Meghan Markle has paid a moving tribute to George Floyd, the unarmed black man whose death in police custody sparked nationwide protests, as she reflected on her own memories of racism when growing up in Los Angeles.
The wife of Prince Harry admitted she had been nervous to break her silence on the demonstrations sweeping the United States, but said in a video message she “realized the only wrong thing to say is to say nothing.”
“George Floyd’s life mattered,” said Markle, whose mother is black, before listing the names of other African Americans killed by police, and expressing support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
Death of 46-year-old African-American man George Floyd who was arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit banknote on May 25 has sparked protests across major cities in the US.
A Minneapolis policeman accused of killing unarmed Floyd by kneeling on his neck was taken into custody on Friday and charged with third-degree murder. Three other officers with him have been fired but for now face no charges.
A video taken by a bystander shows officer officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on his neck as he is pinned to the ground. Floyd who was unarmed and handcuffed, pleaded that he could not breathe. He was soon after declared dead at a nearby hospital last Monday.
Los Angeles, where Markle now lives with the prince and their son Archie after quitting the British royal family, has been a focus of the marches, with 10,000 protesters flooding the streets of downtown on Wednesday alone.
In the video, Markle described the scenes in Los Angeles as “devastating.”
“I remember the curfew and I remember rushing back home and on that drive home, seeing ash fall from the sky and smelling the smoke and seeing the smoke billow out of buildings,” Markle further added.
The widespread resort to uniformed National Guards units is rare, and it evoked disturbing memories of the rioting in US cities in 1967 and 1968 in a turbulent time of protest over racial and economic disparities.
President Donald Trump blamed the extreme left for the violence and said that rioters were dishonoring the memory of Floyd.
Floyd’s killing was seen as the latest example of police brutality against African Americans, which gave rise six years ago to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Markle and Harry have spoken of their desire to “to do something of meaning, to do something that matters,” in California, where they plan to launch a wide-ranging non-profit organization named Archewell.
In April, they handed out meals to chronically ill people in Los Angeles during the coronavirus lockdown.
The couple announced they were pulling back from their British royal roles in January and officially resigned in April.
(With inputs from agency)