MEGHAN Markle and Prince Harry’s new aide has said that “all white people are rife with internalised racism”.
Genevieve Roth, the Duke and Duchess’ new strategist, has revealed she realised her “unconscious bias” after marrying her black husband, Jordan.
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She admitted that race is an “issue” in her marriage and added: “As a white woman of privilege, I have racist tendencies written in at a cellular level.”
Her comments echo what Harry said last year when he warned young people of colour will be held back “as long as structural racism exists”.
Ms Roth has previously written about how it was only after she married her husband she realised the world treats her differently to him.
Writing a piece for Australian social enterprise Primer, she said: “As a white American woman, I have too often made the mistake of considering racial injustice as something happening to black people that I needed to empathise with and fight for, instead of understanding it as something that I myself was creating and responsible for.
“Race is an issue in our marriage because as a white woman of privilege, I have racist tendencies written in at a cellular level, and that can really gum up the works.
“For all of these reasons, I long considered myself immune from the racism and white supremacy that I have spent so much of my life raging against.”
Last year, she wrote an article for Good Housekeeping where she said “all white people are rife with internalised racism”.
Ms Roth added: “It does not matter how many marches I have planned or how many progressive candidates I have campaigned for or how many times I have chanted Black Lives Matter in the streets: I am rife with internalised racism and unconscious bias.
“And to all of the non-black folks reading this, we need to get clear on something: So are you.”
It comes as…
- The couple’s chief-of-staff left her post after 11 months
- Prince Harry scored a job with a Silicon Valley startup
- The Sussexes admitted they did not marry three days before their Windsor wedding after claiming they had exchanged vows early in the Oprah interview
- Meghan and Harry hired a Hollywood producer to head up their Netflix and Spotify productions
- A spoof website joked Prince Harry was running for the Vice Presidency
Harry told GQ magazine last year: “Unconscious bias… having the upbringing and the education that I had, I had no idea what it was. I had no idea it existed.
“Sad as it is to say, it took me many, many years to realise it (existed), especially then living a day or a week in my wife’s shoes.”
Ms Roth worked as director of Creative Engagement for the Clinton Campaign five years ago.
She founded the social impact agency Invisible Hand which has now joined forces with the Duke and Duchess’ Archewell Foundation.
In a LinkedIn post, the company said: “Earlier this year, Invisible Hand joined Archewell on their mission to drive systemic culture change across all communities, one act of compassion at a time.”
After graduating from Emerson College and the Columbia Journalism School Publishing Course, Ms Roth also worked with a US government initiative launched by former President Barack Obama and wife Michelle: Let Girls Learn.
And her link to Clinton adds fuel to speculation that Meghan is keen to get into politics after the 39-year-old former actress and Harry, 36, quit the Royal Family.
The couple have already started speaking out about politics, urging Americans to vote in the recent US election.
It comes as the couple hired a Hollywood producer to head up their Netflix and Spotify productions.
They have seen other employee moves, with their chief-of-staff this week revealed to be leaving her post.
Meanwhile, Prince Harry has snared a job as chief impact officer with a Silicon Valley start up.
