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4 Takeaways From Meghan Markle’s Heartfelt Speech on the Death of George Floyd
LONDON, ENGLAND – MARCH 06: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex speaks during a special school assembly at the Robert Clack Upper School in Dagenham ahead of International Women’s Day (IWD) held on Sunday 8th March, on March 6, 2020 in London, England. (Photo by Ben Stansall-WPA Pool/Getty Images)
In a video for a virtual graduation ceremony for the class of 2020, at her old high school, Immaculate Heart, LA, the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle addressing the graduating the class proceeded to address the death of George Floyd.
She begins her keynote addressing the death of George Floyd and other African Americans who were killed in the US by police in recent years.
What is happening in our country and in our state and in our hometown of LA. I wasn’t sure what I could say to you. I wanted to say the right thing. I realized the only wrong thing to say is to say nothing because George Floyd’s life mattered and Breonna Taylor’s life mattered and Philando Castile’s life mattered and Tamir Rice’s life mattered – and so did so many other people whose names we know and whose names we do not know.
- Always remember to put another’s needs above your fears. “I am sorry that in a way we have not gotten the world to a place that you deserve it to be”, she says.
- I was 11 or 12 years old and it was the LA Riots, which was also triggered by a senseless act of racism… I remember the curfew and I remember rushing back home and on that drive home, seeing ash fall from the sky and smelling the smoke and seeing the smoke billowing out of the building. I remember seeing men in the back of a van just holding guns and rifles. I remember pulling up the house and seeing the tree, that had always been there, completely charred. And those memories don’t go away.
- Meghan encouraging the graduation class to use their positive energy to help combat racism. She says, “You’re going to use your voice in a stronger way than you have ever been able to because most of you are 18 – or you’re turning 18 — so you’re going to vote. You’re going to have empathy for those who don’t see the world through the same lens that you do. You’re ready. We need you and you’re prepared”.
Watch the video below:
