Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Back to Opinion

Why Labeling Meghan Markle As Jewish Is So Offensive

Dear Editor,

The Forward blog post “Is Meghan Markle Going To Be Prince Harry’s Jewish Princess?” is extremely offensive.

By continuing to question Markle’s Jewish identity, the author of this piece is just as — if not more — offensive than the people who questioned Markle about her multi-ethnic and biracial identity throughout her whole life. Questioning her religious identity is insensitive to Markle’s decision to state through her publicist that she is not Jewish.

It also perpetuates a general problem that people of color, especially those with multi-ethnic or multi-racial identities, face as they navigate white, heteronormative, male-dominated societies.

No one has the right to question another’s identity and use stereotypes to presume another person’s ethnic, religious or sexual affiliation.

The frustration that Markle speaks to in her Allure interview is one that this very article perpetuates for all people of color with the blatant lack of sensitivity it has for the subject herself, as well as the cultural and religious traditions that it uses to link her to a community.

Sincerely,

Rebecca Jaye

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.