It’s disorienting to live through a pandemic and a global reaction to unchecked police violence. At a moment when systemic flaws are laid bare, we’re expected to carry on, with jobs to be filled, mundane battles to be fought, and high schools to graduate from.
Meghan Markle‘s address to the graduating class of her alma mater, Los Angeles’ Immaculate Heart High School, is weird for this reason.
“The only wrong thing to say is to say nothing,” Markle said.
Vague platitudes about changing the world and making a difference are to be expected, but not in a moment when peaceful protestors, many of them not much older than the school’s graduating class, are being beaten senseless for the apparent crime of being outside.
Similarly, a notable public figure urging for strength and resilience is to be expected – unlike the fact that the Duchess of Sussex delivered her speech through a pixelated webcam video, a potential consequence of the inherent risks of travelling in 2020, and the fact Los Angeles is currently swarming with militarised police.
Markle referenced the LA riots of 1992, which erupted after a rash of police officers were acquitted of ruthlessly beating of Rodney King, a black man.
“That’s something you should have an understanding of, but an understanding as a history lesson, not as your reality,” Markle said.
She touched the strangeness and familiarity of the current moment again in her closing sentences.
“I know that this is not the graduation that you envisioned, and this is not the celebration that you imagined,” she said.
I’ll answer on behalf of the graduates and say, “Yeah, nah, probably not.” But sitting through a Zoom-ed speech while the world goes to hell might be even weirder than no speech at all.
Anyway, here’s the speech in full, shared by Inside Edition:
