Meghan Markle talked, in a video address to graduating high-school students, about the death of George Floyd and said young people can help “rebuild” society. “When the foundation is broken, so are we,” Markle said about the “absolutely devasting” recent events in the U.S.
In her video message to students graduating from the Immaculate Heart High School, her former school in Los Angeles, Markle acknowledged that she “wasn’t sure what I could say to you.” She then shared with the all-girls school graduates: “I wanted to say the right thing, and I was really nervous that I wouldn’t or it would get picked apart, and 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.”
Essence magazine posted video of Markle’s remarks online.
Recalling the riots in Los Angeles following the violent police beating of Rodney King in 1992, Markle said: “I was 11 or 12 years old, and it was the L.A. 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 billow out of buildings. I remember seeing men in the back of a van just holding guns and rifles. I remember pulling up to the house and seeing the tree, that had always been there, completely charred. And those memories don’t go away.”
Markle, who recently moved to L.A. with husband Prince Harry and son Archie, also mentioned that one piece of advice from a teacher has been a life lesson for her: “Always remember to put others’ needs above your own fears.” Said Markle: “That has stuck with me throughout my entire life, and I have thought about it more in the last week than ever before.”
Watch Markle’s full remarks in the video below.
