As an adult, with some degree of education and life experience, I cannot believe the childish reaction on Twitter, in the press and from some politicians to the Oprah Winfrey interview of Harry and Meaghan. Someone once said, to put it in perhaps more politically correct terms, “Let them that are without sin cast the first stone.”
Now, I was not there when some unspecified “Senior Royal” uttered
to Harry in private an interest in, or
as Harry has interpreted it, a concern about in the colour of the then in vitro baby’s skin. Nor, most likely,
were you. I do not know of anyone who would not be curious about such matters
in the circumstances. Indeed, it was commonly discussed by people of different
races whom I know. I would guess, even for those who dared not voice the
question, that it was a matter of curiosity.
This does not make a racist of the individual, let alone of
the Institution of Monarchy. One only had to view the on-line Commonwealth Day
service at Westminster Abbey on March 8, 2021 to glean that the Royal Family is
far from racist. Indeed, they have done more than most other individuals or
institutions to improve the lot of marginalized people and to bring together
people of all races.
If one could re-write history, what might have happened if
Britain had not gone out and colonized the world? Britain has been itself the
subject of invasions and colonization throughout its own history: the Scots
from Ireland, the Norse, the Romans, the Norman French, and had Hitler be victorious, the Germans. Migration, exploration,
and colonization have been the state of the world since time immemorial: e.g. Egypt,
Rome, Greece.
Surely some other country would have taken up the rod of
colonization, had it not been Britain. Would it have been France, Spain, Portugal, Norway, Holland,
Denmark or Germany. All were colonizers. Would it have been China, Russia, the
United States or Japan? Would it have been some Middle Eastern or North African
Kingdom? Whether it was one or, as was the reality, a combination of these
states, the world would certainly have been colonized. And it is being
colonized now.
Indeed, we are continuing to colonize. Now, we have reached
out into outer space. And so, I suspect, many of you are likely celebrating this
achievement.
Migrations are occurring at unprecedented rates caused whether
by wars, insurrections, state or religious oppression, famine, economic need or
desire, or global climate change. China is colonizing Africa and much of the
world through investment and financial aid today. There are always strings
attached.
And, sadly, as despicable as it is, slavery has been here
too since time immemorial. The human creature is capable of great good and,
tragically, of great evil. No race or people have been free from skeleton’s in
their collective ancestral closet, and this includes slavery in its various
forms: Rome, Greece, Egypt, feudal Europe, most Western countries into the 19th
Century. And slavery or servitude if you prefer, still exists in some countries
today. The indigenous peoples of Africa, and North, Central and South America
all have had forms of slavery in their past. National and tribal wars persist.
Personally, I am not sure why one should apologize for the
sins of one’s fathers (and mothers); but one should learn from them and strive
not to repeat them.
A member of the so-called “Republic” in Britain recently
held out on Twitter that the United States was the greatest democracy in the
last one hundred years. Really? Well then let’s look at that country since
1920. It perpetuated institutional racial segregation, not just systemic
discrimination but positive discrimination, well into the 1960s. It currently has
unacceptably high rates of poverty and illiteracy for a western democracy.
Education and healthcare are out the financial sphere of far too many people in
that country. Imprisonment is embarrassingly high and the prisons overflowing.
The death penalty is still in place in too many states. Homosexuality is still
illegal in some states. Too many are unable to vote due to institutional and financial
barriers imposed on them. And most of these failings fall on the shoulders of
racialized and marginalized citizens or residents.
Guns are everywhere in that democracy. White Supremacist militias thrive. The
country has engaged for years in propping up fascist dictatorships in South and
Central America and instituted, with devastating impact on the world, illegal
wars, and unproductive economic embargos. It has committed war crimes it won’t
acknowledge. It has bullied its neighbours and allies economically. And,
recently, it had freely elected one of the most despicable leaders in
contemporary world history. The greatest democracy in the world?
Democracy is a vague term. It takes many forms. To hold it
out as some immutable and irreproachable form of perfect government and the panacea of world ills
is pure folly. The criticism that is being directed at the Monarchy today would be better directed at humanity itself. Let those without fault be
critical. But more importantly, let those with fault learn and move on. My
granny frequently warned: “Don’t throw out the baby with the bath water”.
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Comments welcome. You do not have to agree with me. Maybe I do not right now either! But you should be rational, thoughtful and constructive.