The Royal Family #30

[Everytown]

She asked 7 times!

Because she wasn't getting a straight answer.

For me its the 'but where are your people from' that is the rudest. Who asks that sort of question?

You do realise that in posh circles "people" means "family"?

According to NF and 3 other witnesses.

Apart from publicity hound and deposit-losing Parliamentary candidate Mandu Reid, who are the other two "witnesses"?

 

[thegirlscout]

Love the dress, I would so wear that. Hate those little bags though.

@thegirlscout she should ditch the joke of a bag (it looks so weird) and chop of a few centimetres of the skirt and I would really like it

Noooo! I love the little bags!!!

 

[FenellaTheWitch]

Love the dress, I would so wear that. Hate those little bags though.

I really like the dress too. I don't know what she sees in those little bags. They look silly.

 

[CuriousCat92]

Like the dress. Don’t like hair or bag.

 

[FenellaTheWitch]

Noooo! I love the little bags!!!

What do we reckon she keeps in there? A packet of tissues?

 

[Everytown]

Do you think men should be able to walk into women's refuges if they are victims of DV? Even if there are other facilities they would be signposted to?

You mean all the refuges that don't exist for male DV victims?

 

[whathastheworldcometo]

I didn't realise the thread was just for Kate's fashion choices.... But for what it's worth, I think she could have done better although it fits the season and occasion.

 

[CarmenGhia]

I remember discussing the preacher at work. 3 brits, 1 American. All white. The only one who didn’t find him cringey was the American (and she was not a religious person, but she definitely perceived him differently to the rest of us (all of whom had tuned out when he was talking) He went on for too long (and IIRC that was acknowledged as fact - that he had over-run his slot) . Much of what Meghan faced was more to do with being American, rather than not being white. A variation on racism I suppose and maybe one she wasn’t expecting

Who hasn't sniggered behind their hand at a pompous vicar/minister/preacher/humanist celebrant at a wedding?

When my best friend got married, they had a Methodist minister with a really strong South African accent (he was white btw) who kept putting his head on one side and saying "wonderful". Once I noticed it, every time he said it, I cracked up more. I had to put the edge of my sleeve in my mouth.

 

[thegirlscout]

I didn't realise the thread was just for Kate's fashion choices.... But for what it's worth, I think she could have done better although it fits the season and occasion.

It isn’t, it’s about the Royals, Kate is a Royal?

 

[Everytown]

The fact that this continues to circle back to "but what's wrong with asking where your from?" ... Sigh. Ms. Fulani literally gave TWO answers to that question before understandably getting rustled by the continuation of the inquisition: her foundation's name and hackney.

No, according to Fulani herself, what was said was:

Lady SH: “Where are you from?”
Ms Fulani: “Sistah Space.”
SH: “No where do you come from?
Ms Fulani: “We’re based in Hackney.”

Neither of those were an answer to what the question obviously was. That's like someone asking you where you're from, and you replying with your employer and their location.

 

[whathastheworldcometo]

It isn’t, it’s about the Royals, Kate is a Royal?

Yes, but we spoke about the recent racism scandal and you said "so back on topic, what do you think of Kate's dress?"

The talk about the charity was probably as related to the BRF as the discussion about whether tiny handbags are yay or nay.

 

[Spurgyrose]

It is good that you shine the light on the culture aspect, it is true that this is important.

And I did not mean that certain groups should not be a (sole) focus.
What I referred to was the incident of the mixed-race woman being turned away, as her being partially white would mean that she was more privileged.

This I find potentially discriminatory. So what if she has a few genes from a white lineage?
She could still have been brought up and abused in a black culture. Which is probably why she chose this charity. She might identify as black?

But because of her genes she was turned away. So purely because of her race, heritage, parents/family. I find this to be wrong.

Yeah this one is a bit tricky because in a place like the UK or even moreso the US, how do you define 'Black' exactly? You have Caribbeans, Africans, in the US you have African Americans and even Afro Latinos and with the specific focus on cultural values, perceptions of women's role in society and views on marriage and sex etc, and how to address them can vary wildly across all those groups. So just going by the colour of your skin and not specifically what kind of support your organisation provides and why that might appeal to certain people is strange. At the end of the day though, while it's nice to have spaces just to yourself - and as society becomes more blended and multicultural it's almost more important for some ethnic groups because it helps remind you of your roots - you have to be smart about how you go about it. She could have said, we provide culturally specific support for xyz ethnic group and this might not be beneficial to you.

But this is twitter and we only get one narrative and a lot of hype, so who knows.

 

[whathastheworldcometo]

No, according to Fulani herself, what was said was:

Lady SH: “Where are you from?”
Ms Fulani: “Sistah Space.”
SH: “No where do you come from?
Ms Fulani: “We’re based in Hackney.”

Neither of those were an answer to what the question obviously was. That's like someone asking you where you're from, and you replying with your employer and their location.

Precisely!

It seemed as NF wanted to be offended, she turned an innocent question into an affront.

 

[CarmenGhia]

NF's parents are apparently from Barbados. It was they who gave her the name Marlene, not slave owners or other colonial bogeymen. I wonder why she is ashamed of her Caribbean heritage?

 

[whathastheworldcometo]

Yeah this one is a bit tricky because in a place like the UK or even moreso the US, how do you define 'Black' exactly? You have Caribbeans, Africans, in the US you have African Americans and even Afro Latinos and with the specific focus on cultural values, perceptions of women's role in society and views on marriage and sex etc, and how to address them can vary wildly across all those groups. So just going by the colour of your skin and not specifically what kind of support your organisation provides and why that might appeal to certain people is strange. At the end of the day though, while it's nice to have spaces just to yourself - and as society becomes more blended and multicultural it's almost more important for some ethnic groups because it helps remind you of your roots - you have to be smart about how you go about it. She could have said, we provide culturally specific support for xyz ethnic group and this might not be beneficial to you.

But this is twitter and we only get one narrative and a lot of hype, so who knows.

Yes, that is how I see it. I kind of also feel as having such strict and defined "criteria" creates more division than inclusion.

It is not an easy topic.

 

[WatermelonSugar22]

NF's parents are apparently from Barbados. It was they who gave her the name Marlene, not slave owners or other colonial bogeymen. I wonder why she is ashamed of her Caribbean heritage?

This isn’t the Ngozi thread, it’s the RF thread. Leave her alone. She’s not a public figure and her name choices are her own.

 

[Spurgyrose]

This whole issue raises a lot of predicaments. I speak 4 languages, I have a keen interest in linguistics and the origin of names, and I've lived in 4 countries on 3 different continents. When I come across someone with a non-English name, if the circumstances are appropriate, I will ask them about it. It's because I am genuinely interested. I'm not trying to get them on the next deportation flight. I have always enjoyed learning from them, as I can now more easily recognise and pronounce names from certain countries, and they have always seemed to welcome my interest.

I'm probably quite tactful in my approach to it, as opposed to Lady Hussey, but where does this end? With nobody being able to ask anyone about their heritage, unless you've asked them in the universally approved manner and registered yourself as a definite non-racist with the government database?

There are some people who get really offended at the question no matter how you frame it. I'm not like that (as long as the question is framed correctly and as long as I actually want to talk about it) but these questions about origins are going to start to become less and less relevant as we have more mixed race couples and are entering into a 2nd, 3rd, 4th generation and more of children from immigrants. I'm a 1st generation, but my friends' (children of immigrants who immigrated themselves then married another immigrant etc) children already have complicated 'origin' stories that I wouldn't blame them if they didn't want to answer a question like that.

And bringing it back to the RF, it also starts to show how outdated the concept of 'pure bloodlines' looks, especially in multicultural Britain. At least for me.

 

[WatermelonSugar22]

Because she wasn't getting a straight answer.

She’s not actually entitled to one. That’s the thing. Even without the racism, it was rude.
Interesting to watch so many on this thread defend SH and turn it into a witch-hunt on NF with youtube videos and investigations on her name and history. It’s not warranted. SH was ill-mannered, not even couching her questioning with polite inquiries about what NF does for a living that has brought her to BP, just straight up interrogations about where she’s from. That’s been poor manners for decades and lord knows how long she’s been doing it to people. What NF is like as a person isn’t really relevant to that.

 

[thegirlscout]

Yes, but we spoke about the recent racism scandal and you said "so back on topic, what do you think of Kate's dress?"

The talk about the charity was probably as related to the BRF as the discussion about whether tiny handbags are yay or nay.

It’s because a lot of the posts were getting to be about Fulani herself and not necessarily related to the Royals.

 

[Reraciara]

@thegirlscout she should ditch the joke of a bag (it looks so weird) and chop of a few centimetres of the skirt and I would really like it

Agree with the skirt and get rid of the weird collar or should've went with shorter sleeves.

Another fail at the award ceremony - the necklace doesn't match the dress AT ALL! I really love the dress and it just ruins it for me

She also needs to relax the botox...