I am admittedly not a big #royalwedding aficionado, and I realize some will say it’s an unpopular time to call attention to this, but (YOLO) what I found fascinating about the media blitz surrounding #MeghanMarkle had nothing to do with her status, her dress, or her freckles (although they’re adorable, as is she). It is the media’s sudden embrace of the term “biracial” that has intrigued me most. It marks a first in my lifetime actually. Think about it: in the case of virtually every other “biracial” celebrity we know—many of whom marked historic “firsts,” from President Obama to Halle Berry—the media has used the term “black” to describe them. In most cases, they self-identify that way, too. While we know race is a social construct and racial identity is personal to an extent, in America, one’s lived racial experience is mostly dictated by perception. Your skin tone, hair texture, and other physical characteristics ultimately determine how you are seen, labeled, and treated in the world. In a society that once imposed the “paper bag test” and the “one drop rule,” most of us were never given the chance to choose. We were labeled. Until recently, U.S. Census forms still asked us to check a box: black or white. This in spite of an awareness of the rise of interracial families globally. But, until now, it seemed we weren’t ready to acknowledge them. With the emergence of Meghan Markle, who could arguably pass as “white,” we are forced to see the nuance of racial identity, and to finally embrace the pronounced existence of mixed-race families as part of the beautiful tapestry of our history. On one hand that, to me, feels triumphant and necessary. Seeing a white-passing woman with her black mother as they are ushered into the royal family is an image that will have an indelible impression on us all—whether we verbalize it or not. On the other hand, and some might call this cynical, I can’t help but wonder if Meghan’s skin tone were a few shades deeper, or if she had worn her naturally curly hair, would we be making space for her biraciality? Would the royal family have been ready for its first unequivocally black princess? The moment begs the question.
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