“the monarchy’s defenders...claim that a queen...stands above politics &...is able to unite the nation in ways a mere president never could. 1 week after The Interview, the BRF themselves have become the fracture line along which the nation has disunited.” theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
“The young and people of colour are overwhelmingly supportive of #MeghanMarkle, perfectly able to recognise the racism within the campaign of tabloid harassment that helped to drive her and Harry into Californian exile.”
“Older people, the demographic super-served by the tabloid press, are far more likely to be both hostile to Markle and blithely dismissive of her racism accusations.”
“The tabloids & what we might call “tabloid TV”, charged by Markle as being the source & the delivery system for much of that racism,have been determined to focus attn on allegations of racism w/in the BRF. It’s not hard to see why they preferred this to standing by their record”
“To most black ppl, the racism of the tabloids is manifest. Yet the industry that spouts racist motifs plucked from gangster rap proclaims its innocence. Part of the problem is that in the Venn diagram that incl those 2 groups–black ppl & tab journos–the circles barely overlap.”
“The press...has an appalling record on diversity & inclusion. Black people make up 3% of the UK pop yet account for just 0.2% of journos. This failure means black Britons simply aren’t in the tabloid newsrooms to pt racism out; they...aren’t in the editor’s chair to weed it out”
“Blind to their own biases and insulated from communities they do not encounter or understand, journalists and editors feel entitled to make judgments about what is and what is not racism.”
“Black people familiar with this kangaroo-court dynamic recognise a no-win situation when they see one. What could be more disingenuous than demanding a black woman prove the existence of racism to people who have just demonstrated their inability to see it?”
“This lack of self-awareness goes some way to explaining the tabloid’s failure of self-interest. For both the press and the palace, the marriage of #MeghanMarkle into the British royal family had the potential to be the greatest rebranding opportunity in marketing history”
“a once in a century opportunity to refresh their reputations and reach new young audiences. Not since Kurt Cobain briefly made the cardigan fashionable in the 1990s has the possibility for such a radical image makeover presented itself. Yet both institutions completely blew it.”
“For a monarchy that places much of its case for relevance on its role at the centre of the Commonwealth – 2.4B mostly black & brown ppl–their inability to embrace & later defend Markle represents a breathtaking ability to fumble a reputational windfall.” theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
“A near slapstick level of PR ineptitude. The tabloids, unable to wean themselves off their addictions to casual racism and instinctive misogyny, were just as blundering.” #HighlySkilledPR
“One reason the royals and the tabloids were unable to grasp the opportunities was that this would have required them to look squarely to the future but, like so many British institutions, they are trapped in a fantasy version of Britain’s past.”
“This is why so many debates in modern Britain eventually become debates about history. We talk the talk about the future...visions of “Global Britain”...but we’re constantly dragged back to face difficult facts that erupt from histories we have papered over & refused to process”
“Take #BlackLivesMatter, a campaign sparked by contemporary racism. Here in Britain...it became primarily a battle over statues & what’s taught in school history lessons.This is b/c defending the imaginary “Little England” version of our past lies w/in the tabloids’ comfort zone”
“Acknowledging contemporary racism does not. [...] Our never-ending festival of backwards-looking ahistoricism continued last week when the all-white, all-male inner priesthood of the outrage industry rushed to defend the monarchy against Markle.”
“While Morgan imploded, Farage claimed that “nobody in the world, in history, has done more for ppl of colour than the BRF”. Even if he was referring only to the current monarch, this still represents something of a kick in the teeth for Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks & MLK.”
“Trapped in a make-believe past, we’re unable to recognise how our real history shapes our culture & our attitudes. Fearful of confronting that true past, we struggle to reshape our institutions for the future even when gifted an extraordinary opp for renewal” #BestRoyalReads
An incredible piece of writing from @DavidOlusoga. Glad to have his voice on this topic.
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