Meghan Markle Reveals Her Personal Experience With Racism In Resurfaced 2012 PSA

For the past couple years Meghan Markle hasn’t been allowed to speak out about anything political or controversial. And while all that has changed, so has her relationship with the media — and not for the better.

So to get her honest take on what’s going on in America right now, it helps to travel back in time, to the year 2012. As an actress on the USA Network show Suits, she participated in a PSA series called “I Won’t Stand For…” by the charity group Erase The Hate.

In the recently resurfaced video, she wore a T-shirt that read, “I Won’t Stand For Racism,” and spoke openly and honestly about her own experiences as a biracial woman in the US and Canada.

She began:

“My name’s Meghan Markle and I’m here because I think it’s a really important campaign to be a part of. For me, I think it hits a really personal note. I’m bi-racial, most people can’t tell what I’m mixed with and so much of my life has felt like being a fly on the wall. And so some of the slurs that I’ve heard or the really offensive jokes, or the names, it’s just hit me in a really strong way.”

Oof. That’s rough. When racists think they’re no longer in mixed company and show their true colors? It’s a sad lesson. She continued:

“And then, you know, a couple of years ago I heard someone call my mom the N word. So I think for me, beyond being personally affected by racism, just to see the landscape of what our country is like right now, and certainly the world, and to want things to be better.”

Oh man, past Meghan has a difficult few years coming up…

She then spoke about her time traveling and filming in other places, like Toronto, explaining:

“Leaving LA was sort of like leaving this bubble where I was used to everything, and had been exposed to everything except for a closed mindedness that I experienced when I traveled outside of where I was from. And I think that in doing that it just really opened my eyes to a mentality that still exists that I thought was backdated to the days of when my grandfather moved our family from Cleveland to LA, and they drove across the country and to stop and get food, whatever kind of place they were going to, and they had to go round the back to get food for the family. You know, I thought that was really isolated to those days that we were past, and sadly they’re not.”

Finally, she spoke about her hopes for the future — and for the time she has children…

“I am really proud of my heritage on both sides, I’m really proud of where I’ve come from and where I’m going. But yeah, I hope that by the time I have children, that people are even more open-minded to how things are changing and that having a mixed world is what it’s all about. I mean certainly, it makes it a lot more beautiful and a lot more interesting.”

Sadly the world into which Meghan has welcomed the beautiful biracial baby Archie is demonstrably less safe and secure than in 2012.

And she’s experienced racism on a whole other level thanks to her international fame and entry into the British Royal family.

We can’t help but wonder how 2020 Meghan would respond to seeing what her younger self had to say? Would she be hopeful? Or heartbroken? How does it make YOU feel??

See for yourself (below):