But the woman clearly didn’t want to have that conversation so it would have been better if Lady Susan had not persisted.
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For those interested, this is on tonight in UK
Point taken but this Woman is an old biddy in her mid 80's and probably not aware, I don't think it was racist, stupid yes, insensitive yes, but not intentionally racist.
If you seek it you will find it and to make a point aren't we all interested in where people are from, getting stupid and too woke now!!
We both have what what I think are called RP accents.
Agreed! I do also think it is worth remembering we only have 1 side of this conversation especially when this 1 side has been less than complementary about the RF before. Lady Susan has had YEARS of attending these types of events-she would be well aware of conversation etiquette
The Daily Mail mentioned the woman's past comments:
They need to dedicate a full article to this. Including her previous tweets.
I’m not British but Californian and have met a number of British people over the years and their is a big difference in the accent of someone from Liverpool and London or I think it is the Lake area? Just liked there is a huge difference between a New England and southern accent or Texas drawl or Oklahoman twang or Minnesota wisconsin accents
I agree totally that this had a lot to do with the woman’s age. Which is why now that she’s apologised and resigned I hope she will be left alone by the media. While her line of questioning was inappropriate I don’t believe it was malicious.
I'd argue that calling a woman in her 80's a racist on Twitter is elder abuse. There's no understanding of the generation the woman is part of. No understanding that she may have hearing problems or confusion. There's just the instant opportunity to jump up and down and accuse the RF of racism.
We all have to live together and that means old people too.
We all have to live together and that means old people too.
Excellent post. My husband is a black man born in Britain. If someone asks him where he's from he says London. He only gets irritated if they persist with something like 'where are you really from?' because that intimates that they don't believe him based on the colour of his skin, because he's got a London accent.I'm feeling a bit confused, for the lack of a better word (thanks, brain fog!). On the one hand, I can see where Lady Susan Hussey might have just been curious and maybe just chose her words poorly, but on the other I can also see where she might have been offensive.
I come from a culture where asking where someone is from is a very routine, natural thing - considering how vast my country is and how much diversity we have in terms of regions, religions, languages, customs etc. This is something that is reflected in countries like the UK where there's a massive influx of people from all places and cultures. And yes, we sometimes end up realising that the world is a much smaller place than we had thought, or we make it into a smaller place by forging connections. For example, it was only a couple of years ago that we realised that our family doctor's wife is our relative, since she belongs to the same village as my great-grandparents (could be blood relative, otherwise also we consider someone from the same village a relative - more likely than not that we share ancestors). How do we know? They shared something, we asked where she was from, and it went from there.
On the other hand, there can be a negative element to this curiosity, since many tend to discriminate based on those same parameters too.
But still our natural instinct is to ask and share these details, even to the point of being extremely intrusive at times (and now it's dangerous too, with the current obsession with being 'pure' Indians - doubt there are any with all the conquerors and settlers).
Then I place myself, as a person of colour elsewhere, in that situation. Someone who has encountered racism before, or knows someone who has, or has just read the news at any point, would be quite wary and take such questioning as racist. Someone who's taking the interaction at face value might not. Also, someone who's been prepped to expect that a certain person (or in this case, an institution) might be racist would find racism in everything they said and did.
Basically, ultimately, it all boils down to intention which sets the tone, the words, and the personal bias (in the most neutral sense of the word) of the recipient. Message encoding and decoding - communication 101.
But also, I've met/observed IRL certain European diplomats who should have known better but still didn't even bother to hide their disdain for <insert racist descriptors for Indians/Asians>. So
The timing and the connections in this case though make the whole thing quite sus. Very likely that Lady Hussey didn't even say 'really from', which is usually misconstrued as the truly offensive part, but the BRF know that this won't go away and no defense would be accepted. Hence the rapid, and PR-wise smart, response. The damage is done though.
To be honest it doesn’t surprise me that Sistah Space were involved - this is the same charity that let Hackney Council refurb their space in Clapton and then suddenly decided it wasn’t safe probably because they had more exposure in Hackney Central lol. When let’s be honest, most of Hackney is an unsafe shithole.
I do think it’s a bit much to keep pushing to find out someone’s background if they don’t want to tell. But really old women are just hella nosey like that. All my patients in the community always wanted to know my business lol.
I do think it’s a bit much to keep pushing to find out someone’s background if they don’t want to tell. But really old women are just hella nosey like that. All my patients in the community always wanted to know my business lol.
Convenient timing for her to stir this all up.
I live in one of the Southern states now. It is very apparent when I speak, that I was not born and raised here. I have been asked numerous times…apropos of nothing other than my northern accent, “So where-are you from?’ When i say the town I live in now…I’m corrected with something like…”No, your real home?” ‘No, before that.”
So I should walk off in a huff…?
This hyper sensitivity is an act, a power-play. So convenient when her idol Megs is getting an award for standing up to you ‘racist’ Brits.
Agreed. Probably trying to make polite conversation and missed the fact that the woman took it as intrusive.
Serious question - I have always wondered why some Americans introduce / refer to themselves as ‘African Americans’
Surely you would just be American? And do Mexican’s etc say they are Mexican American’s or Asian American’s? Just curious as I have never heard anyone say Asian British or Asian Welsh or African British so I have always wondered is this just something said in America?
Surely you would just be American? And do Mexican’s etc say they are Mexican American’s or Asian American’s? Just curious as I have never heard anyone say Asian British or Asian Welsh or African British so I have always wondered is this just something said in America?
The things that our parents and grandparents come out with make you squirm!!!
But I think it's such a shame that what was supposed to be about DV and life threatening circumstances (and kills in some instances) was overshadowed by this woman going to the media about a conversation.
It does show her first agenda and it's not domestic violence, which can end lives.
I don't mean to cause offence and excuse my ignorance but what is a RP accent?
Another take:
I like this.
And I love how the BRF handled it all so quickly.
I like this.
And I love how the BRF handled it all so quickly.
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