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I know, I know. We threw off the yoke of the British monarchy 246 years ago. We don’t bow to them. But, but, but we shouldn’t want to see anyone treated badly in their homes or here in ours. Since Harry and Meghan aka the Sussexes accused the British Royal Family (BRF) of questioning what color baby Archie would be, the BRF has been accused of being racist. Racist has become the go-to, catch-all slur for the wokerati. In London, across the pond, and here in Boston, the Royals have become targets of activists looking to gain their 15 minutes of Social Media fame. Let’s take a look at these two incidents and what they tell us about the activists.
The Lady Susan Hussey Incident
Lady Susan Hussey is in her 80’s and she is one of Prince William’s godmothers. She was a Lady-in-Waiting to the late Queen Elizabeth II and has worked for the BRF since the 1960’s. Mrs. Hussey has been accused of being a racist by a charity organizer. From Woman & Home, here is a description of the event:
On November 30, the Queen consort, Camilla, hosted a Violence Against Women and Girls reception at Buckingham Palace.
Camilla was joined by Sophie Wessex, the First Lady of Ukraine, the First Lady of Sierra Leone, Queen Mathilde of Belgium, Queen Rania of Jordan, and the Crown Princess Mary of Denmark for this incredibly important event.
Among the guests was Ngozi Fulani, of Sistah Space, Britain’s leading domestic abuse charity for Black women. Lady Susan Hussey was among members of staff at the royal engagement and spoke with the charity leader.
Ngozi revealed in a tweet after the event that she was asked racially charged questions by the former lady-in-waiting as she questioned where exactly she came from and what her ‘nationality’ was.
As a Southerner, whenever I travel to another Southern city and meet new people, I am often asked where I am from and who are my people. Often this leads to friends or relations in common. It is deemed racially insensitive now.
The BBC has, helpfully, reprinted the entire conversation between Lady Hussy and Ngozi Fulani, as per Miss Fulani:
Lady SH: Where are you from?
Me: Sistah Space.
SH: No, where do you come from?
Me: We’re based in Hackney.
SH: No, what part of Africa are you from?
Me: I don’t know, they didn’t leave any records.
SH: Well, you must know where you’re from, I spent time in France. Where are you from?
Me: Here, the UK.
SH: No, but what nationality are you?
Me: I am born here and am British.
SH: No, but where do you really come from, where do your people come from?
Me: ‘My people’, lady, what is this?
SH: Oh I can see I am going to have a challenge getting you to say where you’re from. When did you first come here?
Me: Lady! I am a British national, my parents came here in the 50s when…
SH: Oh, I knew we’d get there in the end, you’re Caribbean!
Me: No lady, I am of African heritage, Caribbean descent and British nationality.
SH: Oh so you’re from…
Oof! This smells of targeting to me. You can see it coming. Fulani is intentionally being rude and obtuse. But wait, there is more. Sky News Australia brought on Esther Krakue to explain all the real details:
Miss Fulani was wearing full-on African traditional dress. Asking what country or region someone is from when they are wearing a regional costume is not racist. It’s human curiosity. It came off like an interrogation because Miss Fulani was being rude and obtuse. And, she did she record that interaction because it seems very detailed and favorable to her.
Lecturing William and Kate On Colonialism
Next up for the racist charge are the Prince and Princess of Wales, William and Kate. They are in Boston for a couple of days to present five awards for his charity, Earthshot. It’s some Green thing.
While Prince and Princess were waiting to be introduced at the opening of the festivities, the Reverend Mariama White-Hammond spoke to the crowd. Mrs. White-Hammond founded the New Roots African Methodist Episcopal Church in Dorchester, Massachusetts. She is also the Chief of Environment, Energy, and Open Space for the City of Boston. Here is Yahoo on the content of her speech:
Before Prince William kicked off his first event in Boston on Wednesday, Rev. Mariama White-Hammond asked audience members gathered to see the royals at City Hall “to consider the legacy of colonialism and racism” prior to the prince taking the stage.
“The ways it has impacted people across the world and its connection, its deep connection to the degradation of land and our planet that we are all seeking to reverse,” White-Hammond, who is Boston’s chief of environment, energy and open space, said to the crowd.
“The stories lost, the species made extinct, but also the persistence of people in the face of oppression and the fundamental dignity of all of our relations,” she added.
In Conclusion: Racist
You could try to explain the history of the world over the last few thousand years and the contributions made by Western Civilization to these women, but you would just be called racist. They want to signal their virtue, inflame the woke crowd and get one over on the British Royal Family. They think they owned the BRF, but the women only showed us who THEY are.
Featured Image: Mike W./flickr.com/cropped/Creative Commons
Kevin says: Blame the victim … that’s usually the “go to response” from a conservative.
Here, let’s replay the conversation with some added narrative.
Lady SH: Where are you from? (Simple question. When your presence at a meeting is due to where your work, hearing “Where are you from?” usually, commonly, most often means … What organization are you representing? The women at this event weren’t there because of their DNA; they were there because their work with organizations supporting women.)
Me: Sistah Space. (Again, the response is totally within the scope of the event. Sistah Space is the organization she was there representing. That is why she was present at the event. Period. End of story.)
SH: No, where do you come from? (Okay, getting a little deeper. Miss Fulani is assuming, rightfully so, Lady SH is asking where in England is she from. What area or region of the country is she representing. I generally will ask a question like this in order to find some “common” connection and where you live is an easy way to do this.)
Me: We’re based in Hackney. (Miss Fulani’s response, perfectly appropriate and is attempting to address Lady SH’s question as to “where are you from?”)
SH: No, what part of Africa are you from? (Now, here’s where the conversation goes off the rails. The women invited to this event were there representing organizations that support women in crisis FROM GREAT BRITAIN. It wasn’t an international event sponsored by the World Health Organization of NGO’s … Non-Governmental Organizations … and the work they’re doing in a foreign country. Miss Fulani’s dress, albeit most likely of indigenous African origins, in this day and age does not mean, “I am fresh off the boat from Africa.”)
Me: I don’t know, they didn’t leave any records. (It’s at this point, Lady SH should have stopped the badgering questions of Miss Fulani’s heritage. She didn’t know the answer to the invasive, inappropriate, rude question. Here’s where one also needs to question how Lady SH feels that she has the right, power, unassuming insistence to badger someone about their heritage.)
SH: Well, you must know where you’re from, I spent time in France. Where are you from? (What in the hell does that mean? Could Miss Fulani simply have responded, “I spent time in the USA?’ Would that have answered Lady SH’s question? Because you spent time in “France doesn’t make you French. This makes no sense whatsoever. Maybe you can enlighten me why she would make a reference to France. Is Lady SH from France?
I wouldn’t know that answer from her response.)
Me: Here, the UK. (The UK IS WHERE MISS FULANI IS “FROM.” Period. End of story. She was born in Great Britain. When people are asked, again not assuming you’re attending a DNA conference on origins of human populations, “Where are you from, 99% of people say where they born or where they currently live depending on the context of the question. Not where your ancestors were from in the 1700’s.)
SH: No, but what nationality are you? (Again, the conversation is already off the rails. When I’m asked, which I have been because of my travels around the world, “What nationality I am?” my response 100% of the time is “I’m from the United States” not, Ireland where my ancestors come from. Now, had Lady SH asked, “Where are your ancestors from?” she may have gotten to her inappropriate line of questioning much sooner skipping a half dozen questions that never really ask that question but get to the point.)
Me: I am born here and am British. (Again, her nationality is British. Not Ugandan, Nigerian, or other African nation. Totally appropriate and correct response. Nothing is “passive-aggressive”, rude, or belligerent about her response.)
SH: No, but where do you really come from, where do you really come from, where do your people come from? (Again, “Where do you really come from?” leads the person being asked, “Well I was born in Hackney, moved to Cornwall and then finally ended up living in London.” Lady SH needs to have fine-tuned her invasive, inappropriate questions for a Women’s Crisis Services event to better reflect her need to know “200+ years ago, where was your great, great, great, great grandparents from?”)
Blame the victim versus pointing out the (at best) inappropriate, out-of-line, invasive, questioning from Lady SH. Do you wonder why Buckingham Palace took about 5 milliseconds to ask Lady SH to step down? Because she was wrong. 100% wrong. Unquestionably wrong, unless you’re perspective is as a victim blaming conservative.
kevin says: One thing I neglected to mention, as well as the Miss Williams, which also provides context to Miss Fulani’s shock was … Lady SH reached out and pushed aside her hair to view her name tag. Who in this day and age reaches out to a complete stranger (aside from extending a hand to shake) to touch another person’s being? Was she searching the nametag in hopes it said, “Miss Fulani of Zambian Descent.”? Lady SH ACTIONS and WORDS led to her being immediately and unceremoniously removed. It wasn’t because of the victim; it was because of her own self inflicted shot to the head.
suburbanbanshee says: Who, in this day and age, hides a nametag’s content, from someone who is old and probably nearsighted? Particularly when one has an unusual name?
And if one changes one’s surname from Headley to Ngazi, one is saying that one comes from X tribe and Y ethnicity/country. Otherwise, one should say that one took the name from a name book or dictionary, so that people stop searching their memories for other Ngazi relatives.
Asking “Where are -you- from?” is clearly a question about personal residence and family home and heritage, not about where one’s business is located.
And if one does not wish to share, it is polite to say, “I don’t like to talk about it.” One could also say, “Don’t be nosy.” One does not attempt to get someone fired.
I feel like we missed something, like people being told that Hussey knows people everywhere. Or that she researches genealogy for difficult historical times and places.
Cameron says: to consider the legacy of colonialism
Running water. Roads. Hygiene. Safe food. Health care. A wide variety of foods. A thriving middle and upper class.
Colonialism is awesome!
Deborah B. says: Buckingham Palace was set up and played like a violin. If it had not been Lady Susan it would have been someone or something else. Fulani (real name Marlene Headley) was invited through another organization to give her the chance to network. Her charity has drawn attention now for irregularities. It is generally believed that this whole Kabuki theater was a setup to draw attention away from the Earthshot prize as well as give a sucker punch to Camilla’s domestic violence gathering which was actually a big deal. Interesting that Fulani has the whole transcript-was she miked? Fulani tried has said she was traumatized and stayed on the sidelines but there is plenty of footage showing her mingling and even talking to the queen.
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