Prince Harry spoke out over the weekend to reveal how walking in his wife Meghan Markle’s shoes has brought about an awakening in him when it comes to racism and unconscious bias.
Harry took part in a virtual discussion for GQ [1] with Patrick Hutchinson, who became a viral sensation back in June when he attended a Black Lives Matter protest in London and carried a white counter-protester to safety.
“The Duke was honored to have been able to speak to Patrick,” a source told Entertainment Tonight [2]. “Patrick is clearly a man with great integrity and passion, and it was great to be able to help shine a light on the work he’s doing to make a difference to his community.”
During their talk, both fathers discussed the phenomena of unconscious bias and how they hope to make the world a better place for their kids.
“You can’t point fingers when it comes to unconscious bias, but once you realize or you feel a little bit uncomfortable, then the onus is on you to go out and educate yourself because ignorance is no longer an excuse,” Harry said.
The royal went on to say that he has had an awakening of sorts about racial issues ever since meeting his wife Meghan Markle, who is mixed race.
“Having the upbringing and education I had, I had no idea what it was, I had no idea it existed,” Harry said. “It took me many, many years to realize it, especially then living a day or a week in my wife’s shoes.”
He added that becoming a father himself to his 1 year-old son Archie has influenced his decisions in the current movement for social justice.
“Being a dad myself the whole point in life, I guess, is for me, is to try to leave the world in a better place than you found it,” he said.
This comes weeks after Harry told the Evening Standard [3] about this “awakening” his biracial wife gave him about racial issues.
“I wasn’t aware of so many of the issues and so many of the problems within the U.K. and also globally as well. I thought I did but I didn’t,” he admitted. Harry went on to say that he feels that a big problem is representation in all areas of life.
“You know, when you go in to a shop with your children and you only see white dolls, do you even think: ‘That’s weird, there is not a Black doll there?’” Harry said. “And I use that as just one example of where we as white people don’t always have the awareness of what it must be like for someone else of a different colored skin, of a Black skin, to be in the same situation as we are where the world that we know has been created by white people for white people.”
This piece originally appeared in UpliftingToday.com [4] and is used by permission.
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