"An eyewitness to the conversation, Mandu Reid, told BBC News that Lady Hussey's questions had been "offensive, racist and unwelcoming".
Buckingham Palace would seem to have agreed. As the BBC says:
"In this instance, unacceptable and deeply regrettable comments have been made. We have reached out to Ngozi Fulani on this matter and are inviting her to discuss all elements of her experience in person if she wishes. In the meantime, the individual concerned would like to express her profound apologies for the hurt caused and has stepped aside from her honorary role with immediate effect".
You might think that the matter could rest there, but, of course, it hasn't.
Petronella Wyatt, in The Spectator, immediately leapt to Lady Hussey's defence. She asserts:
"I have known Susan Hussey since I was 18, and if she is a racist, then I am an ornamental fountain. Her sin, if there was one, was being old. Most pensioners are unfamiliar with the wonders of woke etiquette and its pitfalls."
While I am impressed at this display of upper-class solidarity, I take offence, as a pensioner, at Ms Wyatt's assumption that people over 60 are insensitive on racial and cultural matters. By "the wonders of woke etiquette", Wyatt means "anti-racist" and there are many of us over-60s who have campaigned against racism for decades, long before the term "woke" became a term of abuse beloved of the political Right.
Speaking of the Right, our old friend, Nigel Farage (NF), in his capacity of opinionated windbag for GB News, has felt the need to intervene. According to GB News, NF thinks this whole matter is a Leftist plot. NF has a TV programme on GB News called "Farage at Large", on which ("live from Llandudno!") he has expounded his latest conspiracy theory (he has a number of such theories):
“I thought immediately, something doesn’t feel right here. The GB News presenter says the charity owner “clearly had a tape recorder”, which suggests she “planned this right from the very start. She’s an anti-Royal, anti-British Marxist. It’s quite wrong what has happened in the last 24 hours”, he said.
Quite how Ms Fulani would have known what Lady Hussey was going to say in advance of the event is beyond me, but NF has never been one to get his facts right. Nor is it Marxist to be sensitive on matters of race and origin.
Let's look again at what happened during the conversation as recorded. Here goes from the beginning:
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.
Now, I am married to a Filipina and, when visiting the Philippines, have been asked by Filipinos a number of times where I come from. I find it entertaining! These are examples of questions I have faced:
"Excuse me, sir. Are you German?"
"Excuse me, are you an Australian?"
"Is that a British accent?"
As can be seen, Filipinos are more polite than Lady Hussey, but their queries stop when I explain that I am British and from the North of England, hence the accent. As we know, Lady Hussey did not cease her queries at that point, but persisted in asking where Ms Fulani came from. Her Ladyship even touched Ms Fulani's hair. I would have objected to such an intrusive interrogation and, as a pensioner, I find Petronella Wyatt's excuse unacceptable. I can clearly see that, for a black person, Lady H's questioning would be downright hurtful.
If Lady Hussey has suffered by having to stand down from Royal service, Ngozi Fulani has been the target of abuse from people who share the views of NF and Petronella Wyatt. As The Guardian says:
I want to thank everyone for that, and it has shown me that love will always triumph over hate.”
Those are wise and gracious words, and would like to close with these, hopefully positive, words of my own. I would like to see Lady Hussey get her royal post back, but only after completing a Racial Awareness Training (RAT) course. It's never too late to learn.
Petronella Wyatt and an ornamental fountain - can you tell which is which?
I agree that defending Ms Hussey on the basis of her age is both patronising and ageist. If her age (83) has affected her ability to perceive the world around her and to comprehend how it has changed since she was young, then I'd wonder why she still held a position in the royal household.
ReplyDeleteAccusations of racism are usually vigorously denied, even by racists: gone are the days when NF and BNP supporters would proudly proclaim that they are racist. However, using the term can sometimes obscure the fact that racism can come in different forms.
There are overt racists who make no secret of their acute dislike of people with different colour skin, or from a different religion and cultural background. Then there are those who are not obvious racists who nonetheless can sometimes speak or behave in a way that may upset or offend people of a different ethnicity. I believe Ms Hussey falls into the latter category, and suspect she is very upset by this whole business in a way that overt racists would never be. I wouldn't be surprised if, in her own mind, she felt she was showing Ngozi Fulani that she was interested in her and her background.
This is of course all speculation, and while I am not especially concerned whether Ms Hussey gets her royal post back, I do agree that it's never too late to learn.