Oprah’s Interview of Meghan and Harry Outs British Royals as Racists

Oprah’s recent interview with ex-royal couple Meghan and Harry, revealed that the British royal family still cannot accept Meghan as a bonafide family member. Meghan who is African American by blood, is the product of a union between a Black American monther and a white American father. One of the highlights of Meghan’s revelations is that prior to the birth of their child, there were “conversations” in the palace discussing the baby’s skin tone and how dark his skin might be.

Nevertheless, Oprah was able to confirm that it was not Queen Elizabeth II nor Prince Phillip was among those who brought up the question about the skin color of meghan and Harry’s son.

The ex-royals said it’s a turning point in the worldwide racial reckoning of last year. A lot of institutions have been acknowledging the ugly aspects of their histories particularly those concerning racism; but confronting the British monarchy about racism can be a significant issue.

Although Harry and Meghan celebrated their wedding nationally, their life as a married couple has been affected by racist comments; making it obvious that racism still exists in the royal family. Especially since the British royals are members of a dynasty that for centuries, had amassed wealth gained from the trade and enslavement of Africans.

Lost Hopes of Eradicating Anti-Black Sentiments in Britain

According to a professor of African American studies at Emory University, Kali Nicole Gross, the Oprah’s interview with meghan and Harry had once again reminded the audience of how long anti-Black racism has been around in the UK and how African Britons have constantly encountered its existence. Gross said that she was naive to have believed that the Harry-Meghan union would set a different trend as she truly believed for a moment that the English monarchy accepted Meghan and her African American origin.

This despite how members of the royal family have been accused of racism in the past, including Prince Philip, Harry’s grandfather and husband of Queen Elizabeth II. While visiting China in 1986, he made remarks to a group of British students that if they will stay longer in China, they would become “slitty-eyed” themselves. Another public display of his racist stance was in 2002, when he asked an Aborigine in Australia if their tribe was “still throwing spears”.

In 2004, The Sun reported that Princess Michael who is married to a first cousin of Queen Elizabeth had told Black guests in a New York restaurant to “go back to the colonies.”

The most recent report of racism displayed by a British monarch was that of Harry’s father, Prince Charles was when in 2018, when he remarked that journalist Anita Sethi “did not look like she hailed from Manchester, because of her skin color.”

UK Becomes Very First Country to Administer Covid-19 Vaccine

The UK makes record of being the first to roll out a COVID-19 Vaccine Program; administering a vaccine proven safe and effective in several clinical trials. Prior to the rollout last December 08, the UK government initially approved the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech for emergency, for which 40 million doses have been procured to see to the immediate vaccination of about ⅓ of the country’s population.

Is the Vaccine Really Safe?

The government gave assurance that the Pfizer vaccine is safe to administer as it went through meticulous clinical trials. Afterwards, the results of those trials were thoroughly evaluated by the country’s national medicine regulator. It has been deemed safe enough to gain confidence in administering the first 800,000 doses to people at risk and the frontline medical and healthcare workers. Another batch from the country’s population will be vaccinated before the new year.

The country’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is himself a former Covid-19 victim, thanked the National Health Service (NHS) and the country’s scientists who were thorough in their assessment of the Pfizer vaccine.

Order of Prioritization Based on the Guidelines of the Vaccine Program

A group of experts from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation offered suggestions to UK health departments on who to prioritize during the actual rollout of the COVID-19 Vaccine program. The suggestions now serve as guidelines in prioritizing the people who will be the firsts to be injected with the vaccine:

People who are young and considered healthy will need to wait for a while to receive their injection, as the older population are given first priority. While there are approximately 70 hospital hubs currently administering the vaccine in the country, vaccine administrators must give vaccine priority in the following order:
:

  • Older citizens living in care homes, including their respective caretakers
  • All people aged 80 years and above, simultaneously with medical and healthcare frontliners;
  • Old folks aged 75 and above;
  • Old folks aged 70 and simultaneously prioritize those who have existing health problems;
  • Older adults aged 65 and above
  • Older adults aged 55 and above
  • Older people aged 50 years and above.

90-Year Old British Woman Takes Pride in Making History as the First Vaccine Recipient

Margaret Keenan, a 90-year old British woman has been administered with the first of two vaccine shots at the University Hospital. Ms. Keenan professes that she feels very privileged to be the first ever person to be vaccinated against the virus. She will receive the second dose after three weeks, and can expect full immunity, in a week’s time, after receiving the second dose.

Ms. Keenan, who was alone during the entire quarantine period also considers being the first to receive the vaccine, as the greatest early birthday present she could ever wish for, as she will be celebrating her birthday in good health next week.

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