Lady Susan Hussey

[ad_orientem]

Spud, you seem to be well down the path I was on a few years back. Take some friendly advice: reconsider your opinions. Don't go down that path. Think about what they mean. I'll leave it there.

[Udayana]

Unfortunately Spud is not alone, but in the company of Farage and Douglas Murray misrepresenting census data and only regarding white Britons as British.

https://www.ft.com/content/c466d158-0e40-44cd-9dff-c15d466f06f6

 

[Spud]

Unfortunately Spud is not alone, but in the company of Farage and Douglas Murray misrepresenting census data and only regarding white Britons as British.

Okay, finally someone has expressed what you are all thinking. No that is completely wrong. I totally accept black people born in Britain as British. I'm not racist - some of my best friends are Asian. All I was saying in my first post was that in the past I have made the mistake of assuming someone is from somewhere else based on their skin colour, simply because most people in the town where I live are white. I know parts of cities in the UK have much higher proportions of non-whites, where I would be less likely to make the mistake.

[Udayana]

Okay, finally someone has expressed what you are all thinking. No that is completely wrong. I totally accept black people born in Britain as British. I'm not racist - some of my best friends are Asian. All I was saying in my first post was that in the past I have made the mistake of assuming someone is from somewhere else based on their skin colour, simply because most people in the town where I live are white. I know parts of cities in the UK have much higher proportions of non-whites, where I would be less likely to make the mistake.

OK, that's good.

It is easy to make wrong assumptions, and rather annoying when they (here Lady Hussey) persist with them, possibly to make a point.
 

[ProfessorDavey]

I totally accept black people born in Britain as British.

Then why would you come out with such awful comment such as 'What about looking as if you were born in Africa?'

I'm not racist - some of my best friends are Asian.

I don't think it is for you to judge whether or not you are racist - that is for others, who might be on the receiving end of your comments to judge. Few people overtly accept they are racist (or sexist etc) but many are even if they don't think they are or don't recognise that they are.

All I was saying in my first post was that in the past I have made the mistake of assuming someone is from somewhere else based on their skin colour ...

Is that racist - sure is.

Is that acceptable - nope.

Is that understandable - yes, I guess I can understand why someone might hold that prejudiced view depending on how narrow their experiences may have been.

But, and this is a big BUT. Hussey went way, way further. When her 'where are you from' question was answered as 'Hackney, London, I'm British', she doubled down continuing to insist that the woman couldn't be Hackney, London, British because of the colour of her skin.

Is that racist - sure is.

Is that acceptable - nope.

Is that understandable - nope.

I cannot understand how someone who surely must have realised they'd made a huge faux pax in assuming someone who was black wasn't born in London would continue to dig themselves further and further into a hole. And (more importantly) create more and more distress to the person being, let's face it, interrogated as to where they were 'really from'.

[Spud]

Then why would you come out with such awful comment such as 'What about looking as if you were born in Africa?'

Because the comment was relating to a South African man whose appearance differs significantly from most people born in Africa. There's nothing inherently awful about the comment.

I don't think it is for you to judge whether or not you are racist - that is for others, who might be on the receiving end of your comments to judge. Few people overtly accept they are racist (or sexist etc) but many are even if they don't think they are or don't recognise that they are.

Agreed.

Is that racist - sure is.

How so? Isn't racism characterized by a belief that my race is superior to another?

[Udayana]

...
How so? Isn't racism characterized by a belief that my race is superior to another?

racism
/ˈreɪsɪz(ə)m/

noun
prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism by an individual, community, or institution against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority or marginalized.
"a programme to combat racism"

the belief that different races possess distinct characteristics, abilities, or qualities, especially so as to distinguish them as inferior or superior to one another.
"theories of racism"

Similar: racial discrimination racialism racial prejudice/bigotry xenophobia chauvinism
bigotry bias intolerance anti-Semitism apartheid

[Maeght]

Okay, finally someone has expressed what you are all thinking. No that is completely wrong. I totally accept black people born in Britain as British. I'm not racist - some of my best friends are Asian. All I was saying in my first post was that in the past I have made the mistake of assuming someone is from somewhere else based on their skin colour, simply because most people in the town where I live are white. I know parts of cities in the UK have much higher proportions of non-whites, where I would be less likely to make the mistake.

A mistake. Yes. You didn't seem to be saying it was a mistake before.

[The Accountant, OBE, KC]

My first thought on seeing  the recording of the interchange between Mary Hussey and Ngosi Fulami was that Hussey is probably slightly demented. However, the incident  did result in apology and removal of Hussey.


On another site, I came across the infomation appended below.

   Ngozi Fulani , real name , Mary Headley is a British born citizen of Barbadian descent who changed her name as an adult.

   A British citizen who chooses to wear traditional African dress when she's probably never been there in her life.

   A British citizen who sets up and runs a charity for black victims of domestic violence, going so far as to refuse to assist women who are mixed race.

   A British citizen who needs to explain a 180000 pound discrepancy in her charity's accounts.

   A British citizen who has made clear in the not to distant past that the is anti monarchy.

Assuming this is all correct, did the press and the British public jump too soon?

For the record, I abhor racial hatred and discrimination.

I think Ngozi Fulani has said repeatedly that the focus should be on the issues tackled by the charity, Sistah Space, ie domestic violence rather than the conversation with a member of the Royal Household. And she has also said that rather than Susan Hussey resigning over the incident it would be better for there to be more training in the Palace to avoid unintentionally causing offence.

I only ask people in the UK where they are originally from if they have a foreign accent, or I have heard them speaking a foreign language. If they have darker skin or features associated with a different region of the world, I might ask where their parents are from. Though migration means many generations could have settled in another country. For example Malays in Sri Lanka are an ethnic group whose distant ancestors were originally from Indonesia/ Malaysia and migrated when Sri Lanka was a Dutch colony and again when it was a British colony.

I think the questions asked at the reception show a lack of knowledge of the British slave trade and the British Royal Family's role in that trade. Susan Hussey may have ancestors who profited from the slave trade. I think people who could be seen to be representing an institution such as the Monarchy at receptions should have received training by now on how to avoid sounding racist otherwise the accusations of institutional racism will have some justification. If Susan Hussey moved Fulani's hair at the Reception to read her name badge - which also seems a bit patronising and presumptuous of Hussey - and if Fulani was wearing African traditional dress at the reception, Susan Hussey could have asked whether Fulani's name or traditional dress was from any specific region in Africa, if Hussey was curious about Fulani's heritage.

I am not seeing the problem with Fulani changing her name to an African name or wearing traditional dress. If her ancestors were slaves forcibly removed from Africa and transported to Barbados and suffered all kinds of well-documented horrors to serve and help the British Empire to grow and prosper and they had their names changed to English names by their slave-owners and were given their slave-owners surname, I would think it makes sense to change your name to a name in line with your heritage as a rejection of your ancestor's' slavery and bondage to the British and a rejection of the British slave trade and colonialism.

It would be difficult to trace your actual heritage to a specific region in Africa if your ancestors were abducted as part of the slave trade. Changing your name is a different issue from being of British nationality. Muhammad Ali changed his name from Cassius Clay to make that point about slave-ownership, but he was still American.