Happy silence day Reader!

I’m writing this newsletter a day earlier than usual because in Bali it’s Nyepi on Sunday, a day of silence and self reflection. And even though you’re most probably not in Bali at the moment (a few subscribers are actually), I do wish you a silent day. Because silence is very important for inclusion as well. I explain my vision on that in my latest piece on Medium, you can read it here.

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Shirish Kulkarni complimented me publicly on Twitter this week for my newsletter and that made my day. I highly respect the work he is doing in the field of media diversity (check his Twitter @shirishMM). Feedback like that fuels my motivation.

The royal family and colonialism

As always there are thousands of ideas in my head about the main topic of this week's writing.

The talk of the town was The Interview of Oprah with Megan & Harry. I haven’t seen it and I’m not planning to. Partly because of other priorities and partly because everything that’s worth mentioning has been published already. What I think is important in this story is the bigger picture. The fact that the royal family is closely connected to British colonial history and in that sense actually it’s not so surprising that they’re racist. After all, the hierarchy in race and the foundation of white supremacy is laid in colonialism. Therefore it’s interesting to look at the reactions on the interview from former colonies. Meghan and Harry’s complaints of racism show that "it is time for her country to end its relationship with the royal family", said a retired professor in Kingston, Jamaica to APNews.

And what about the response of Prins William on the issue, telling the press the royal family is “very much not a racist family”? It reminds me of the initial answer of white people to accusations of racism, coming from a defence mechanism in place. Whereas how refreshing would it have been if William had said:

“We’re going to dive into this and do some necessary research and self reflection.”

The Duke of Camebridge's comment looked a lot like the statement coming from the Society of Editors in the country saying the UK press isn’t racist. The executive director had to resign after the backlash to this publication. It shouldn't be so hard to take a pause and reflect instead of immediate denial.

Inclusion through a global lens

Even though the details and the proof of what Megan & Harry revealed are important, I believe the context and habit patterns in responding to the issue are more valuable.

Because if it’s about inclusion and diversity I can not but conclude that there isn’t enough self reflection going on amongst white people. A phone call with an ex-colleague of mine in The Netherlands last week taught me that her perception is that I’m miles ahead of what is happening in my home country. The fact that I work internationally and connect the dots between antiracism and how The West reports on the Global South gives her the idea that those issues are far from the situation in The Netherlands. The opposite is true. Racism is a global affair, the roots of racism lie in colonialism and that time in our history influenced the whole planet. Unless we approach the topic through a global lens and pay attention to local specifics, change won’t happen. We need each other in the global community to address the challenges in becoming antiracist, in changing the foundation of whiteness in our societies.

The million dollar question though is: how?

I don’t think there is one way. American actress and political activist Jane Fonda is one of these people that inspire me on the topic. She’s 83 years old and still going strong in her activism. Her experiences of being on the front lines of social justice for decades, delivers wisdom in how to approach the topic. And you might identify activists with a direct and hostile way of communication, Fonda pleads for
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“helping people in a non-threatening and way to understand what is really going on and to explain to people who their enemy really is, and be very concrete about it”.

Actually what she is saying is: show people the bigger picture.

Learn about death to appreciate life

One of the ways to keep a broader perspective on life is to learn more about death. And that’s exactly what I’m doing at the moment in Bali. I started a course named ‘sacred death’, given by a certified death doula, someone who guides people in their last moments before leaving this planet. What is fascinating is that in The West death is often approached as a taboo, we rather don’t talk about it and when a funeral is there it’s most of the time quite a sad affair. When I was watching the documentary "Hip-Hop evolution", the fact that the funeral procession of The Notorious B.I.G. caused cheering in Brooklyn, New York gave me goosebumps. People were sad about the loss but happy about the music the rapper had brought to their lives. This sense of gratefulness of what had been accomplished instead of just grief of what had been lost is a valuable life lesson.

And it’s actually necessary to look at the developments regarding inclusion and media diversity in that way as well. If we can’t see the accomplishments, we’ll get depressed about the future.

There is so much negativity going on already if you read the news every day, it’s important to constantly remind ourselves of the positive things happening. To name just a few:

• Whether you agree with her or not, Megan Markle did speak out against racism in the royal family, that courageousness is a win. Actress Hannah Al Rashid wrote about the issue for feminist platform Magadalene in Indonesia.
• Piers Morgan’s comments about the Duchess of Sussex made him leaveITV’s Good Morning Britain. I wrote about his blind spots months ago, so it’s good to see that his behaviour had consequences.
• Someone like Kehinde Andrews who keeps publishing from a wider angle about the topic of racism and his latest on the rise of China is worth reading.

What can you do?

There is so much to do, but it all starts with taking care of yourself first and finding the stillness within to take powerful actions. Therefore, I keep this section short this week and wish you a Happy Nyepi. Hopefully you’ll succeed in tuning out for a little while and finding your inner voice back (if it was gone). If you want to read a book instead, have a look at this list of antiracist books by Marlborough College, including authors like Ibram X. Kendi, Nell Irvan Painter, Akala, Kehinde Andrews, James Baldwin, etc.

And of course, I didn’t forget Myanmar. Al Jazeera’s 101 East made an insightful report: “Inside Myanmar’s Crackdown”.​

Stay safe and sane, let me know if you have questions, tips or comments (just hit the reply button to this email).

Looking forward to seeing you next week!