Meghan Markle addressed the death of George Floyd for the first time in an emotional video message: 'The only wrong thing to say is to say nothing'

• Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, spoke about the death of George Floyd for the first time in a video message to graduating students at one of her former schools, Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles.
• The duchess said she didn't initially know how to approach the "absolutely devastating" topic but then decided: "The only wrong thing to say is to say nothing."
• "The first thing I want to say to you is that I'm sorry," she told the students. "I'm so sorry that you have to grow up in a world where this is still present."

The Duchess of Sussex spoke about the death of George Floyd for the first time in an emotional message to students at her former high school.

In a video message to the graduating students of Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles, Meghan Markle said that at first she was nervous to speak on the subject for the fear of her words "getting picked apart."

"For the past couple of weeks I've been planning to say a few words to you for your graduation, and as we've all seen over the last week what is happening in our country and in our state, and in our hometown of LA has been absolutely devastating," she said.

"And I wasn't sure what I could say to you. I wanted to say the right thing, and I was really nervous that I wouldn't or that it would get picked apart and I realized, the only wrong thing to say is to say nothing.

"Because George Floyd's life mattered and Breonna Taylor's life mattered and Philando Castile's life mattered and Tamir Rice's life mattered."

She added: "So the first thing I want to say to you is that I'm sorry. I'm so sorry that you have to grow up in a world where this is still present."

"I know that this is not the graduation you envision, and this is not the celebration you imagined," she said.

"But I also know that there's a way for us to reframe this for you, and not to see it as the end of something but instead see this as the beginning of you harnessing all of the work, all the values, all the skills that you have embodied over the past four years, and now you channel that. Now all of that work gets activated.

"Now you get to be part of rebuilding. I know sometimes people say, how many times do we need to rebuild?

"But you know what? We are going to rebuild and rebuild and rebuild until it is rebuilt. Because when the foundation is broken, so are we.

"I know you know that Black Lives Matter. So I am already excited for what you are going to do in the world."

• Read more:
• 'Star Wars' actor John Boyega led Black Lives Matter protests in London: 'I don't know if I'm going to have a career after this, but f--- that'
• Photos show how the world is demanding justice for George Floyd at global Black Lives Matter protests
• People are flooding social media with black squares for Blackout Tuesday, but critics say they could do more harm than good for the Black Lives Matter protests