A few days back the Queen Consort of the United Kingdom,
Camilla, held an event at Buckingham Palace to support her campaign against
domestic violence.
Among
the 300 guests in attendance was Ngozi Fulani, representing Sistah Space, an
organization, a ‘community-based non-profit initiative created to bridge the
gap in domestic abuse services for African heritage women and girls.’
Also
in attendance was Lady Susan Hussey, the godmother of Prince William and the
late Queen Elizabeth's lady-in-waiting i.e. executive secretary for more
than 60 years.
This
was a regular event at the palace yet it made headlines.
Here's
why.
Fulani claimed Hussey moved her hair to see her name badge and
repeatedly asked Fulani where she came from refusing to accept that she was
from the UK.
Fulani's
version of the exchange is in the following Tweet.
https://twitter.com/Sistah_Space/status/1597854380115767296
Fulani claimed to be traumatized by the exchange
https://twitter.com/Sistah_Space/status/1597878039462846469
In
an interview with the Independent, Fulani called it “institutional
racism".
This is ironic considering she runs a charity that is also
institutionally racist, it only helps women of African heritage who are victims
of domestic violence.
She also claimed to not want to reveal the identity of Lady
Susan Hussey. Yet the initials in her transcript made it perfectly obvious who
she was referring to.
https://twitter.com/Sistah_Space/status/1597923504783253505
Fulani says she hasn't
been contacted by Buckingham Palace following her interaction.
That claim was contradicted in the following statement made by Buckingham Palace:
"We take this incident extremely seriously and have
investigated immediately to establish the full details.
"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.
"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.
"All members of the household are being reminded of the
diversity and inclusivity policies which they are required to uphold at all
times."
A spokesperson for Prince William said, "racism has no
place in our society".
UK prime minister Rishi Sunak didn’t allegations but made a
general statement that while the country has made “progress
in tackling racism”, “it must still be confronted”.
Since Fulani's allegations, new details have emerged about her
organization Sistah Space.
Sistah Space has ties
with Black Lives Matter, an organization that has made race their business
model.
Back in 2020, BLM UK donated £10,000 to Sistah Space,
to “help fund research into African- and Caribbean-heritage women's experiences
of abuse as well as the level of support and services available to Black women
and children in the UK.”
Reaction to BLM’s donation a grateful Fulani said the following:
“We are the first Black group to be funded by a Black group,
supported by an entire community of beautiful people who know that Black lives
matter”
That is the very definition of institutionalized and systemic
racism.
This isn’t the only time Fulani has made outlandish accusations.
Fulani previously
accused the Royal Family of domestic violence against the Duchess of
Sussex, Meghan Markle, when Markle claimed in her interview with Oprah Winfrey
about her requests for mental health treatment being refused by palace
officials and that a member of the royal family questioned the color of their then
unborn child.
Fulani also claimed that black women did not report their
abusers because they did ‘not want to risk their abusers being hurt
or murdered. She said ‘Women want the abuse to stop but we know what
happens to black men in police custody
It would appear that Fulani is following the BLM model.
Allege racism, play victim, seek publicity, and raise money.
Doubtlessly this recent publicity must have caused donations of
Sistah’s Space to go through the roof.
It, therefore, makes it difficult to trust the specifics of the
conversation.
Did Hussey relentlessly probe Fulani about her origins as
claimed by Fulani in the transcript or did Hussey ask just a few questions?
Unless Fulani has an outstanding memory or she
recorded the conversation, it is impossible to recall the exchange in such
detail. Yet she claims to have.
At times a transcript of an exchange doesn't fairly cover a
conversation because the tone is missing.
Now for the question itself?
Does asking someone where they are from the equivalent of racism?
For that, we travel to India and focus on the late Tom Alter. Alter was born in
India to American Presbyterian missionaries. Alter chose to make
India his home. He spoke Hindi fluently and starred in many Hindi films, stage
plays, and TV series. Being Caucasian, he was occasionally asked to blacken his
hair in the order he plays characters of Indian origin.
Despite living in India for all his life, Alter revealed he was
frequently asked where he was from and how he spoke Hindi so well.
Was Alter racially attacked?
No, in India, 99 percent of the people are brown-skinned. When
people see a Caucasian man, the assumption is automatic that he must be a
foreigner.
Back to Fulani.
The UK is still 75 percent Caucasian, that number was
considerably higher when Hussey was younger.
Also, Fulani was dressed in a leopard skin dress and wore what
seemed like a traditional African headgear and necklace.
https://twitter.com/carobee/status/1597629034091122688
In a room full of people who were mostly dressed
in western attire she clearly stood out, perhaps Hussey was intrigued about her
heritage.
Some have said that Fulani who seems sympathetic to Meghan
Markle was doing so for two reasons.
The first was to draw attention to Harry and Meghan's
documentary series is due for release in a week. The second to overshadow the
Prince and Princess of Wales's current visit to the US trip.
Now a bit about Hussey.
Hussey is in her 80s, that generation isn’t always acquainted
with politically correct terms. Hussey expressed her curiosity in the open.
Many acquainted with how allegations of racism are tossed around casually, would
probably have remained silent or asked about Fulani in private.
I recently met someone from Hussey’s generation who was curious
about the idea of working from home. He asked many probing questions and doubts
for a long time. But wasn’t convinced work could be done without physically going
to the office. The questioning was slightly annoying, but nothing beyond that.
Even if we trust, Fulani's version, Hussey's questioning
could be called irritating or inappropriate. Different people have
different boundaries, and asking anyone any question they are uncomfortable
with is inappropriate. Hussey should have stopped after the second question.
Why should we go out of our way
to give Hussey the benefit of doubt?
The presumption of
innocence which applies in courts must apply here.
Racism has caused many dark chapters
in human history.
Groups such as BLM, which Fulani
seems sympathetic to, have trivialized racism to blackmail people and organizations
into donating generously. This money isn’t used for the welfare of the suffering
instead for personal luxuries.
In the end, if everything is racist,
nothing actually is.
Also appears American Thinker
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