Meghan Markle and Megan Thee Stallion: A Tale of Two Megs

First, the Duchess of Sussex.

In the Netflix documentary Harry & MeghanMarkle talks about her life before and after her marriage to the British colonial empire.

The racist abuse Markle received from the media, death threats and lack of royal protection was so terrible that she and Harry gave up and left England and the company. his family.

Next, female rap singer.

Megan Thee Stallion (real name Megan Pete) was in court to testify against Tory Lanez (real name Daystar Peterson), who she alleges shot her in the leg in 2020.

For two years, Megan Thee Stallion has endured accusations that she fabricated the plot, that it was her fault for getting into a relationship with Lanez (who has pleaded not guilty), and for all other nonsense.

Nesrine Malik’s guard unimpressed with the kind of attention Markle has attracted, arguing that focusing on a wealthy woman’s plight distracts from conversations we should have about racial inequality and how it harms really vulnerable people.

“If one thing is clear from their recent documentary,” Malik writes of Harry & Meghan“It’s not that they give up their unentitled royal rights, but they’re angry that they can’t claim it.”

They are nonetheless becoming “unofficial ambassadors” for race relations in the UK, she said – although they are “not a reflection of the country’s successes or the solution to the conflicts”. its crisis”.

Malik refused on the grounds that Markle was too privileged to be taken seriously.

As for Megan Thee Stallion, her personal history with Lanez and other men was used to downplay the gravity of her accusations. As Jemele Hill wrote in Atlantic: “The implication that Pete is both a promiscuous man and a bad friend – notions that have the potential to erode sympathy for a woman who, in her raps, glorifies sexual freedom. her sexuality.”

Meghan and Megan’s critics have missed an important point – it’s important to pay attention to their testimony, because they give us the opportunity to talk about the specific danger Black women must face-to-face, regarding white racism and male sexism.

Both Megs said the abuse they suffered made them wish they were dead.

In the Netflix documentary, Harry says he blamed stress from media pressure for Markle’s miscarriage in 2020.

Megan Thee Stallion, trying to prove what happened to her, went so far as to share photos of her injured foot on social media.

Megs’ stories also show how difficult it is for Black women to be caught between a rock and a place as a victim of abuse.

When the police, responding to a call to cause trouble, arrived and found Megan Thee Stallion covered in blood, she said, her first instinct was not to ask for help but to cover for Lanez.

“He shot me and I’m still trying to protect him,” she said in 2020, “because the police are killing us.”

Markle recounted in the documentary that she and Harry were supposed to keep quiet and uphold the institution of the royal family at all costs – even if the family was actively contributing to harm. As Harry said: “We’ve been fed to the wolves.”

When it comes to the abuse of Black women, the real conversations we fear to have are those about real misogynoir soldiers.

In Markle’s case, the documentary notes that a large number of social media accounts launching and amplifying attacks against her have been attributed to white women.

In the case of Megan Thee Stallion, most of the jokes and defamation came from Black men in the hip-hop industry.

Those who should be allies of Black women against sexism and racism are often the ones doing the most damage.

If a light-skinned, mixed-race duchess and a Grammy-winning Black female artiste aren’t safe from White women or Black men, what about the rest of us?