Meghan Markle Spoke About Black Lives Matter In A Graduation Speech To Her High School
Like many high schools, Immaculate Heart, an all-girls Catholic high school in Los Angeles, held a virtual graduation ceremony last night because of coronavirus. One of its most famous alumni, Meghan Markle (other alumni includes Tyra Banks, Mary Tyler Moore, and THEE Pat Carroll), already agreed to do the commencement speech weeks ago. And then George Floyd was murdered by police, which led to worldwide protests. So Meghan knew she had to focus her speech on Black Lives Matter, which is what she did. And she did it with what looks like a white sheer curtain covering the camera, which is exactly what my little friends and I did when making a camcorder movie about heaven in my garage. Listen, we were inspired by One Life To Live’s heaven’s story arc, okay?!
While sitting outside (which is why it looks like there’s a white sheer curtain covering the lens and why didn’t my little friends and I think of that?!), Meghan says that because of what’s going on in the country, and in her state, and in her city, she was afraid of saying the wrong thing and her words getting picked apart. But then she realized that the only wrong thing to say is to say nothing. Errr, I’m guessing she recorded this speech before she heard what originally came out of Drew Brees’ mouth.
Meghan paid tribute to George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Philando Castile, Tamir Rice, Stephen Clark, as well as many, many others whose names we don’t know. Then she shared a quote that her teacher, Miss Pollia, shared with her on the first day of her volunteer work during her sophomore year: “Always remember to put others’ needs above your own fears.” Meghan then mentioned living through the L.A. riots after the Rodney King verdict and apologized to the graduating class for having to grow up in a time when acts of racism still exist. She ended by telling them that now is the time to fight and vote.
“I know that this is not the graduation that you envisioned and this is not the celebration that you imagined. But I also know that there’s a way for us to reframe this for you, and to not see this as the end of something, but instead to see this as the beginning of you harnessing all of the work, all the values, all the skills that you have, that you have embodied over the last four years, and now you channel that.
Now all of that work gets activated. Now you get to be part of rebuilding, and I know sometimes people say ‘How many times do we need to rebuild?’ Well you know, we’re going to rebuild and rebuild and rebuild 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 going to use your voice in a stronger way than you’ve ever been able to do, because most of you are 18, or you’re going to turn 18, so you’re going to vote.”
Here’s her full speech:
"George Floyd's life mattered and Breonna Taylor's life mattered and Philando Castile's life mattered and Tamir Rice's life mattered."
Duchess Meghan has shared a powerful video with @IHPandas Immaculate Heart High School’s class of 2020 for their graduation.#BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/BzUmfnKICb
— Omid Scobie (@scobie) June 4, 2020
I thought Meghan’s speech was great and heartfelt, but of course, if you take your eyeballs over to the comment section of The Daily Mail, you’ll find many are picking every word apart like she knew they would. She got shit for not speaking up and then she does and gets shit. And speaking of The Daily Mail, Piers Morgan actually liked Meghan’s words as well:
I know, Piers Morgan actually praising Meghan Markle?! The North Face outlet in the Ninth Circle is getting major business today because Hell must be freezing.
Pic: Twitter