Meghan says she didn't speak out on George Floyd death earlier as she was 'nervous she'd be picked apart'
Meghan Markle finally opened up about the outrage she felt about George Floyd being killed by a police officer and admitted that she had not spoken earlier because she was "nervous." While giving an address to graduating pupils at her old school, Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles, the Duchess of Sussex named other African-Americans along with Floyd, who became victims of over-policing in the last six years. "George Floyd's life mattered and Breonna Taylor's life mattered and Philando Castile's life mattered and Tamir Rice's life mattered," she said.
The mother-of-one explained in the six-minute-long virtual speech recorded on Wednesday and later released to black women's lifestyle magazine Essence, why she decided to keep quiet in the days following the death of the 46-year-old black man on May 25 after a white police officer Derek Chauvin put his knee on his neck in Minneapolis for almost nine minutes. "I wasn't sure what I could say to you. I wanted to say the right thing and I was really nervous that it would get picked apart. And I realized the only wrong thing to say is to say nothing," she said.
Meghan urged the graduates to have "empathy for those who don't see the world through the same lens that you do," and use their "diverse, vibrant and opened minded" teachings to champion the movement of "black lives matter." she then spoke about the experience she went through when the Los Angeles riots began in the spring of 1992 after the brutal beating of Rodney King just when she was about to start secondary school.
"I was 11 or 12 years old when I was just about to start Immaculate Heart Middle School in the fall, and it was the LA Riots, which was also triggered by senseless act of racism. And 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 billow out of buildings and seeing people run out of buildings carrying bags and looting. And I remember seeing men in the back of a van just holding guns and rifles. And I remember pulling up at the house and seeing the tree, that had always been there, completely charred. And those memories don't go away," she said.
Meghan also shared a piece of advice from one of her teachers that she learned when she 15 years old. "I remember my teacher at the time, one of my teachers, Ms. Pollia, said to me as I was leaving for a day of volunteering, 'Always remember to put other's needs above your own fears'. And that has stuck with me throughout my entire life and I have thought about it more in the last week than ever before," she said.
She also had a hopeful message for the students for their futures. "You know that you're going to rebuild, rebuild and rebuilt until it is rebuilt. Because when the foundation is broken, so are we. You are going to lead with love, you are going to lead with compassion, you are going to use your voice... You are equipped, you are ready, we need you and you are prepared. I am so proud to call each of you a fellow alumni, and I'm so eager to see what you're going to do. Please know that I am cheering you on all along the way, I am exceptionally proud of you, and I'm wishing you a huge congratulations on today, the start of all the impact you're going to make in the world as leaders that we all so deeply crave. Congratulations ladies, and thank you in advance."