Racial discrimination

Amidst the pandemic that is wreaking a global havoc, there is another issue that is creating as much trouble, if not even more. It is the issue of racism.
Since the launching of the movement known as “Black Lives Matter,” modern day racial discrimination has become more apparent. It is taken with serious concern among peoples of different race, creed, and religion.
Indeed, much like the coronavirus that must be cured by a vaccine, racism is a social clot that must be addressed by a political vaccine.
The problem on racial discrimination was further highlighted by the recent interview of Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan Markle on the Oprah Winfrey show.
Markle’s confession that she almost committed suicide because she and her son were being discriminated is a timely topic that is fancied by all who care about equality. She boldly averred there were instances when Buckingham Palace showed a glaring disinterest in conferring her child any royal title owing to the color of his skin. She surmised that she did not receive any special favors from the Royal family due to her racial appearance. This is more than gossip. It is a gripping revelation that in any strata of society, there is greed and racism.
The scandal wrought by Markle’s interview hit the British Crown hard. It exposed the Queen and her court to be as much human beings as any other person could be, capable of discriminating and bastardizing one of their own. Not in the more than a hundred years of the monarchy in Britain had it been rocked by this kind of scandal. They are in denial. Yet, it happened and Prince Harry and his wife are probably the most hated persons in the UK right now. Not to ordinary people who want to listen to the truth.
The problem of racism is for real, especially in western countries where slavery, bigotry, and the Klu Klux Klan were born. Rosa Parks; Martin Luther King, Jr.; Morris Dees; and a slew of black civil rights leaders fought with their lives for the abolition of social, religious, and racial inequalities. To a certain extent, they succeeded, although only on paper. To this date, racial discrimination persists and it is not limited to black people. Asians, as well, have been subjected to racial violence and racial slurs.
Just recently, several Filipino-Americans were assaulted in New York, San Francisco, and other parts of California for no apparent reason. One was jogging when a car halted beside him. The driver alighted, approached him and nary a warning, punched him hard he lay prostate on the ground. The Fil-Am died a few days after. Another was slashed on his cheeks while waiting for a train on a subway. Still, another was spat on the face because he was Asian.
More specifically, several of our countrymen who worked abroad have experienced the gory details of being subjected to humiliation, sometimes even death, at the hands of their foreign employers who feel that Filipino domestic helpers are lesser humans than they are. Ironically, they suffer their indignities in silence due to economic inequality which, in itself, is another form of discrimination.
So, if people are reveling in the confession made by Prince Harry and Markle, it is not because they are members of the royal family. Instead, it is because they brought into the fore a sensitive matter that not only affects royalties but ordinary folks, as well.
Granted, therefore, that what the two said in the Oprah Winfrey show was blown out of proportion, they did justice by bringing to the attention of the world the worst fears that can confront a human being – discrimination at its worst.