MARKED WORDS
Meghan Markle ‘relived painful & personal memories’ as she spoke out against racism in video, says body language expert
MEGHAN Markle has spoken out about George Floyd’s death, and appeared to “relive painful and personal” memories, says a body language expert.
The Duchess of Sussex, 38, released the heartfelt message to the graduating class of her former high school, Immaculate Heart in LA, and said George’s “life mattered.”
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Body language expert Judi James said Meghan “spoke powerfully and movingly straight to camera, apparently without a script, drawing on her own experiences to make her message even more important.”
She told Fabulous: “She takes several large swallows that suggest building emotions like sadness and then when she talks about her own memories of the LA riots her body language style suggests she is reliving the experience as a visualization as she refers to actual, personal memory details like the smell of the smoke and the charred trees.”
In her video, Meghan said: “George Floyd’s life mattered and Breonna Taylor’s life mattered and Philando Castile’s life mattered and Tamir Rice’s life mattered… and so did so many other people whose names we know and whose names we do not know.”
She added: “I wasn’t sure what I could say to you. I wanted to say the right thing and I was really nervous that it would get picked apart.
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“And I realised the only wrong thing to say is to say nothing.”
Judi added that the duchess “didn’t over-act her emotions but the congruence in her body language makes them authentic and real”.
The body language expert said: “Her eye movement suggests she is creating her messages as she goes along rather than working from a prepared speech and this makes it look as though her thoughts come from the heart.
“At the start her greeting ‘eye smiles’ look warm but there are micro-flickers to announce she has some more serious and possible painful points to make.
“Meghan changes gear slightly for the last part of her talk when she gets to the motivational part of her message.
“Again this is very powerfully delivered straight to camera as she speaks firmly to the students about re-building.”
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The unarmed black man died in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota, last week after a cop was filmed kneeling on his neck during his arrest.
The tragedy sparked widespread outrage and protests which have spread across the US and around the world.
Meghan referred to a teacher from the school, who she says gave her the courage to speak out.
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She said: "I was thinking about this moment when I was a sophomore, I was 15... it’s the year we do volunteer work.
"And I remember one teachers, Ms Pollia, said to me, ‘always remember to put other’s’ needs above your own fears’.
"That has stuck with me throughout my entire life and I have thought about it more in the last week than ever before."
The former Suits star also remembered living through the 1992 LA riots after the police beating of black man Rodney King.
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She said: “I was 11 or 12 years old and it was the LA Riots, which was also triggered by senseless act of racism.
“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.
“I remember seeing men in the back of a van just holding guns and rifles.
“I remember pulling up at the house and seeing the tree, that had always been there, completely charred.
“And those memories don't go away.”
Floyd died on May 25 after being arrested for trying to use a fake $20 bill to buy cigarettes.
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On Tuesday, his daughter over her former partner's death, saying their six-year-old will never be walked down the aisle by her father.
Gigi also appeared in a video where she proudly declares "!" after her dad’s death sparked a global protest movement.
Meghan has previously spoken out about racism she has suffered being biracial - and spoke of the time her mum was called the N-word.
The then-actress Meghan, who had not yet married Prince Harry, adds in the poignant clip from 2012, that she hopes the world will have changed by the time she has kids.
The video is currently going viral, as protests against racial inequality continue in Britain as part of the Black Lives Matter movement.
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Meghan’s video was shot as part of a #IWontStandForRacism campaign, and features the future duchess speaking about her own experiences.
She says: “For me I think it hits a really personal note. I’m biracial, 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 I’ve heard, the really offensive jokes or the names, it has just hit me in a really strong way.
“A couple of years ago I heard someone call my mum the ‘n word’.
“So I think for me beyond being personally affected by racism, to see the landscape of what our country is like right now and certainly the world and to want things to be better.”
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Meghan, whose dad Thomas Markle is Caucasian and her mum Doria Ragland is African American, spoke of the accepting world she wanted her future kids to grow up in.
She said: “I am really proud of my heritage on both sides, I’m really proud of where I’ve come from and where I’m coming.
“But yeah I hope 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.
“Certainly it makes it a lot more beautiful and a lot more interesting.”
In the moving video, Meghan admitted that some people look at her differently when they find out her heritage.
THE BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT
As grieving relatives of George Floyd prepare to attend a memorial service in his honour in the US, protests against racial inequality continue in Britain.
Demos are planned in London, Manchester and Birmingham, calling for the end of police brutality as celebs including singer Harry Styles and comedian Paddy McGuinness say that Floyd's death "can't be in vain".
To say that the death of black American George Floyd has hit a nerve in the UK is a huge understatement.
After video showed white officer, Derek Chauvin, pressing his knee on the neck of the dying man - while he pleaded for air with his hands handcuffed behind him - horrified Brits vowed to “kneel for Floyd in solidarity with protesters in America”.
While tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets across the US, anti-racism demonstrations continue to be held in Britain, with people chanting "Black Lives Matter" and waving placards calling for justice.
London defied lockdown to host a protest on May 31, resulting in some protesters being arrested following scuffles with cops.
She said: “Certain people don’t look at me and see me as a black woman or a biracial woman.
“They treat me differently I think than they would if they knew what I was mixed with.
“That can be a struggle as much as it can be a good thing depending on the people you are dealing with.”
READ MORE SUN STORIES
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We shared how Meghan and Prince Harry’s Commonwealth Trust supports Black Lives Matter after London protest.
Meanwhile, Meghan has been secretly working with animal charity as it battles funding crisis during coronavirus lockdown.
Prince Harry gives nod to Meghan Markle as he praises young Brits for ‘surviving and thriving’ during pandemic in LA video call
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