The Tribune

By Alicia Wallace

Last week, I was one of four young people in conversation with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex who serve as the President and Vice President of the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust (QCT).

We were invited to speak with the Sussexes about equal rights and justice. We put particular focus on racial inequality given the Black Lives Matter protests taking place across the US and all over the world.

Joined by QCT Trustee and co-founder of We Belong Chrisann Jarrett, founder and CEO of The Common Sense Network Mike Omoniyi, and Global Shapers network leader Abdullah Alim, I was in good company and confident in our ability to use the short time we had with the Sussexes to make strong points that would resonate with young people all over the world and, hopefully, inspire action for change.

As the edited recording of the call is being shared widely, I am reminded of our tendency to see these events as one-time occurrences with a distinct start and end, but they exist on a continuum. This conversation came after multiple series of events and involved people from different regions of the world who have been engaged in justice and equality work in various ways. We hope that it serves as a pivot point, not because of the power and personalities of the people involved, but because of its relevance to current events.

We had a clear understanding that each of us came to the issue from different backgrounds and personal experiences, yet we agreed on the need to move beyond comfortable conversations and not only call for systemic changes, but reflect on our own value systems and actions.

The Duchess of Sussex said: “It’s in the quiet moments where racism and unconscious bias [lies, hides and thrives].” She noted that people often passively participate in unequal, unjust systems. “In people’s complacency, they’re complicit,” she said.

Each of us spoke to the need for individuals to make the conscious decision to participate in making the change. Mike opened the conversation with notes on alliances and the role of white people — beyond using hashtags on social media — in ending racism. Chrisann highlighted the work of young people who are having difficult conversations and using the insights from those conversations to guide our work. Abdullahi noted that we are not the first to try to address these issues and he encouraged us to not only acknowledge that we are contributing to work that started long before us, but study and learn from what our predecessors did.

In one of my comments, I focused on the nature of this moment. We can talk about and study an issue, but something changes when there is an incident or series of incidents — like the murder of George Floyd and many other black people — that bring anger and grief. The combination builds an energy that makes us desperate to act. When people feel that way, leaders, influencers, and organisers have to be ready. Conversations like this one are preparation. They are not final acts, but help to prepare us for the next action. There is always more to say, and so much more to do.