was the great wide neutral zone royal watchers who made tepid forays into calling out the racism against Meghan, but soon retreated back to their corners of mild concern. Let me tell you, y’all drive me the MOST crazy.

As Harry and Meghan’s relationship progressed, more and more fans of color, specifically black woman, joined the community. Finally!  But sadly, the royal watcher community was not equipped to handle this influx. And time and time again, black and brown fans were maligned, made fun of and gaslighted. As we ran up to the wedding, the abuse against Meghan increased. It came from ALL sides, The public, the media, her family and even within the damn royal family itself (fuck YOU Princess Michael). And the abuse of her fans increased too. It became abundantly clear that people of color, specifically black women, were not safe or welcomed in this fandom. Our concerns were dismissed, our experiences denied. Our whole SELVES summarily ignored. I am NOT ignoring the awfulness of anons who made life a living hell for non-black bloggers, for the record, so please do not feel that! It has been ROUGH in the fandom for so many people.

But the problem ain’t just the tin hats, who are too often ignored or cast off as simply “crazy” instead of confronted. It is too easy to take comfort in thinking that you are not complicit because at least you are not one of THOSE bloggers.

No, its the whole fandom. Racism, specifically anti-blackness, is infused in every facet of our cultures and media. It is, perhaps, the world’s strongest currency. You do not have to be white to engage in anti-blackness or support white supremacy.

I am a biracial black woman like Meghan. Like Meghan, I am light skinned. Meghan and I have both enjoyed a lot of privilege that our darker sisters do not get because of our racial ambiguity. But that hasn’t saved us because white supremacy is totalizing. There is no constellation prize for being “close enough” to white. Every thing said about Meghan, I have heard said in shades about me working as one of the few WOC in a white and competitive sector. Too ambitious, too cunning, ‘just not right,’ etc. Meghan has had to work twice as hard to get half as much recognition in her initial months than other royals. And its still not good enough. It will never.be.good.enough.Meghan sits at the intersections of classism, sexism, xenophobia and racism. NO OTHER royal women in the BRF has dealt with ALL those things. Full stop.

So imagine being a Meghan fan of color, dealing with the every day reality of racism in your life and then seeing that reality reflected globally through the treatment of the now Duchess of Sussex. Imagine seeing snide comments making fun of the black preacher, black choir, black guests at the royal wedding. Imagine seeing comments calling Meghan an unworthy black slave, lambasting her hair,  calling her dirty, too dark, too ghetto, unfit, a whore, not classy, not regal, unnatural. Going after her mother. Inventing WILD conspiracies to explain how a white prince could possibly marry a biracial girl. Imagine seeing comments on the social media page that REPRESENTS her royal role. Comments praying for her HER death, for the death of her UNBORN child so that another, better, whiter duchess can take her rightful place beside THEIR prince.

Yeah, people get frustrated. Yeah people lash out. It is SO exhausting, y’all. To be constantly under attack and to see someone you really connect with under attack with NO one seeming to care. I do not agree with people going after William today about his speech and the KP social media comments. But as my lovely friend Sam (@duchessmegs) said, it is beyond baffling that people will spend post after post after post defending this white man, but barely remark on the actual concern at hand, the racial abuse of Meghan.

We all have bias. We all are socialized in a way that sometimes makes it hard to untangle or recognize our bias. A good friend of mine called out something I said last week as anti-semitic. At first, I balked. I went into defense mode and hunkered down. But then, I took a step back. I reflected on where my statement had come from and what assumptions were embedded in it. I realized that while I consciously did not mean to, my statement was indeed based on a stereotype or caricature that was just soo common in my sphere that I never had *any* reason to doubt it. But that didn’t make it any less wrong.

I believe in grace. I believe in giving people the benefit of the doubt and not assuming malice and working together to learn and grow. But we have to be in a place of recognition first.

I want to implore members of this fandom to take a second to breathe, to process and to reflect when posters raise concerns or frustrations about race or how Meghan is treated. I want people to think twice, three times, hell even four times about what they say about Meghan or her fans of color. Not all critiques are steeped in race, but many are. And even those that may not initially, can be on further reflection. Context matters. What can be said about a white female royal may have totally different connotations when said about a black woman. White supremacy survives because good people refuse to acknowledge their own dividends from it. Deconstructing white supremacy is often less about the external, but more about decolonizing our assumptions. That takes intention. It takes the extra moment to think “why DO I feel this way?” why ARE posters angry? Am *I* saying something steeped in a racial stereotype or bias?

So that is my novel. I am happy to discuss this more, but today was such an example of two sides yelling past each other and everyone going home sad and angry.