Meghan Markle Reaches Out To Hate Crime Victim Althea Bernstein

Meghan Markle spoke to Althea Bernstein, who was a victim of hate crime in Wisconsin last week.

Meghan Markle has been in touch with a hate crime victim named Althea. Althea is an 18-year-old biracial woman from Wisconsin. A possible assault is being investigated and it is also considered as a hate crime. She was allegedly burned by a lighter thrown at her in the hands of a white man.

The CEO of Boys and Girls Clubs of Dane County, Michael Johnson, revealed that Meghan has been in contact with him after reading what happened with Althea. He further revealed that the Duchess had a 40-minute long conversation with Althea. Prince Harry is also said to have joined in for 10 minutes to be a part of the call.

While speaking to 3000, the CEO revealed that Meghan and Althea talked about self-care and allowing her to heal. ‘Her and Meghan talked about the importance of self-care and allowing herself to heal,’ he explained.

Meghan appreciated the way she responded and told the CEO to give her Althea’s number to stay in touch. She also asked him to let her know when she should talk to the people of Wisconsin.

Talking about Althea, Michael revealed that she is struggling because it is a challenge for her. He revealed that he has been in touch with her constantly and he can tell Meghan has lifted her spirits.

Michael continued: ‘She’s struggling. ‘It’s a challenge for her. It’s very, very emotional. I talked to her three or four times today, and I’ll tell you Meghan lifted her spirits.’

The CEO tweeted about being in conversation with Prince Harry and the Duchess. He continued saying Harry has been vocal about how young people’s voices matter. Meanwhile, Meghan has agreed to talk to the girls of Wisconsin and it will be scheduled very soon.

The horrific incident occurred on Wednesday in Madison, Wisconsin at around 1 am. Althea was driving to her brother’s house and she had stopped at the red light. The window of her car was open when she heard someone scream “n****r” at her. She saw four white men approaching her. One of them sprayed a liquid on Althea’s face and neck and threw a lighter at her.

The attackers used a spray bottle to spray lighter fluid on her face, according to a report. Althea described those four men as ‘classic Wisconsin frat boys.’ Two of the attackers were wearing jeans and floral shirts while the others were wearing all black.

Groups of counter-protestors have interrupted protests wearing Hawaiian shirts previously. Althea believes all four men were drunk during the incident. She revealed that she put out the flames after pulling over ahead. Her mother convinced her to go to the UW Hospital emergency department.

Althea had second and third-degree burns. To get rid of the lighter fluid that was still burning her skin, she was put through a decontamination routine. ‘They had to pretty much scrub the skin off, which was extremely painful,’ she said. ‘Burn pain is something I can’t even really describe. I don’t know how to describe it. It was horrible.’

Althea will have to undergo plastic surgery to repair the damage after the procedure. She will have to redo the procedure every few days.

The police revealed that they are going through surveillance tapes to witness if the camera has caught anything. Althea revealed disheartened that her happy childhood memories are ravaged because of this attack. She said she never knew someone could hate someone so much without even looking.

‘They didn’t know me. I didn’t know them. I was just driving my car and minding my own business,’ she said.

Althea also said that she is relieved they did not attack someone more helpless than her. ‘I’m glad it was me, and not someone like a pregnant woman, or a child, or someone who doesn’t have the health care that I do or the support system that I do,’ she said.   

The assault came between a night of violence on Tuesday that involved the toppling of two statues outside the Capitol and an attack on a state senator.