Yesterday, we learned that Meghan Markle had been targeted in some kind of anthrax-scare plot. Someone sent a package containing white powder to Kensington Palace. The package was intercepted and it never reached Meghan or Prince Harry. I actually gave the sender a moment of doubt – I thought it was possible that Meghan and Harry were both being targeted, that it possibly an anti-monarchy or anti-government thing. But no. It was directed at Meghan and there was a racist note involved:
Police say they are treating as a racist hate crime a letter containing white powder sent to Meghan Markle, which sparked an anthrax scare. The letter was received this month at St James’s Palace in central London. The powder inside was found to be harmless after being examined by experts.
It is understood the package contained a racist note and was received on 12 February. In a statement, Scotland Yard said: “Officers are also investigating an allegation of malicious communications, which relates to the same package, and it is being treated as a racist hate crime.”
The force added: “The matter is being investigated by officers from the Met’s counter-terrorism command.”
God this sucks. I pointed out yesterday that the British dailies have been extra-crazy with the entrance of Meghan on the scene, and that there seems to be a lot of pearl-clutching and not-so-subtle racist dog-whistling in the British media. They’ve fueled this, and they really need to take it down SEVERAL notches. British security expert Robert Jobson spoke to Us Weekly about how Meghan and Harry are probably going to have increased security from here on out:
Royal officials are now taking the necessary precautions to protect the engaged pair. “Meghan is just a lovely woman who wants to marry the man she loves, she’s hurting no one,” British security expert Robert Jobson exclusively told Us Weekly on Thursday. “This will have an impact on security to just make them more aware that there could be a threat.”
Robson also explained how Markle’s security team will backtrack in an effort to prevent future threats. “These things to happen and have happened, there’s a reason that there’s an extra layer of security regarding letters and things sent to the royal family,” he noted. “Her security could be looking into the crowds for this one person who is possibly targeting her, being more careful about her in public and likely go back and review any public statements she’s made as of late to see if there could have been a trigger. But most likely this person is just sick.”
It’s my hope that Meghan doesn’t allow these a–holes to limit her or her role. I know it’s scary and awful, but I hope she just continues living and doing what she’s been doing and doesn’t take the advice of “we need you to keep a lower profile now.” Thankfully, soon after the the anthrax-letter news came out, Meghan and Harry’s office confirmed that they will be attending a joint event with William and Kate next Wednesday. The Cambridges, Meghan and Harry will be launching the first annual Royal Foundation Forum. So we’ll probably be getting some additional photos of Kate and Meghan together. Something to look forward to.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Backgrid and Pacific Coast News.
Poor Meghan, I’m so sorry for her.
Me, too.
+ 1000
Same. Can you imagine dealing with this in the run-up to such a happy event?! Some people are so hateful a friggin’ wedding fills them with rage. Awful.
I’m concerned for Meghan too. When I scrolled down, the very first comment I saw on the Daily Mail read: “Good, I hope this wipes that smug smirk off her face for good.”
It was really disturbing! The people who hate Meghan are OBSESSED with hating her. Making up elaborate delusions about Meghan faking the whole relationship and photoshopping herself into photos with him, that Meghan was a stalker, and Prince Charles would have her arrested if she ever set foot in The UK, etc. Now they’re saying the marriage will never happen, the Queen will stop it, etc. How far is it from hateful obsession like that, to sending racist death threats?
DM is full of paid trolls paid to rachet up racial tension. It isn’t even worth reading some comment sections anymore unless you are aware of that and the bots.
I’m legitimately scared for her. I know they have the best security possible, but JFK had the Secret Service…
I wonder if this will affect the planned carriage ride through Windsor on the wedding day?
It’s so awful that this is even a discussion in 2018.
My friends and I attribute incidents such as these to the Trump phenomenon: how all the world’s circus freaks — the racists, the Nazis, etc. — are all out in the open now. Before, it was considered embarassing and taboo to be a racist. Now it’s a “political viewpoint.” I sometimes come to this webpage just to breathe a little bit, like Hogwarts has been taken over by Dolores Umbridge and this is a meeting of Dumbledore’s Army.
@phaedra — Dumbledore’s Army! Count me in!
Yes. Because of the Trumpian climate, the fringe has become mainstream. That’s why, when before conspiracy theories about faked school shootings were relatively confined to lunatics like Alex Jones, now it’s acceptable for your friends to share them on Facebook. It’s horrible. I hold on to the hope that moving the fringe to the mainstream is the universe’s way of purging it all out for good.
Agreed. There have always been people invested in the argument that racism is a different ‘political viewpoint’ that just has to be shown the same tolerance as any other viewpoint in order to protect free speech, because slippery slope fallacy, yadda yadda yadda. But it’s worse now.
Very true, we have Brexit over here which is very similar.
Did I imagine the common market referendum in 1975? The principle of “ever closer union” was in the 1957 Treaty of Rome, so it’s not like we didn’t know what we were signing up to.
Grumpy is going to be grumpy for real when the costs of racist nationalist rhetoric start to slam the UK economy. And it will hurt.
It is like the people who voted for it still think the sun never sets on the British Empire. By Jove it does. No empire. No colonies. No reason to buy British exports when they are more expensive than products from the EU or elsewhere. How do you think banking will fare? Did the voters understand how that changes investments and the exchange rates?
I wouldn’t be surprised if Scotland and maybe Ireland eventually DO break when this turns out as the economists predict.
It will be time to roll out the seventies UK punk and get angsty again.
Girl, not sure where you live in. This isn’t something to blame on Trump, this is NOT a new phenomena by any means. I am of Mexican-Spanish origin, naturalized American and i have been discriminated equally by Mexican and American people. I’m too effing white to be accepted as Mexican yet too effing dark to fit some racist white circles. When i lived in Walker Louisiana the african americans there were very outwardly despising of me and i was also warned that i lived in a well known KKK area so i’d have to watch my back. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place. Nobody seems to ever be pleased. At first i was so disheartened…but i learned that it is a fact of life anywhere in the world. I call myself a citizen of the world yet i have had the hardest time fitting in anywhere i go. So i thought “eff this, i’m going to be my wonderful hybrid, different self wherever i go and my own self acceptance, the acceptance of my family and true friends is enough for me”. There are all sorts of discrimination out there and some are more publcised and politicaly encouraged. I bet most people have been discriminated one way or the other at least at one point in their life, but this has been going on since the beginning of humanity. I wonder if it may be an instinct that only an accepting open mind can override and overlook.
Lol, too white for mexicans? Who told you that. I’ve meet redheads, extremely white people and people treated them better than brown people. Mexico is racists towards brown and indigenous people. I am light brown but sometimes family surprises me with some comments and not in a good way. Most people thing having a light skin bf or GF is to make the family prettier.
@SNAP, I empathize (hug). I’m a European woman, Caucasian, mainstream Christian though non-practicant. I’ve been socially discriminated against in all foreign countries (in Europe and outside Europe) I’ve lived in with no exception whatsoever for race, language, religion, social status, gender, in different combinations and for different reasons. Never to the point that my physical safety would be threatened but I’ve been through many unpleasant situations. I’ve become pretty good at understanding discrimination and I think that nowadays it’s a sort of social construct. In my experience it’s mainly affected by education and experience and worldviews. In some countries it’s validated through very powerful religious and cultural traditions, in others by the almighty freedom of expression at a systemic level. Some bias is inevitable but it can be eventually lessened through getting to know and accept or tolerate (I hate this word!!!!!!) differences.
SNAP, not saying it didn’t exist before Trump, just saying it was less frequently out in the open, i.e., in the headlines on a daily basis. Very sorry to hear that happened to you.
Steph, no one is denying the colourism exists but please stop trying to play oppression Olympics and deny other POC’s experiences. I am mixed race and I definitely experienced racism and rejection from both sides.
Agree with what Meggles said.
Statistics have shown 45’s election has caused a rise in hate crimes.
Fact.
No one said he invented it.
I have experienced oppression and bigotry too and I have never been more aware of it as I have been since he began running for office.
SNAP
I find it extraordinarily, mind bendingly hard to believe that an entire community of black people in the south would despise you. I don’t disbelieve you because it’s your story but I can’t help but think you’re exaggerating. Poc just don’t roll like that in the south. I know because on Fridays it’s my turn to speak for them 😉
At any rate I’m sorry you had to experience that. My aunt and cousins are very fair Latinos with hazel eyes so I’m familiar with what you’re saying. However the op isn’t saying Trump invented racism or intolerance, just that now it’s not limited to pockets of ignorant rabble or relegated to dismissable extremist groups.
Yes Enough Already,
I’m trying to imagine African Americans in Louisiana (of all places?!) despising a “Mexican-Spanish” American. Louisiana was once ruled by the Spanish and folks there know it. There are historic ties to Mexico on the Gulf Coast. Black people in Louisiana look “brown” and “white,” so what are you talking about? And southern black people are KNOWN for their hospitality, in part a gift from the places in Africa from which these folk are descended.
Wisca
Yasss. Preach. It just feels like an attempt by the poor, pale girl to bang on about how all of the big, dark, mean baddies of the world are so big, dark, mean and bad. Sigh. Meghan sure has some folks rattled around here.
@Enough Already. @SNAP’s feelings are legitimate as per their own experience. I think it’s wrong to think they’re exaggerating. I for one have been discriminated by entire communities and not just once. Other people around the world are discriminated against based on their race, colour, ethnicity in the communities where they live. That’s *a fact*. It’s wrong to downplay legitimate feelings of a person with regards to discriminatory behaviour against them.
Soulspa
I was being honest when I said that I think she is exaggerating and I was being honest when I said that her experience was her own and I am sorry that it happened to her and that she had to go through that. To say that I don’t think she is exaggerating would be a lie because there is nothing in me that believes that discrimination is on an equal, level playing field. Bigotry, intolerance and discrimination are not colorblind and I will not water down the struggle for poc by pretending that racism is generic. Communities of black people do not despise anyone, in particular or in general. I don’t have scientific data but I will stand by this. I do believe the OP had a bad experience where she lived and I do believe that this includes negative interactions with other poc and that this had an effect on her. But she was not a target of racism. I can’t force myself to structure my response to her along those lines because for me it would be disingenuous.
Enough Already,
Thank you for refusing to submit to ahistorical notions of racism and for your honesty.
As a half Louisianan, I find SNAP’s post hard to believe as well. Creoles of color, a historical term, were nearly white looking. Loads of black people in Louisiana are hard to pin down because they just look a little ethnic. I have dark skinned whites that look Latino on that side of my family and suspiciously African features on some older relatives who are no longer alive. But I say Mmmmhmmm knowingly when I look at their photos.
Of all the states in the south, Louisiana has a unique history. So I am not convinced en masse SNAP experienced this.
Black Louisianans have discriminated historically against dark-skinned black people if anything. Creoles of color enjoyed benefits and rights that other POC did not. In fact, they were socially above my lowly Acadian swamp dwelling kin. But keeping it light was a hard rule, and they followed it.
Suzanne Malveaux: http://liverampup.com/entertainment/never-been-married-cnn-s-suzanne-malveaux-not-needing-husband-to-support-her-family.html
Her father: http://www.malveauxmission.org/cms/assets/uploads/2013/07/Dr-Floyd-Malveaux_headshot.jpg
Her mother: http://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/130628145551-iyw-suzanne-and-mom-story-top.jpg
Shailene Woodley’s ancestry is a typical mix of Spanish, African, White, Creole on one side. Her Creole grandfather and white grandmother: http://bayoubohemia.net/genealogy/showmedia.php?mediaID=597&medialinkID=1173
Beyonce’s mother is a good example, and she is part Acadian like me. There are many many stories like this, and they are typical and not the exception.
I just can’t see getting the side eye there by a lot of people to make it an all around typical experience. I am not saying it never happened, but I am saying I am very surprised and curious.
🙋🏼♀️ Me too!!
It’s sucks because she seems to really thrive in crowds and now for that to be a threat, is just awful.
I remember at the Edinburgh engagements harry was more protective than usual and they were the day after this happened. She also seemed a bit more nervous at times and her security was sticking closer to her than normal when she was meeting the crowds outside. Poor thing. It must have been terrifying.
Yes, the security in Edinburgh was very tight. When I noticed it, I thought that they had gotten threads of some sort. And yes, the DM is definitely fuelling this racism.
I hope Celebitchy reconsiders linking to the Daily Mail. I was shocked when I clicked on a recent link and it took me to the DM site. They should be seen as what they are: a racist, nativist rag contributing to an atmosphere of hate.
+100
I’m afraid. I couldn’t go out and shake hands of strangers.
Imagine what could happen. Someone in the growd throws acid at you or has a gun or a knife.
There was some story a few months ago that little George get’s death threats.
I believe, that every single person of that crowd was thoroughly checked by the security people before they were allowed on the place, where they would meet Meghan and Harry.
Yes, just what I was thinking. They carried on as normal at Edinburgh, knowing that there are some people out there with vile intentions.
Hmmm, there is also a Robert Jobson who is a royal reporter for one of the British papers.
I feel so sorry for her.
This is so sad, scary and infuriating all at the same time.
I do wish commentators (Media etc.) would stop diminishing this kind of threat by referring to perpetrators as “just” being “sick” or a nutjob.”
First, it’s unfair to most people with a mental illness.
Second, and more important to me, it implies that racism cannot coexist with otherwise rational actors. It can and it does because it’s normalized. Nazi Germany wasn’t a country full of nutjobs. It was a country that normalized and legitimized racism. And that’s what we see happening again in many parts of the once-white world.
Third, I guess, is that it minimizes the threat by association with a stigmatized group. Each threat must be taken seriously no matter what the source.
No wonder Harry is so protective of her.
I agree.
Agree with everything you wrote. Well said.
Thanks for stating this. I read the thread on this story yesterday and I found the comments really frustrating in their dismissiveness about the seriousness of the situation, and the racism involved in it.
Well said. There’s no excuse for racist behavior.
Concur, and IMO it’s shameful that people are trying to minimize the threats and this crime as just par for the course. From the mail handler to a random child in the crowd, other innocent lives could be at risk. I really hope this couple can weather the storm; they don’t deserve this kind of stress and hatred despite how people like to say, “he/she signed up for it”.
THIS! Also, I think its a bit unfair to say she should “ignore the haters” and keep her life as normal going out for events. This is legitimately scary and if she wants or is advised to keep a low profile until she feels safe then she should.
Thanks, once in a while it’s nice to have even anonymous others say they agree with me. I have felt like a Cassandra pointing out some of these things and there are plenty of people who still want to think it’s an ‘over reaction’ to react to real-world racism and violence. It’s been so distressing so uncover racism and other biases even in people I know (and liked!) and it’s affected longtime friendships. At this point, I feel as if denial itself is another manifestation. Anyone can be turned and propaganda works.
watp
You rock! The Cassandra reference also made me squeal 🙂
I don’t understand the Cassandra reference. Would anyone fill me in? Thanks.
Soulspa: Cassandra is a woman in greek mythology who was cursed with the ability to make true prophecies and or true outcomes of a situation, and no one believing her.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassandra
When someone says they feel like Cassandra, they are saying they predicted a situation correctly, and no one believed them.
Exactly. It’s scary.
Get out, Meghan!
Never. Racist white f*cks dont get to win anymore. She is going to marry her prince, have multiracial royal babies if she wants who may or may not be darker than her and haters can drown in their bitter tears and internet comments.
A biracial friend of mine recently pointed this out to me. They could probably get on bord with her but not with the fact that there will be “beige royal babies” (her words, not mine). It hadn’t occurred to me that that could be the real issue.
ITA that the racists don’t get to win. Meghan gets to live the life she wants. BUUUUT . . . it’s always bothered me that she’s expected to give up so much. He’s not even in line for the throne. Why can’t they just be normal rich people with last names and voting rights and stuff? (Mostly a rhetorical question. I know why, but he could give up the title and still be a global voice for his causes, couldn’t he?).
@ Krill
Agree with you 1,000,000%. No way these racist pigs get to dictate anything about that relationship. I say a prayer for her everyday for her safety AND her fertility. I want her to have at least 2 babies, the browner the better, so the royal family can finally experience what it means to have some colour. The UK will be better for it.
Lol “Get ‘em Grandpa”
Littlemiss naughty, genetics is a ‘funny’ thing. A friend of mine sister (who is black) had two children with her husband (who is black). The first looked like Meghan (lighter than both parents) while the second looked like Whoopie ( darker than both parents)…🤷
That happened to my second cousin. He and his wife are fair. Their first son was fair with a smattering of freckles but their second was dark skinned. The mom is the one who got strange looks, unfortunately. People don’t understand genetics.
Genetics is weird. Very.
You look at my siblings and me, and we look like family, we have similarish coloring and features, but I pulled out of the genetic pool things that are unusual. I look a lot like a relative of another generation, and it spooked my older relatives out.
Then I have a lone ginger child. ???
My biracial godchildren are fair to brown. My biracial cousins are very fair though one parent is medium brown. Then a European-Asian family we are close to, Asian father, multi racial mother and whoa the children pulled out some surprises with their looks.
But even another friend who is black and whose partner is black, their children grabbed their skin tones and features from many places. One of the grandparents is full Indigenous.
Love is a beautiful thing when people just follow their hearts.
I hope he’s worth going through all this. Not only does she not have as much freedom as she use to have but to deal crazies wanting to harm her oh no. It’s not too late for her to change her mind and get out of there.
That’s true about the freedom. But most celebrities have problems with stalkers and other crazy people. In her new job she get a lot more protection than a lot of politicians or celebrities.
Honestly, I couldn’t do it.
What would that gain her? A life without the man she loves AND the people who hate her would keep hating her, maybe continue threatening her. See what has been written on here about the lingering poor treatment of Chelsy and Cressida.
I agree with you except poor treatment isn’t the same as a death threat. Besides a few nosey articles Chelsy and Cressida have not suffered beyond a bit of media intrusion. The attention has kept Chelsy in the It Girl section of papers and helped promote her crappy jewelry line. Don’t get me started on thirsty Cressida. Of course Meghan should not change her life but her situation is vastly different from Harry’s other exes.
We’re not disagreeing EA. I’m pointing out that years after the breakups, there are still people who attack and criticize Harry’s exes. MM’s treatment has been far worse, but leaving Harry wouldn’t stop some people from continuing to attack her.
Nota
Actually it would be worse. The headlines would scream that Harry comes to his senses, Granny intervenes or Meghan realizes she’s punching above her weight or some other drivel as opposed to Harry left broken hearted again yada yada.
@petty @minx
She’s an intelligent well-rounded young woman and a working actress by profession- she also happens to be of mixed race heritage. I’m pretty sure she understands the pitfalls of fame, and the ugliness of racism, as well as anyone.
How exactly is she escaping other people’s vile i ugliness if she’s not with the man she loves?
I guess you would have told Mildred Loving of the Lovings VS state of Virgina, to ‘get out of there,’ (her marriage to white Richard Loving that eventually felled ugly miscegenation laws) back in the early 60s?
Or yes @minx, maybe YOU couldn’t do it- but many of us are very glad and grateful to all of the people who CAN DO IT and do, everyday – because in no small way, collectively, it does defeat hatred, stupidity and racism and enhances life for the rest of it. We must never back down and let them win.
See Rosa Parks, The Lovings, and just from last year…#HeatheyHyer (hero) and the Charlottesville Nazi Trump Tiki Torchers.
You know…it’s ok to wonder if you personally would have the intestinal fortitude to have to deal with sick bs sometimes for the man you love and to represent yourself with dignity in a world stage where you may encountered hate. Not everyone can do it. Not everyone could be Michelle Obama, Angelina Jolie, or Oprah or Hillary.
What I find despicable are the gaslighters who discourage the brave ones, who low key try to discourage the ones with fortitude–by knowingly/deliberately (or unknowingly) are out here assisting the haters.
Reminds me of the undercover bigotry of old where seemingly well meaning people back in the day used to boo-hoohoo for the kids of interracial unions (but what about the children… Waaah!) – even as they put a for sale sign up on their house when a black or interracial family moved in next door.
Hey, I admire her for taking all that on–the structure, the rules, always being “on.” I couldn’t.
Petty,”people will hate you just to hate you”. The hate is REAL. My mother’s mother (black) abandoned her because my mother looked ‘too white’. My maternal great grandmother was racist against white people. My paternal grandfather’s family didn’t want my mother because she was ‘too black’ (they were from the ‘South’)… so she was ‘adopted’ and raised by people who loved her…years later (after my mother had acquired wealth) they all came ‘running back’ proclaiming their love…
Just to point out there is bigotry and discrimination but no reverse racism, imho. My maternal great grandmother was an orphan until she was five because that’s how long it took to find a family light enough to take her in and at one point the local church considered sending her to an orphanage in New Orleans. Darker families were afraid of the risk – imagine being a black father, brother, uncle or cousin and running into an ignorant group of angry white men while walking through town with a green eyed girl who looks white. In North Carolina. In the 1920s.
Man, that sucks.
Can you imagine one year you are acting on your show, living happily and mostly privately, and the next year getting anthrax in the mail? It IS a racist hate crime.
Right! Harry and his institution are not worth it. I don’t feel sorry for her though. She shouldn’t be racially abused but she would be really naive to think what the media printed about her and her mother was going to stop. The crazy internet trolls and conservative media will drag her every chance they get.
To you @Sage, to YOU, Harry is not a worth it. You’re not Meghan.
Many women wouldn’t want to live the rest of their lives as a symbolic representative of the monarchy, with protocol, and children, and the constant never ending drag of knowing your private life is literally for public consumption. They couldn’t do what Kate Middleton, or any of the other royals do either- did Diana strike you as a happy person? She was a bulemic and miserable in a loveless marriage. it seems thankless and unrewarding to me.
So I wouldn’t do it for all the reasons stated above- loss of privacy, public demands a etc.
But I sure as hail wouldn’t let some batty jealous racist ninny run me off from the man I love and give them what they want. That’s crazy.
The scariest part is that no level of protection can really protect you. I think of Reagan and JFK, with best protection in the world. Scary!!! This marriage would not be worth it to me.
@Sage, please don’t make mean comments about Prince Harry, he didn’t do nothing wrong!! If he and Meghan love each other, that should be enough for everyone. People need to stop trying to convince Meghan or Harry to leave each other, it’s not gonna happen!!
Actually she said that she was DM’d death threats when it came out on the show that her dad was black. So her last life wasn’t entirely champagne and roses.
@Kaiser, iirc we don’t usually get photos of the Foundation meetings. Those are closed door. The only photo we got one year was Kate Middleton out shopping DURING the meeting instead of attending it.
@bluhare, check the website for the MHz Networks. Depending on where you live you *may* find it included in your tv package around the other PBS stations. It gives you access to scheduled programs including EuroNews, Deutsche Welle News, Africa Today, CHC News out of China, France 24 News.
@nota Do you know where will this Foundation Forum be held? KP?
Sick mofos.
This is awful. It is sad that there are still people in the world that think and behave this way.
This is part of the reason why I am close to a nervous breakdown. It is 2018. And racists. I just. cannot.
Celebrities have to have security these days too, given all the crazies who stalk them. No doubt Meghan had security when attending high profile events, but she will discover, that being a royal means living in a gilded cage. No more popping out to the local Starbucks when you have crazies riding around London throwing acid and beating people up. It is a lavish lifestyle, but I predict she will not go the distance, as the palace grey men will clip her wings. I can’t see Meghan sacrificing her entire life to Great Britain.
How awful. I hope they are able to find whomever is behind this and lock them up. Just look at how they look at each other! What is so broken in a person that you could hate on that? I really like them as a couple and my god does she ever have a beautiful head of hair.
Well…there is a vaccine for that.
Perhaps they should consider taking it.
I had it. I had no choice but it sucks.
There is a series of 6 shots.
When the Medic tells you to start rubbing as hard as you can as soon as he pulls the needle… DO IT.
You are still going to have a big hot lump in your arm for every shot. You won’t be able to sleep on that side for awhile so choose wisely and it was never tested on women of child bearing age, so, you might want to keep the birth control handy for a year or so.
Still! I’d rather have the vaccine than effin Anthrax.
When I worked at the residence of the Governor General in Ottawa, a similar thing happened: white powder was sent in an envelope addressed to the then-GG, Michaëlle Jean. It didn’t make the news or anything, but I heard that it really freaked out the staff member who opened the envelope and was “exposed” to the powder before knowing what it was.