The Brexit Britain Era — Diversity, Meghan Markle, & Hypersensitivity

Modern Britain has moved forward in many ways and views itself as a pioneer in arts, culture and ethics. No matter what injustices may play out, the response can always be, “in another country, it’s a lot worse”. This room for error is not usually supposed to be examined due to the belief that Britain has given so much to the world and hasn’t received much in return. Which in turn makes foreign people who benefit from Britain in any way ‘lucky’ to have the opportunity to do so.

This superiority complex is what I believe to be the main unspoken aspect of British culture. In the need to appear humble, it is extremely rare that you will hear this superiority complex actually exists within Britain. I use Meghan Markle as my example in this explanation. I understand that she somewhat holds privilege for her position, but she is in the public eye and people will be able to notice these parallels in their everyday lives.

Meghan Markle is the first person of colour to be part of the main royal family of the United Kingdom. This displayed to the world that the royal family were becoming progressive, and initially, this was supported. For many people of colour, the first thing they would do is recognise this and pay close attention to how she is being treated. Before it even happens, they will be vigilant for the microaggressions and put downs they have been receiving their whole lives. They will be spotting where she is shown to be ‘lucky’ to be where she is, even though she was the choice of Prince Harry himself. When some of the public and the press follow through with the microaggressions and put downs, people of colour are not proved wrong. Instead, they are labelled hypersensitive.

In order to understand why there is any confusion about this at all, we have to examine contributions from the commonwealth to Britain. In the last century, the most successful cities in the world have always been the most diverse. If Accra had most of the best talent from across the whole commonwealth, I can imagine the growth of the city would be something to be admired. This is what London has benefited from to become the great city it is today. The rest of the country has benefited from this also.

Many of the countries in the commonwealth also provide much of the world’s natural resources that you cannot find anywhere else. There is nothing that Britain uniquely provides other than perceived trust and intelligence. Contrary to many beliefs, this is extremely useful and is a huge responsibility. This is something that all countries aspire to and takes years to build. Therefore as Britain leaves the European Union, I think it’s a time that the country really needs to address the relationship with Africa, South Asia and the Caribbean in the most careful way possible. How people like Meghan Markle are treated will be perceived as how people of colour are viewed within Britain. Britain will need suitable counterexamples as the rhetoric will be challenged and the counterexamples will be heavily scrutinized.

In this new decade, we are likely to see a change to a new global paradigm. Poor countries of yesterday will become rich countries of tomorrow and rich countries of today could become poor countries of tomorrow. We cannot wait till then to begin asking questions about superiority complexes. This is an issue that Brexit Britain needs to get a head-start on.