Ngozi Fulani: Lady Susan Hussey's race comments were abuse, says charity boss
Ngozi Fulani tells the BBC her encounter with Lady Susan Hussey was like an "interrogation".
www.bbc.com
Ngozi Fulani was questioned about her background by Lady Susan Hussey, Prince William's godmother, at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday. The late Queen's lady-in-waiting has since resigned.
Ms Fulani likened the conversation with Lady Hussey, 83, to "an interrogation".
The palace described the remarks as "unacceptable and deeply regrettable".
And a spokesperson for Prince William said "racism has no place in our society". The incident has overshadowed the Prince and Princess of Wales's visit to the US to hand out awards for his Earthshot Prize.
In an interview on ITV's Good Morning Britain, Ms Fulani also said Buckingham Palace had not contacted her about the incident, insisting she would accept an invitation to discuss it with them.
"See, what we're about is positive results, so absolutely, I think a discussion should be held," she said.
Ms Fulani, who was representing her charity which supports women of African and Caribbean heritage across the UK who have faced domestic and sexual abuse, was one of 300 guests at the event where the Queen Consort, Camilla, had warned of a "global pandemic of violence against women".
BBC News has approached Lady Hussey for comment through Buckingham Palace.
Here is the full conversation, as recounted by Ms 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...
I congratulate Ngozi Fulani on her total recall. What a boon that would be to me at work.
Now, in my opinion, Fulani deliberately concocted a mountain when she'd been presented with a molehill. If her conversation with SH is correctly recounted, it seems to me Fulani was deliberately not getting the point. Fulani was dressed in clothing that was obviously not of native British style or design, and even changed her name from Marlene Headley to Ngozi Fulani. She obviously wants to make a point of her non-Anglo heritage.
Another way I know Fulani was deliberately not getting the point is that Fulani's encounter I can personally empathise with, as my parents were born in Europe and I have a particularly eastern European first and last name. Throughout my life, literally hundreds of times, I have been asked 'where are you from'/'where is that (my name) from' and variations, when people hear my name. I know what they want to hear. They do not want to hear 'I was born in Australia', which is true. They want to know my ethnic and cultural heritage. So, I have perfected my response: I was born in Australia, but my parents came from <country>', or even 'my parents came from <country>', which leaves to implication that I was not born there. This always tells them what they wanted to know. Every single time.
SH was oblivious to the tenor of Fulani's response, it must be said. If I had asked Fulani the initial questions and gotten those initial responses, I would have immediately registered: she does not want to talk about her cultural and ethnic heritage, despite the fact that she is signalling it on purpose. I'd have had the nous to change the topic.
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