A Ballarat bi-racial girl feels more compelled than ever to stand up for equality after encouraging words from Meghan Markle not to hide.
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Jonisha Tapera stood before a St Aloysius school assembly on Monday afternoon to tell how she met the Duchess of Sussex and share her own experience growing up in a bi-racial family with a single mum – just like the new royal.
The Duchess of Sussex found Jonisha in a Melbourne crowd bearing a poster quoting her about the importance of being a strong, confident mixed-race woman.
“Where did you get that from?”, a surprised Duchess of Sussex asked Jonisha.
The Duchess held Jonisha’s hand, and said Jonisha reminded her of her younger self.
“She said don’t hide yourself. I told her thank you for being an inspiration,” Jonisha said.
“I usually talk a lot in class but I found it hard to talk when I met Meghan. Everyone could not believe it.”
G’Day “To say who I am, To share where I’m from, To voice my pride in being a strong, Confident, mixed-race woman #Equality
- Jonisha's poster
Jonisha said growing up bi-racial was tough and racism was really hurtful.
But she was proud to describe herself as Aussie and African with brown, curly hair, dark chocolate eyes and soft black skin.
Her African name is Shingaidzo, which means strong and independent woman, but she prefers to go by Jonisha.
Jonisha wrote all this inside the cover of a copy of Australian children’s classic Possum Magic, which she gave to the Duchess as a present for her baby due in the English spring.
The grade six pupil, who even looks a little like the Duchess did at the same age, has long been a Markle fan having admired the actor's portrayal as a strong woman in TV series Suits and as a United Nation women’s advocate.
And Jonisha has liked Markle more since marrying Prince Harry and continuing
Jonisha is also already proving a young activist just like the Duchess was, having written a letter to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull about her concerns on job cuts he had been touting earlier this year.
The letter received an official reply from the Prime Minister and captured the attention and a meeting with Ballarat federal Labor MP Catherine King.
“It was going to have an impact on my mum...(The letter) was about giving a chance for him to change,” Jonisha said.
“I made sure I was very formal...I like to persuade.”
It is not unlike an 11-year-old Meghan Markle, who wrote to a detergent company against the sexist use of tagline: “women all over America are fighting greasy pots and pans”.
Markle was quoted saying: “I don’t think it’s right for kids to grow up thinking that…only mom does everything. How could someday say something like that?”
Markle also sent the letter to then-First Lady Hillary Clinton, American women’s rights attorney Gloria Allread and American journalist Linda Ellerbee.
Jonisha said the late decision to go with her mum and grandmother to try and see the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in Melbourne’s botanic gardens last week was worth it – even getting up at 4am and waiting three hours in the hope of getting a glimpse.
To speak with the Duchess was an incredible moment Jonisha said she would never forget.
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