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"Where are you from?"

A big news story in Britain in recent days has been a conversation between Lady Susan Hussey (83), a close friend of the late queen, and an activist from Hackney, Ngozi Fulani, the founder of a charity supporting victims of domestic abuse, at an event hosted by the Queen Consort, Camilla.

The controversy surrounds questioning by Lady Hussey as to where Ngozi Fulani was "from", who "her people" were. 

I was discussing this incident with my friend last night (who, I should say, like me, is a straight, cisgender, white, middle-aged male). 

So far, the public has only heard one side of the story. The narrative is one of residual racism in the royal family and the misconception that Ngozi Fulani was in some way "not British". It may well be that Ngozi Fulani deserves an apology. But maybe there is another side to the story as well. 

We do want to be a society that includes people from all backgrounds and puts them at the centre. But there are backgrounds. That is to say, there is such a thing as "backgrounds". 

Ngozi Fulani's name is of Igbo (Nigerian) origin. She wore her hair in dreadlocks. She was wearing traditional African clothing. Her organisation is called "Sistah space" (no that is not a typo), which, on its website, states, "we realised African and Caribbean heritage people don’t actually have a venue to go to." In her comments after the incident, Ngozi Fulani said, "In my culture, elders are respected..." I am pretty sure that by "my culture" she meant the particular heritage and background she is from. I am not going to clumsily tell her or anyone what that heritage/culture is, or what it should be called, but it does exist, doesn't it? 

It would be racist to say that made Ngozi Fulani an outsider or non-British. It is not racist to acknowledge that background/culture exists.

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