Today is the first day of British Black History Month, and to mark the occasion, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are speaking out about issues that minorities are facing in the United Kingdom and around the world.

In an interview with the Evening Standard, Harry opened up about the “awakening” his biracial wife gave him about racial issues.

“I wasn’t aware of so many of the issues and so many of the problems within the U.K. and also globally as well. I thought I did but I didn’t,” he admitted. Harry went on to say that he feels that a big problem is representation in all areas of life.

“You know, when you go in to a shop with your children and you only see white dolls, do you even think: ‘That’s weird, there is not a Black doll there?’” Harry said. “And I use that as just one example of where we as white people don’t always have the awareness of what it must be like for someone else of a different colored skin, of a Black skin, to be in the same situation as we are where the world that we know has been created by white people for white people.”

The British royal added that he does not believe that placing blame is helpful.

“It is not about pointing the finger, it is not about blame,” Harry said. “I will be the first person to say, again, this is about learning. And about how we can make it better. I think it is a really exciting time in British culture and British history, and in world culture. This is a real moment that we should be grasping and actually celebrating. Because no one else has managed to do this before us.”

Meghan chimed in to say that she supports peaceful protests that aim for black equality.

“When there is just peaceful protest and when there is the intention of just wanting community and just wanting the recognition of equality, then that is a beautiful thing,” Meghan said. “While it has been challenging for a lot of people certainly having to make this reckoning of historical significance that has got people to the place that they are, that is uncomfortable for people. We recognize that. It is uncomfortable for us.”

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