11/30/2022
From The Guardian:
Prince William’s godmother quits palace over comments to black charity boss
Former lady-in-waiting to queen issues apology after Ngozi Fulani questioned over where her ‘people’ came from
Caroline Davies and Hannah Summers
Wed 30 Nov 2022 11.18 ESTThe late queen’s lady-in-waiting has resigned and apologised after a black guest at a reception hosted by the queen consort was left feeling traumatised and violated after she questioned her repeatedly about where she “really came from”.
Ngozi Fulani, the founder of the charity Sistah Space, claimed Susan Hussey moved her hair to reveal her name badge and persistently questioned her over where her “people” came from, despite having been told she was a British national.
A spokesperson for the Prince of Wales, who is Lady Hussey’s godson, said the comments were unacceptable and that “racism has no place in our society”.
Perhaps King Charles and Queen-Consort Camilla just wanted the late Queen’s favorite crony gone.
The encounter on Tuesday at a violence against women and girls reception was witnessed by two other women: Mandu Reid, the leader of the Women’s Equality party, who is of mixed heritage, and another black female charity representative.
Hussey, 83, the widow of the former BBC chair Sir Marmaduke Hussey, had recently been appointed one of the ladies of the household. She is a close friend of the king. Her daughter, Katherine Brooke, has just been appointed as one of Camilla’s new queen’s companions.
Buckingham Palace described the remarks as “unacceptable and deeply regrettable”. Hussey has offered her “profound apologies” for hurt caused and resigned her honorary position with immediate effect.
Here is Ngozi Fulani’s description of the conversation:
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, 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. [VDARE.com note: Most people named Fulani hail from West Africa, but Fulani’s birth name was Headley and her father was an immigrant from Barbados.]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 …”
… [Fulani] wrote: “There was nobody to report it to. I couldn’t report it to the Queen Consort, plus it was such a shock to me and the 2 other women we were stunned into temporary silence. I just stood at the edge of the room, smiled & engaged briefly, with those who spoke to me until I could leave.”
She added: “It was such a struggle to stay in a space you were violated in.”
She told the Guardian the first “no no” was Hussey moving her hair.
“Here I am in this place as part of the 16 days of activism, experiencing non-physical violence
“Non-physical violence” is good, but “hair rape” would be better.
“Non-physical violence” is good, but “hair rape” would be better.
As commenter JCD1974 points out, “You can’t blame the old woman when the black woman looked like she was in costume as an African queen, complete with leopard print dress, a bone necklace and a tiara in her dreadlocks.” She’s dressing like a discount version of Eddie Murphy’s mother, the Queen of Zamunda, in Coming to America.
— you feel like you have the right to approach me, put your hand in my hair and insist I don’t have the right to British nationality. In a space like that, what do you do?”
She said she had “never felt so unwelcome or so uncomfortable”.
She said: “I was almost forced to say that I’m not really British. I don’t know what she meant by ‘my people’. It was incomprehensible for her to consider that I have British citizenship. When she heard my parents were from the Caribbean she said: ‘Finally we are getting somewhere’ … It was overt racism.
Of Hussey’s resignation, she said: “It’s tragic for me that it has ended that way. I would have preferred that she had been spoken to or re-educated.” …
She suggested the palace household could benefit from cultural competency training of the sort run by Sistah Space.
Call now. Sistah Space’s operators are standing by to take your orders for their cultural competency training. After all, you wouldn’t want this to happen to you.
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