It would be interesting to see if and how Caribbean Community leaders respond to the dramatic call by respected British-Jamaican writer and poet Dr Velma McClymont to defend the Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle from racist attacks in sections of the British press.

The duchess, a biracial American actress, has come in for some blistering criticisms, particularly in the British tabloids, ever since she married Prince Harry, leaving many to suggest that the attacks have everything to do with her ethnicity.

Dr McClymont, in a strongly worded article, excerpts of which were published in our Monday edition, contends that members of the Caribbean community in Britain are “traumatised by recent vile comments made in the British press about Markle”.

She suggests that the Caribbean community there is powerless to tackle the issue of racism, and therefore needs the support of their counterparts in the region to raise their voices in support of this woman of African descent.

The latest attack which came from British journalist Jeremy Clarkson — writing in a December column in The Sun newspaper that he hated Ms Markle “on a cellular level” — appears to be typical of the kind of comments made openly about her.

Mr Clarkson, like many other of the duchess’s detractors, has taken umbrage to claims made by the royal couple in a six-part Netflix docuseries which bared their painful experience in the royal family, their decision to step down from their royal duties, and the harsh media scrutiny they face.

Mr Clarkson managed to say that he was “dreaming of the day when she [Ms Markle] is made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant ‘Shame!’, and throw lumps of excrement at her”, eerily reflective of a scene featuring Queen Cersei from HBO‘s popular Game of Thrones series.

Following public outcry, including from British Members of Parliament and Mr Clarkson’s own daughter, the article has since been removed from The Sun‘s website and the newspaper has issued an apology for publishing the piece.

One can disagree with comments made by another, as people do every day, but it is clear that the British journalist has given no clear reason for writing such a vitriolic piece, which lends itself to the view that he was being racist.

Racism, regrettably, remains alive and well in this world, its evil being that it often leads to discrimination based merely on the colour of a person’s skin and not his/her character or achievements. Of course, the point can be made that there has been much progress since the wicked old days of chattel slavery. For example, two of the world’s most powerful white-dominated nations, America and Britain, have had men of colour as leaders.

But there is a far way to go to expunge this ugly scourge from humanity. In the meantime, Dr McClymont believes that Caribbean leaders can help by speaking out against the attacks on the duchess.

“No longer can Barbados and Jamaica, who are members of the Caribbean Commonwealth, remain silent when The King is withholding hereditary titles from his mixed race grandchildren as a way of perhaps punishing Prince Harry for tarnishing his grandmother’s legacy,” she insists.

Every voice counts in the fight against racism. The jury is out, however, as to whether Dr McClymont’s call is something Caribbean leaders could practically take on.