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December 2, 2022

A new 'racism' controversy at Buckingham Palace

By Rajan Laad

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 that 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.

Fulani claimed to be traumatized by the exchange.

In an interview with the Independent, Fulani called it "institutional racism."

This is ironic, considering that she runs a charity that is also institutionally racist.  It helps only women of African heritage who are victims of domestic violence.

She also claimed not to want to reveal the identity of Lady Susan Hussey.  Yet the initials in her transcript made it perfectly obvious whom she was referring to.

Fulani said the exchange felt "like an interrogation" and "abuse" and that Hussey was trying to make her denounce her British citizenship.

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."

U.K. prime minister Rishi Sunak didn't address the allegations but made a general statement that while the country has made "progress in tackling racism," racism "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 its business model.

Back in 2020, BLM U.K. 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 U.K."

Reacting 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 do not report their abusers because they do "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.

Doubtless, this recent publicity must have caused donations of Sistah 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 done so.

At times, a transcript of an exchange doesn't fairly cover a conversation because the tone is missing.  Perhaps Hussey was smiling and had a friendly tone.

Now for the question itself.

Does asking someone where he is from amount to 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 order to play characters of Indian origin.  Despite living in India for all his life, Alter revealed that 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.

Fulani was dressed in a leopard-skin print dress and wore what appeared to be a traditional African necklace and headdress.

In a room full of people who were mostly dressed in Western attire, she clearly stood out, perhaps causing Hussey to be intrigued by Fulani.

Some have said that Fulani, who seems sympathetic to Meghan Markle, was doing so for other reasons.

The first was to draw attention to Harry's and Meghan's documentary series, which is due for release in a week.  The second was to overshadow the Prince and Princess of Wales's current visit to the U.S.

Now a bit about Hussey.

Hussey is in her 80s.  That generation isn't always acquainted with politically correct terms; hence, she expressed her curiosity in the open.  Others would probably have remained silent, Googled her name later, or asked about Fulani in private.

I recently met someone from Hussey's generation who asked several probing questions about the practice of working from home.  Despite my answers, he wasn't convinced that 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 at best could be called irritating or inappropriate.  Different people have different boundaries, and asking anyone any question he is 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, but instead for personal luxuries.

The race-hustlers may have built themselves sprawling mansions on the graves of societal unity.  They must be rejected.

Image: Carfax2 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

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