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A generational mindset, over the next twenty years a lot of the problem will I believe have literally died out.
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Was hoping to see a video of Thom Yorke here!
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I’m not going to defend Susan Hussey — if she really behaved the way Ngozi Fulani claims then it was wrong. But the way Ngozi Fulani has handled this will, if anything, fan the flames of racism and a lot of people will be asking whether her reaction has been disproportionate; and many people will believe it has.
It’s perfectly reasonable to ask “where are you from”; and given someone who displays their heritage as clearly and openly as Ngozi Fulani it’s pretty obvious her family heritage is going to be overseas. Again, there’s nothing remotely wrong with that. In fact all the black people I know are delighted to be asked about their family background and heritage and why on earth shouldn’t they be, whether they’re British or not?
OK, I would have approached the question very differently from the way Susan Hussey did, but this is an 82 year old woman for heaven’s sake; and the idea that Ngozi Fulani doesn’t want to appear “ageist” simply doesn’t hold water — many old people without a racist bone in their body would have behaved exactly as Hussey did.
The problem here is that far from diffusing the problem of racism, Ngozi Fulani is likely to make it worse. She’s already being accused of deliberately creating the problem that she’s claiming to be the victim of, which just provides more fuel for racists.
What a pity Ngozi Fulani didn’t use this as an opportunity to point out that what Susan Hussey was wrong, but without vilifying an 82 year-old woman, regardless of Hussey’s privilege. Instead, to many she’s just coming across as someone with an agenda who was looking to cause trouble.
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Age isn’t an excuse for racism, so that shouldn’t even come into it.
There’s a difference between being asked where you come from and being continuously asked where you really come from time and time again after being told Britain, assuming the account was true. Black Brits are as British as everyone else on this board. It may be that the intent was good, but I am not going to jump to assumptions because it ‘must be’ because old people are inherently like that. That comes across as benevolently ageist to me.
Also, blaming black people for inviting racism on themselves is very low. No matter of whatever the full story is here, it does not excuse racism and anyone using this to seize upon this would do so anyway. This is just an excuse to use to hide their intent.
Time will tell about the context and situation, hopefully, but being 83 doesn’t give any excuse if it is a poor context. That said, I am all for forgiveness and in this social media dominated world it’s just going to be another polarised issue between the apologists and those baying for blood. An apology would suffice, in my opinion, and then we can move on. However, that won’t be the case. It will be one side using it to tear into the Royals as a whole and the apologists who will want to make out that she couldn’t have possibly been racist, even if the actual wrong is relatively small.
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I must have missed the questions where she was asking about her family background and heritage.
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I do hope that the increasing number of posters disagreeing with Bucks’s post and mocking isn’t going to be deemed ‘bullying’ and ‘piling on’ again, otherwise this board’s going to get very sterile. There was a time a year or so ago when something needed to be done about the state of the board and drastic action was taken. It’s not any way near that state again IMO. Apologies for the aside. Thanks.
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And fair play to Bucks for his comments on the “moderation”.
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I’ve said in the past that I miss Bucks’s contributions when he’s not contributing and that he’s grist to the mill. Without him, it would be a bit of an echo chamber. Sorry, off topic again. Back on topic, I heard someone on the radio yesterday excusing Hussey because the Royals also say ‘what do you do?’ when they meet the public (experienced it twice myself). It’s really not similar is it? Sounded a lame excuse to me. That said, as Siderite said, it’s a shame it’s being used to cause more division and a simple apology and honest explanation from Hussey would help.
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‘”why’s he got all those tattoos on his neck, he looks ridiculous”.’
Sounds perfectly reasonable to me and less problematic than Les Dawson’s mother in law.
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It’s difficult to know where to start with this, coming from a member of one of the oldest, most privileged and supposedly most respected institutions of this country which has had repeated and ongoing scandals involving racism.
To begin… Hussey didn’t just ask about origins. The black woman told Hussey where she was from, but Hussey pursued it in an offensive manner. Would Hussey have pursued it with a red-head with an apostrophe in her surname, or a prefix of ‘Mac’, if she’d said she was from London? Of course not.
The problem with Hussey is that she probably didn’t realise she was behaving in a racist way, because she’s been doing it all her life. But times have changed, we’ve moved on, and it is a problem now, and time to learn about it.
Oh, but she was elderly, they say. So, what is officially the age at which it’s permitted to be racist? Is it OK if you’re over 70 to move a black woman’s hair and tell her you don’t believe her when she says she’s from London? Or should it be 65.5, maybe? 60, anyone??
Perhaps it’s the same with yourself, JI. You see it as OK because you’ve been doing it all your life, and on top of that you’ve been persuaded and gaslit into thinking it’s OK by the likes of Farage and other Kippers, as well as black people in the cabinet who claim white privilege doesn’t exist.
Yet, racism is all around us. Show me a white footballer whose skin colour is brought into the discussion if he misses a penalty in an England shirt! And we end up talking about stuff like this woman’s conversation, which is trivial in itself, but so very serious. Why? Because it’s symptomatic of the epic inequality – social, racial and financial – even in institutions which claim to represent us, which is at the root of so many of this country’s problems. We should be ashamed.
Yep some of the country still don’t get it and I guess some never will but as I posted earlier quite a lot will die out soon. Look it’s a mindset based on upbringing and what was taught at the time, yes it takes time but it will eventually get there so we keep on commenting but we know that time is the key. Just a footnote, I caught Farages version of these unfortunate events on you tube the other day on his GB news show with a live audience and it’s token black person in attendance, sounded remarkably like Bucks version to me. So there you go just an opinion.
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