Ngozi Fulani and Lady Susan Hussey: Much Ado About Something Here?
Some
thirty-something years ago, in my past American life, I directed a Title VI
center, where one of my primary responsibilities was to travel or send folks around the
country correcting biases, myths and stereotypes relating to Africa and the peoples
of African descent. This was the peak of the Ethiopian crisis, and insults and assaults were being thrown left, right and center about Africa and Africans. I can’t count how many times my office was called as expert
witnesses in court cases relating to asylums, race matters and other ethnic imbroglios. In all reality, this case of Ms
Fulani would certainly not fall within the paradigm of biases and stereotypes. For
years, all I wore were Nigerian attires, even if I had to wear winter coats over
them in the frozen tundras of the Upper Midwest winters. I expected folks to ask me where
I came from. I looked (still look) very African/Nigerian/Yoruba. My accent
never changed (I know this could not be the case with Ms Fulani given that she
was born in the UK). She would be like one of my children (all four of who are
now adults, born and raised in the US). One of my daughters takes pride in introducing
herself as a Nigerian American. In my humble opinion, Ms Fulani overstretched
the racist implication of her dialog with Lady Hussey. It almost reminds me of a "big" case in which my office was called upon when an African American woman sued a fellow worker to court because the colleague, a white woman, came to work one day wearing an African attire. I did not go as an expert witness but sent a note, for which the litigant called me an "Oriole" a euphemism for a black man whose soul has been sold to the white establishment (black outside, white in the inside- just like the oriole cookies). For crying out loud, if Ms Fulani had answered the octogenarian the very first time she asked for where she came from, and stated that
she was Briton but of African or Nigerian extraction, her parents being
Nigerians, she would have there and then nipped the matter in the bud. Honestly, I sympathize
with Lady Hussey and if I were a counselor to Buckingham Palace, I would request
that she be restored with apologies, but just made to undergo training in cultural sensitivity,
knowing full well that there would always be some folks out there waiting to make a big
deal out of issues of this nature. Whatever you say could and would always be
misconstrued as offensive. She would learn to stay away from such folks in
verbal exchanges - a sile and/or a handshake would truncate explosive altercations of this magnitude. As my father would always say, “The most difficult person for
you to wake up is someone who is pretending to sleep.” Even in Nigeria, Ngozi Fulani’s name would invoke
curiosity. I don't know how to ask for her ethnicity without becoming a lightning rod for thunder and brimstone.
I agree with Lord Michael Afolayan to a great extent, but the Lady Interrogator was pushing it (her curiosity) a little too far, by her insistence. Fifty-something years earlier and equally curious, she could have well been the English Landlady interlocutor in Soyinka's " Telephone Conversation "
Of course, Ngozi Fulani could have risen to the occasion, taken it all in her stride by being cool - a big plus and genteel.
In Lady Susan Hussey’s garters or under her hat I too would have been a little curious ( but not yellow as in I am Curious Yellow) ) at such a stunning juxtaposition of names: Ngozi ( 100% Igbo) and Fulani ( like a bonafide herdswoman) as it were, a fusion of opposites and a good conversation starter.
And her Ladyship too, “ Hussy”? What a name!
On many a social occasion in her earlier days (at those garden party social introductions where the thoroughbred race horses and the thoroughbred mares meet and clink glasses, Hussy or Hussey must have been the butt-end of much ribaldry and a worthwhile conversation starter for Mr Horny - bottoms up - up yours - wanting to get to first base without more pointless political tittle-tattle of exactly where did you come from followed by more unnecessary big grammar self-introduction “ I am Professor So & So from Boston Massachusetts”, or any further delay when the horse from Epsom is roaring to go and singing,
“When that steamboat whistle blows
I'm going to give you all I got to give
And I do hope you receive it well
Depending on the way you feel that you live”
kenneth harrow
professor emeritus
dept of english
michigan state university
I have come across Africans who see not being greeted, as in saying “good morning,” as racist. And I tell them, do they greet one another?
Achebe once interpreted “gazing” as racism. If a white man gazes at me, is he a racist?
I travel a lot, and sometimes, the person who sits next to me does not extend the courtesy. So, if the person is white, is he a racist?
TF
From:
usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Chambi Chachage <chachag...@gmail.com>
Date: Sunday, December 4, 2022 at 6:24 AM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Cc: Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com>, Farooq Kperogi <farooq...@gmail.com>, Kenneth Harrow <har...@msu.edu>, Moses Ochonu <moses....@vanderbilt.edu>, Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju <toyin....@gmail.com>, Yoruba Affairs <yoruba...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Ngozi Fulani and Lady Susan Hussey: Much Ado About Something Here?
Michael,
Racism is sometimes — if not quite often — experienced differently across the Atlantic Divides. My own experience of racism as a student in the UK, RSA, and the US are not the same. So why not defer to Ngozi Fulani et al.?
The article by Mandu Reid who was there sums up their experience with racism — she writes:
“At a reception on Tuesday to honour those working to end violence against women and girls, I witnessed racist remarks from a member of the royal household directed at my friend and fellow activist, Ngozi Fulani. Lady Hussey’s prolonged interrogation about where Ngozi was really from, what her nationality was and where her people were from, was not – as many people have insisted to me over the past 24 hours – the kind of well-meaning curiosity that all of us experience from time to time (though it’s possible that Hussey believed that it was).… I see that ‘She’s 83’ is now trending on Twitter, imploring us to leave this nice old lady alone, a stance that adds a dash of ageism to the racism that has pervaded much of the commentary” —
May you not be gagged, but “stand corrected”.
Best Regards,
Chambi
--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/1002931479.637183.1670097193589%40mail.yahoo.com.
--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com
Current archives at
http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at
http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to
usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit
https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CALYfFMpbvuLaiyXfutHTXZDwpbhTyLckGBa_Mt--ccMiaukT9A%40mail.gmail.com.
. . .One thing that we can be sure of is that it’s not the sort of mishap that’s ever likely to take happen at e.g. the Nobel Banquet, always a very international gathering, the seating so well pre-arranged, a festive occasion followed by some ballroom dancing, cheek- to-cheek , till the wee hours of the morning…
Sonny Rollins (Earl Coleman) : Two Different Worlds
One thing that we can be sure of is that it’s not the sort of mishap that’s ever likely to take happen at e.g. the Nobel Banquet , always a very international gathering, the seating so well pre-arranged, a festive occasion followed by some ballroom dancing, cheek- to-cheek , till the wee hours of the morning…
Methinks that we’ve got to be equally fair to both the oversensitive Ngozi Fulani and Baroness Hussey. The context , place and time, not the Isle of Man, Yaounde, Dakar or the Republic of the USA but early in December 2022, the stars shining at a Buckingham Palace reception in Merry England, and if we're lucky we could possibly view the whole event from surveillance cameras or on Sky TV, to note exactly what happened. I think that we’ve got to give the Baroness a break: Here comes the high-stepper Ngozi in style, hair piled up a mile high and looking like a thing that the cat brought in from outer space, the poor Baroness still in grief and not too good at remembering new faces and names must still have other odd memories of e.g Meghan - another one from somewhere or other , and Ngozi is an honoured guest in the palace and under royal protection no less than King Charles III saying to President Buhari ( as reported by Mr. President himself) you have a home in the UK, please feel at home: you’re most welcome.
But be generous, let’s make some allowance for the Baroness’ pedigree, her upbringing, and age, curiosity, an inevitable part of her human nature, who does she want to get to know better?
Ngozi!
What could be so wrong with her persistence? According to the transcript
Lady SH: “Where are you from?”
Ms Fulani: “Sistah Space.”
SH: “No where do you come from?
Ms Fulani: “We’re based in Hackney.”
SH: “No, what part of Africa are YOU from?”
Ms Fulani: “I don’t know, they didn’t leave any records.”
SH: “Well, you must know where you’re from, I spent time in France. Where are you from?”
Ms Fulani: “Here, UK”
SH: “No, but what Nationality are you?”
Ms Fulani: “I am born here and am British.”
SH: “No, but where do you really come from, where do your people come from?”
Ms Fulani: “‘My people’, lady, what is this?”
SH: “Oh I can see I am going to have a challenge getting you to say where you’re from. When did you first come here?”
Ms Fulani: “Lady! I am a British national, my parents came here in the 50’s when…”
SH: “Oh, I knew we’d get there in the end, you’re Caribbean!”
Ms Fulani: “No lady, I am of African heritage, Caribbean descent and British nationality.”
If Ngozi had lost her cool and opted for a tit-for-tat, the dialogue could have gone something like this:
Lady SH: “Where are you from?”
Ms Fulani: “I was born in England , like our Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Where are you from? “
Lady SH: “I beg your pardon? “
Ms Fulani: “ I asked, “Where are you from ?”
At which point Baroness Hussey would have probably shrieked or hissed under her breath, “ For goodness sake, can’t you tell I’m British?”
Ms Fulani : " Cheers! So , we're sisters!”
Farooq left the site because of Cornelius!
Cornelius also, for some time, left the site because of Farooq.
It is by God’s intervention that Ken and Gloria are still with us.
One day, I will receive a medal for keeping together a million voices!!!!!!!
--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/1002931479.637183.1670097193589%40mail.yahoo.com.
"I have
come across Africans who see not being greeted, as in saying “good
morning” as racist. . ." TF
--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/1002931479.637183.1670097193589%40mail.yahoo.com.
--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/1002931479.637183.1670097193589%40mail.yahoo.com.