Long before she married Prince Harry, Meghan Markle served as an advocate for important issues.
Take this newly resurfaced video, for example, which was filmed in 2012 as part the USA Network’s “Characters Unite: ‘I Won’t Stand For’” campaign. The clip shows the Duchess of Sussex—who is wearing an “I Won’t Stand for Racism” tee—talking about her personal experience as a biracial woman.
“My name is Meghan Markle, and I’m here because I think it’s a really important campaign to be a part of,” she says to the camera. “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.”
Markle goes on to explain why she’s proud of her heritage, adding, “Quite honestly, your race is part of what defines you. I think what shifts things is that the world really treats you based on how you look.”
The duchess concludes the video with a hopeful message. “I’m really proud of my heritage on both sides. I’m really proud of where I come from and where I’m going,” she says. “But, yeah, I hope that 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. I mean, certainly, it makes it a lot more beautiful and a lot more interesting.”
Now that she’s a mom to Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, this hits home even more.
