Simone Yasmin - poet.

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Ode to Meghan

They ask me, again, why I’m playing the race card,
and I tell them I’m not playing –
but yes – this is the race card;
and now I’m laying all my cards, flat out
blunt and openly on the table.
Yes, this is the race card,
because the media’s still separating the black suits from the pack,
laughing and calling us black jacks,
always reminding us that there’s no black in the Union Jack
(just black backs).
And, calling us the United Kingdom,
was the greatest pretense of Great Britain,
because we’re a nation divided,
so undecided, when it comes to race.
So, I tell them, that I’m not afraid of playing the race card,
when I say, strongly, that Meghan and Harry
leaving the Royal Family,
is only partly to do with divorce and America,
but every bit to do with race.
It seems we prematurely rang the bells of progression,
too quick to praise the Royal Family for welcoming change.
But Princess Diana died in ’97 and these things have not changed.
This is not progression.
This is blatant oppression.
And now, I praise Meghan – even more than before – for taking herself away,
and removing herself from these toxic British tabloids,
before they removed her;
valuing her sanity and self-worth,
over her publicity and likeability.
We chant,
LOOK FOR THE SIGNS, LOOK FOR THE SIGNS, LOOK FOR THE SIGNS.
A society so obsessed with mental health,
but still you can’t see that she’s hurting?
Can’t the media see, that it’s not all sticks and stones,
and that those words really do matter?
Baby Archie had only been in the world 3 days, before he was branded a chimp;
3 DAYS OLD and already labelled.
And I’ve seen countless headlines comparing Meghan to Kate,
and Kate to Meghan, and back again.
Fashion: sleek and chic on Kate,
but shunned and bashed,
as ‘too Hollywood’ on Meghan.
And cradling her baby bump made Kate maternal,
but somehow translated as vain,
when Meghan did the same.
Only likened against a white backdrop,
I know the script.
The media distorts everything.
You don’t have to,
LOOK FOR THESE SIGNS, LOOK FOR THESE SIGNS, LOOK FOR THESE SIGNS.
Just open up your contently closed eyes
and read these manipulated tabloids.
Open your ears, but don’t just listen,
make sure you hear.
This is not subtle.
This is blatant oppression.
And I really do feel as a society we’re regressing;
and I’m not here to be the token angry black woman,
but it’s a conversation we need to be having.
I’m tired of playing the race card,
but you seem more afraid of seeing that card,
than you are of telling the truth.