The royal wedding is over and the sting from the royal slap in the face is subsiding.
But the cognitive dissonance lingers.
Cognitive dissonance occurs when your eyes are telling you an uncomfortable truth, and in response, your mind reinvents a more comfortable explanation. (For example, if you enter a room and catch your best friend with her hand in your purse, you may want to rationalize that she is returning your keys to your purse, as opposed to stealing your wallet).
A true-life situation that may have caused cognitive dissonance for many African Americans was the public diss that occurred when Prince William and Kate Middleton did not invite the Obamas to their wedding.
It’s hurtful to blacks because well, we’ve watched the Prince’s mother, Princess Diana, coddle little African babies, when the regal tradition forbade commoners to even touch her.
We rooted when Princess Diana disobeyed the Queen Mum’s stuffiness and strutted in her own splendor.
And we mourned with Princes William and Andrew when Princess Diana — the candle in the wind — died.
There’s a perceived romantic connection to the royal family, specifically Princes William and Andrew, (although it may not be as profound as the affinity many blacks have for the Kennedys).
And the truth of the matter is, for many people of color, the Obamas are our American royal family.
It was painful for them to be snubbed from the wedding of the year, just as it was embarrassing when they were snubbed from the American wedding of the year last year.
Such public slights forces people to admit that here’s a family that is at the helm of the most powerful nation in the free world, and yet, they are still not respected among their peers, at home or abroad.
To ease the slight, some will gladly accept the explanation that the American first family did not receive an invitation to the wedding of Prince William and Katie Middleton because it was not an official state event. As the Daily Mail succinctly explained:
“Because Prince William is not yet heir to the throne, his wedding to Kate Middleton is not classed as a ‘state occasion’ — and the couple feel under no pressure to fill the 2,000-strong guest list with heads of state.”
If you believe this, please read no further.
For everyone else, it should be noted that another American first family, President Ronald Reagan, and first lady Nancy Reagan, were invited to the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana in 1981. President Reagan declined the invitation because he was recuperating from the attempt on his life, however, Nancy Reagan did attend the ceremony.
Five years later, the Reagans received yet another Royal invitation, this time to Prince Andrew’s wedding to Sara Ferguson, despite that also not being a state occasion.
Skeptics will quickly point out that the snub of the first couple to attend this year’s royal wedding, wasn’t a racist act, because Prince William and Katie Middleton invited the First Couple of Hip-Hop (Jay-Z and Beyoncé) to perform.
The tradition of inviting blacks to perform where they are not welcome is nothing new.
Enter a beautiful African American performer by the name of Dorothy Dandridge. In 1952, she arrived at a St. Louis-area hotel to perform, where she was informed that she’d have to enter the rear of the hotel, and that she couldn’t stay there after her set was over.
Dorothy Dandridge told the management that if she couldn’t enter the front door, and stay at the joint, she wasn’t performing. Management agreed to her demands.
And then, Dorothy Dandridge upped the ante and demanded that all blacks be allowed to enter the front door of the establishment and be served during her performance.
The hotel met those demands, as well, and Dorothy Dandridge put on a stellar show.
Hmmm.
Surely there were other faces of color in the crowd at the royal wedding. But more high-profile than the Obamas?
Perhaps the best response to the public non-invite of the first couple would have been for the First Couple of Hip-Hop to take a page from Dorothy Dandridge’s playbook.
The royal wedding would have received a jolt, had a mighty Jay-Z said, “Thanks for the invite Prince William, but, you know, if the Obamas can’t attend, the Carters can’t perform.”
