A column at The Guardian by Afua Hirsh.
The sermon, delivered by the Episcopalian church leader the Rev Michael Curry, began with a quote from Martin Luther King Jr before enlightening the congregation on the wisdom of spirituals – traditional African American music rooted in the experience of slavery – and casting Jesus as a revolutionary. If there had been any doubts about what cultural experience Curry would bring to the service, they were swiftly and decisively answered....
Markle used her wedding to introduce her new peers to blackness. The teenage cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason.... The Kingdom gospel choir sang soul classic Stand By Me....
Markle’s choice was clear, and people responded. The wedding has transformed Windsor itself – a town only 20 miles from London but which, in its lack of visible diversity, can feel culturally thousands of kilometres away – that is suddenly full of people of colour. The day before the wedding, I saw African American women dressed in white lace dresses, some wearing tiaras, others wearing Meghan Markle masks....
[B]y allowing her wedding to be not just a pageant of tradition, but also a celebration of blackness, she’s started as I hope she means to go on.
Were those only "African American women" wearing the "Meghan Markle masks"? I kind of doubt it! First, how do you even know that people walking around in Britain are American? Or is "African American" a clumsy synonym for black? Second, I think a lot of white people were wearing Meghan Markle masks, and I'm wondering why that isn't a blackface
problem rather than an advancement? Third, did the Meghan Markle masks really express anything about racial feeling? There were Prince Harry masks too. I'm reading
"These Creepy Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Masks Prove British People Have No Chill" (at Life & Style):
Fans of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are putting their faces on cardboard and wearing them around town in anticipation for the actress to walk down the aisle, and TBH, it's creepy....
"Just saw a woman walking alone through market square with a Meghan Markle mask on, u ok?" one resident tweeted before another chimed in, "People dressed up as the royal family, one in a wedding dress wearing a Meghan Markle mask parading through Hugglescote. Do people not have jobs?"
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Markle used her wedding to introduce her new peers to blackness. The teenage cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason
He won a BBC contest and is consistently at the top of the UK Classical Music Charts.
The black female minister who spoke is the Queen's Chaplain.
And those masks....of the whole Royal Family....are all over London and have been for years.
I find it odd that people assume they know so much about what the Queen and her family know about "blackness", and have to assume somehow an American has to teach them.
Comment there are disabled, so you know it's a crap article pushing Leftist orthodoxy. That's how the Guardian rolls.
The BBC has been engaging in social engineering for decades. I expect to see the white female star of any series married to a black guy and white women in a pub going gaga over black men on Tinder or Snap Chat. He's gorgeous, isn't he?
The Ghost Goes West.
The Spencer runs strong in Prince Harry, and he has indeed turned the House of Windsor (or Battenberg) upside down with this show, and quite a show it was.
Who says the British royalty is too stiff and formal and can't change with the times?
Do people not have jobs?
Maybe that's why the author assumes they are African American
Tom Wolfe’s last novel was “Back to Blood.” In it I learned that some Blacks look down on - and discriminate against - fellow Blacks because their skin color is too black.
Oh to be a fly on the wall and hear Prince Philip’s comments on the wedding’s celebration of blackness.
I wish racism would go away. It's so boring and stupid.
There was no celebration of black violence and stupidity, so they're selective.
Geeze oh pete, rhhardin.
I turned on the TV yesterday morning and they were showing the wedding [on tape I think] but all I saw was this all-black choir with a tall black woman director singing, Stand by Me. Interminably. As if trying to annoy as many people as possible. I think she succeeded.
But MayBee is correct. Blacks have been a part of British society for many years and the article is not only ignorant but presumptuous.
Meghan Markle doesn't look noways black to me.
An all-black choir doing traditional spirituals in rap would be entertaining.
Meghan could certainly pass the Brown Paper Bag test.
Also, not that I'm an expert, but just as American culture and British culture are not the same, "blackness"- or a celebration of "blackness"- doesn't seem to be something that transcends the two cultures. Black history in Britain is not the same as Black history in America. It seems....I don't know what the word is...to say "blackness" belongs to American black people.
I had once hoped we would get rid of the “1 drop” theory of blackness. All those civil rights demonstrations, all those wonderful speeches, by Martin Luther King, Jr., the murder of Goodman and Schwerner and Chaney, all wasted.
There are also many, many fewer black people in the UK. Like 3% of the population. Their history just isn't the same as American history and culture, white or black.
Another half black, half white celebrity showing just how black they are. At what dilution is this not required?
A semi-black woman writes a column about a non-racial event and makes it about race and the the wonders of being semi-black, just like her.
At least she's not creative.
The new princess has done everything in her power to emphasize her whiteness. It is worth looking at pictures of her through the years to see which of her heritages she was celebrating. African Americans will not be particularly moved by this since they are not stupid. The Brits have a substantial black population including a robust black gang and rap culture.
"began with a quote from Martin Luther King Jr before enlightening the congregation on the wisdom of spirituals – traditional African American music rooted in the experience of slavery – and casting Jesus as a revolutionary."
OMG, OMG, I'd say if I were a believer.
Or is "African American" a clumsy synonym for black?
It's not clumsy - it's political correctness induced stupidity. I've heard of more than a few Black Brits being called "African American." I've even heard Black Africans like Nelson Mandela or Kofi Annan being called "African American Africans."
Obviously I am totally out of the loop......Megan Markle is black?
And..... so?
How many drops does it take to make a person black? How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop? When the Hell are people going to stop obsessing about race? Don't they know that this obsession is not solving the race problem? Can't they see that they are going backwards?
Who caress?
Can I write a comment without questions?
How many drops does it take to make a person black?
Since there are historical claims that Queen Charlotte, wife of George III, had some African ancestry via Portugal, that would make all her descendants Black -- including Queen Victoria down through Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles and even Prince Harry himself. That would make them not a bi-racial couple, but a black couple on both sides.
Or is "African American" a clumsy synonym for black?
How about "African Canadian" ?
A Facebook friend of mine certainly confirms the headline as far as how some American blacks felt about it--she went on and on and ON about the event as a celebration of blackness. I thought that was kind of bizarre. Would have been nice to see a shout-out for "American" but we don't live in that country anymore.
She's a delightful, loving person in many ways. It made me sad.
Megan Markle is an attractive white woman like Obama is a handsome black man.
The wedding seemed to attempt inclusion of Markles’ black heritage moreso than a celebration of blackness. I didn’t see any “white” traditions replaced by including black ones. It was well balanced and a joy to witness. Including traditions of other cultures doesn’t mean that the predominant culture is in danger of being lost. Cultures change over time, they always have. Changing in some ways while retaining parts of itself is the natural order of things.
Looking at Megan Marklem, you'd be hard pressed to even be able to call her a negro.
The amount of times her race was mentioned yesterday was despicable.
Do you think they went on and on about how white Harry was?
Did they fixate on, let alone discuss, his genealogical heritage?
Nope. Just the "black" girl's.
Bunch of racists.
MLK is still just dreaming.
I learned that some Blacks look down on - and discriminate against - fellow Blacks because their skin color is too black.
Have you also noted that the lighter the skin, the more likely the person is to be a leftist ?
Conservative blacks like Clarence Thomas and Herman Cain tend to be darker.
"African American Africans."
What do you call European-American South African Farmers?
"Criminals".
I watched the wedding with my wife. The ceremony was held in a building dedicated to a religion very few follow any more, which has less power than a newspaper to change people's opinions or actions. The building was draped with flags of nobility that hangs on by its teeth to the power, wealth and privilege earned by French invaders in 1066. The bride's veil was woven with representations of 53 Commonwealth countries, the revenant of a globe-spanning empire lost through England's lack of leadership over the past century, most of which saw the present geriatric queen wearing the crown. Her son, Charles, who advocates speaking to plants and who married a horse of a woman, gave away the bride, a Hollywood actress of no great success or accomplishment who has been cohabiting with her new husband for some time now. Charles' sons, the groom and best man, wore their military uniforms to demonstrate their former accomplishments and discipline and authority, which they have not demonstrated since. The family is the largest landowner in Great Britain, and wants to keep what wealth they have, having lost their colonies. Such pageantry may help their public relations, otherwise I don't think they'd bother with a wedding. Still, the kids holding the veil and trailing the bride were cute.
AllenS is correct.
She is mostly-white.
In Brazil she would be white enough.
The hysteria over the wedding including some traditional American black culture is strange but not unexpected. Cultures and traditions do change with the mixing of the cultures. It’s been happening for thousands of years now and won’t stop anytime soon because American conservatives are threatened by it. New cultures emerge, then they too change.
There's a competition among preachers to see how many times they can say "love" in one sermon. To be fair, it's measured as a rate and complied at #metoofast.
I want to see one of their kids have red hair and a tan.
So sick of white people "celebrating" black culture, even more than black people celebrating black culture. White guilt wedding.
Just the other day you had a post about two men who actually were African-American but called themselves "Sudanese-American" and "Egyptian-American"
Then you have white people who trace their lineage to Africa, immigrants from South Africa or Kenya, for example, who get shit on if they call themselves African-American.
I call bullshit on the term and generally refuse to use it.
John Henry
Why do we give a shit about British royals? They are not even British, for one thing, being originally imported from Germany.
And we fought a war to get rid of them.
I've always found Princess Diana and her cult to be particularly annoying. Here we had a woman who, in her position, could have done a lot of good in the world. Instead she did fuck-all.
Yet 20 years after her death people still idolize "the fairy tale princess". Fuck her, her former husband and her spawn.
John Henry
“I want to see one of their kids have red hair and a tan.”
I bet their child will have blond hair and green eyes or light hazel eyes, very similar to my beautiful niece who’s mom is half black and her dad is white. I just got my results from 23 and Me, which was given to me as a gift. All my life my parents told me we were 100% German. A genealogist traced both sides of the family back to Hesse, Germany. The ancestors left Germany in 1720 for eastern lands and got off the boat that took them up the Danube to the what was to become Hungary. My people stayed in Hungary for over 100 years and adopted many of the Hungarian traditions while retaining the German ones. Then in 1830 they migrated further south and founded towns in what was to become Croatia. They lived there over 100 years and again, adopted some Croation traditions, while retaining the Hungarian and German. A Croation woman I worked with told me that her mother told her that they learned how to cook many of the traditional German and Hungarian dishes from the ethnic Germans living in their midst, the Croations culture changed too.
So back to the DNA test. Despite my German peasant ancestors never leaving Germany until 1720, there is over 5% Iberian Peninsula, 10% English/Irish, 3% Scandinavian, 10% Eastern European and others and only barely 50% German/Northwestern European in my DNA. If you think that you can stop the mixing of peoples and culture, you haven’t studied history or even maybe your own ethnic background.
It's high time to stop 'celebrating race'. Why should race matter?
I've posted before about a female university prof I had who was not black but 'African [with a very capital A]-American' even then. When a well-meaning classmate proposed that we should all be color-blind she was not merely reprimanded. She was pilloried for the remainder of the hour where we were told just how important racial heritage really is. I can still see her with her short Afro and huge hoop earrings, ethnic-looking attire. Race what clearly what she was all about.
Inga, did your ancestors leave Hesse because they were Catholic, or was it hard times?
The Queen Mum and Diana weren't German, neither is Kate, so that's changing. George VI was a quarter Danish, a mountain lion ate the rest of him.
I like the couple. However, the way the media goes on about her; she's nothing but a token object to them. Her value to the MSM is her skin color. I'm sure the media was thrilled that only her mom came, and not her dad. It fit their narrative.
There's just too much first rate porn on the internet for me to pay much attention to Royal Weddings. I don't begrudge the women here their weird fetish for such things. If it weren't for the expense involved, it would be completely harmless and far more dignified than these backyard piss parties I've been reading about.......Props to Harry for a shrewd move. If he had married a minor tv star instead of a minority tv star, everyone would be talking about how superficial his tastes were, or maybe they would be discussing some of the Freudian aspects of his marrying an older woman. If he gets divorced though, all this will come back to bite him in the ass.
mockturtle said... a tall black woman director singing, Stand by Me. Interminably. As if trying to annoy as many people as possible. I think she succeeded.
--
I'm enjoying imagining that so much, seeing it would probably be a disappointment ;)
Dust Bunny Queen said... How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop?
--
Dangerous territory there DBQ ;)
If these two procreate, it could at least temper Harry's Ginger genes.
The debate over whether Meghan Markle is white or black could be settled simply if we all got a chance to feel the texture of her short hairs.
Cultures change, history has proven this. Embrace the change and society will be all the better for it. Traditions aren’t “lost” by gaining other traditions. If you feel strongly enough about your own traditions you are free to incorporate them into your own family and they are carried on by those children of yours that care deeply enough about them. Pass along the family recipes, stories, traditions, and yes celebrate them if they have special meaning to you. Isn’t it time to stop denigrating other cultures’ traditions if/because they are introduced in unlikely places? Stop being such retrogrades, because time (and people, cultures) marches on. It’s only natural. Learn your own history and the history of how people have migrated and mixed with other cultures. “Purity” of race/culture is long, long, long gone.
....and casting Jesus as a revolutionary.
Facepalm. Jesus wasn’t a revolutionary or revolutionary to Jews and Rome? Or the world?
Those chromosomes have a habit of kicking in with later generations.
Not all mulatto babies come out mulatto. They should prepare the commonwealth peasants for a blacker than black Prince or Princess.
Technically, she's a mulatto.
Or maybe Quadroon, if her mother was a mulatto.
"Not all mulatto babies come out mulatto. "
Skin color and hair color are like that.
I have a nephew with blond hair - and we suspect it came from the Great-Grandfather, the only blond in the family tree.
The principal Royal after the next will be House of Black Panther lineage
It's nice to see all the white ladies from 99% white Wisconsin explaining black culture to us.
Wasn't her dress cultural appropriation?
The Brits were shocked at the pastor because Britain is one of the least religious countries in the world and even when they are religious its low-key.
BTW, its been like that for a long time. The Brits first came to Hawaii 1779 - but it wasn't until 1820 that a Christian missionary showed up. Supposedly, they gave the Hawaiians their first Bible.
None of the ships from 1780-1819 before had a spare one - or even had a bible on-board.
It seems the Dad took off when Megan was 8, and didn't have much to do with her, till she got successful.
A bad Dad.
“It's nice to see all the white ladies from 99% white Wisconsin explaining black culture to us.”
It’s nice to see Michael K echoing the stupidity of the person who was just here blathering the same nonsense. I haven’t attempted to explain black culture to you, I’ve asked you to stop being a retrograde. For you, that may never happen, I have hope for your progeny though.
Also Michael, you’re intelligent enough ( I hope) to know that Milwaukee has a sizeable number of black folks.
Oh lordie, she’s baaaaaack! It’s like she can’t be killed with the deleter weapon, lol!
Breaking News: At the big 2 car Race race, the black car fairly won second place but the white car came in next to last. Now, does everybody feel better?
Full Moon,
She is spanking her own racist self and you’re getting off on it.
Many of the comments in this thread are racist or borderline racist. Not unexpectedly, the usual right-wing trolls are at work to express their racial hatred on what was the happy occasion of a royal wedding. It will be quite good for the royal gene pool if they have children.
American blacks are stigmatized by the brand of slavery and will remind you at every opportunity, including a British royal wedding.
“Cultures change, history has proven this. Embrace the change and society will be all the better for it. ”
The default position of liberals is that change is good.
Well, zings, we have a big change in the USA... President Trump. Embrace him....
Of course the Leftist Guardian pushes the half- race that is PC. Megan is also half-white. That's why blacks are becoming less and less a major minority in the USA - marriage and abortions will make them disappear in 50 - 75 years.
Also Michael, you’re intelligent enough ( I hope) to know that Milwaukee has a sizeable number of black folks.
OK. 87% I stand corrected, a little.
Blogger Mark said...
How many drops does it take to make a person black?
Well if the government allowed Blacks to open Casino's like Indians, then the infamous BLM will define it for us.
Milwaukee has a 27.2% black population. I grew up in Milwaukee and worked in Milwaukee hospitals for over 35 years. So Michael, I think you don’t know what the hell you are talking about when it comes to Wisconsin and people who’ve lived in SE Wisconsin for the past 60 years.
“According to 2015 US Census Bureau estimates, California's population was 72.9% White, 6.5% Black or African American, 14.7% Asian, 1.7% Native Americans, 0.5% Pacific Islander and 3.8% from two or more races.”
6.5%—California. Wisconsin—6.6%
Michael K: “99% white Wisconsin”. LOL.
13% black is or was the national average. Wisconsin is just average.
How many cows?
In the 80's, when I was working in modeling nuclear weapons effects, we got a file from FEMA (or USDA?) which had livestock & poultry population and location for every county. Boss called it the Pigs and Chickens file. NC had the highest number of turkeys, Iowa the most pigs, IIRC.
13% is the national average.
Rice Lake WI. Black population—.9%.
I bet those crazy redheaded Irish lassies from Rice Lake could really school us on black culture.
"You can voluntarily become a slave, Inga. . . ." Indeed. As I keep urging "liberals," if they are as enamored with the power/submission dynamic as they appear to be, they could get their sado-masochistic jollies at some leather bar or S&M dungeon. And then--and this is important--LEAVE THE REST OF US THE HELL ALONE! I suspect they don't go for this idea because it would be a voluntary action, and it's the coercive part, missing here, that appeals to them.
It's the same with taxes and the Welfare State. Given how well-heeled the "liberal" Hive is, the Hollywood Left, the Park Avenue Pinkos, the Kennedys, the Clintons, Darth Soros et al could easily redistribute their own wealth and provide decent housing, medical care, food, etc., to all the poor people in the US. But nooooooo . . . (as John Belushi used to say). How much more fun it must be forcing other people to do it. "No force, no fun" could be the statist "liberal" slogan.
Having spouted all this foo-faw the peanut gallery has to admit Meghan Markle is a Fox.
That African-American preacher was a hoot! All he needed was a fake sign language interpreter to complete the routine.
Meghan is black? I'm still not convinced.
Having know a lot of black people and having been married to one, I can say with some validity that most blacks don't give a fat rat's ass about 'African-American Culture' and my former husband would have been highly offended to be called African-American, as he was never in Africa in his life. There is a certain racial [and I would even say racist] type who wants to make a great show of their 'blackness' and, as Michael K. rightly pointed out, most of those are light-skinned. My biracial daughter had a biracial girl friend who was adopted by an upper-middle-class white couple and ended up identifying very much with being 'black', went to Howard University [black] and works for the Fed Gov somewhere in DC. My cousin and her husband, both white, adopted two black children and I suppose when they grow up they will become BLM types. :-(
The wedding has transformed Windsor itself – a town only 20 miles from London but which, in its lack of visible diversity, can feel culturally thousands of kilometres away – that is suddenly full of people of colour.
Due to a work transfer, I live close to Windsor. We have friends that live there and we visit there often... including friends with not-white skin. The place is as diverse as London. We know people from the Trinidad, Jamaica, Sri Lanka, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa.
Granted, there are bits that are very wealthy and very wealthy people live there, but it's their money, not their skin color, that divide by class. And that's the British thing.
Makes me think this Afua Hirsh person hasn't ever actually been to Windsor or spent any amount of time there.
"Many of the comments in this thread are racist or borderline racist."
Another sad bid for attention.
Interesting people address the topic; dullards talk about the comments.
(Eaglebeak)
Inga, you don't get 10% English/Irish--the English are Germanic (Northwest European just like the Germans) and the Irish are Celtic (coastal France, Ireland, Scotland, Wales), so, although you can be part English and part Irish (and millions are), English/Irish is not going to be a unitary thing--although the old Germanic and Celtic tribes seem to have been very closely related, culturally, ethnically, and linguistically, so there's that.
Obviously I am totally out of the loop......Megan Markle is black?
And..... so?
So you're supposed to celebrate her blackness when it's something good, and pretend race doesn't exist when it's bad.
"So you're supposed to celebrate her blackness when it's something good, and pretend race doesn't exist when it's bad."
The only thing we ask of you is to shut your racist trap.
Molly, this is the exact quote from my 23 and Me result.
“British & Irish
9.7%
Descended from Celtic, Saxon, and Viking ancestors, the people of Great Britain and Ireland have left their genetic fingerprints around the world, following centuries of nautical exploration, colonization, and immigration. The modern British Commonwealth is composed of 52 member states found on every continent except Antarctica, and the English language is a lingua franca for global economic exchange.”
This is so silly. From her pictures, she looks to be white.
This is going to be one ugly divorce some day. If Diana's fans felt she was disrespected by the royal family, try to imagine how this story line will play out in The Guardian.
If a wedding or any other social occasion were described--positively--as "a celebration of whiteness," wouldn't we assume the shindig was being sponsored by skinheads, Ku Kluxers or the White Citizens Council?
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