Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, called for American high school graduates to help rebuild the country amid the ongoing nationwide protests on racial injustice, police brutality and systemic racism.
What happened:
Markle spoke in a video for the graduates of Immaculate Heart High School, her alma mater. She spoke Wednesday night.
Here are some quotes from Markle:
- “As we’ve all seen over the past week, what is happening in our country and in our state and in our hometown of L.A., has been absolutely devastating.”
- “I wasn’t sure what I could say to you. I wanted to say the right thing. I was really nervous that I wouldn’t, or that it would get picked apart and I realize the only wrong thing to say is to say nothing. Because 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.”
- “The first thing I want to say to you is that I’m sorry. I’m so sorry you have to grow up in a world where this is still present. I remember the curfew and I remember rushing and I remember the drive home and seeing ash fall from the sky. ... I remember seeing men in the back of a van holding guns and rifles and I remember pulling up to the house and seeing the tree that had always been there completely charred. Those memories don’t go away. I can’t imagine at 17 or 18 years old now, that you would have to have a different version of that same experience,” she said of living in Los Angeles during the riots in the wake of the violent beating of Rodney King at the hands of police in 1992.
- “I am so proud to call each of you a fellow alumni and I’m so eager to see what you are going to do. Please know that I’m cheering you on all along the way,” she said.
- “I know you know that black lives matter, so I am already excited for what you are going to do in the world, you are equipped, you are ready, we need you and you are prepared.”
- “I know sometimes people say, ‘how many times do we need to rebuild.’ Well, you know what? We are going to rebuild and rebuild and rebuild until it is rebuilt. Because when the foundation is broken, so are we.”