*** OFFICIAL BREXIT SUNLIT UPLANDS and #MEGA THREAD ***

[OngBonga]

She's not being aggressive about it at all, she's just expressed disappointment that this kind of thing can happen at a royal event.

Not being aggressive? Well she didn't slap her, but she's moaning on twitter and going on talk shows to say she has been abused. That's aggressive in my book.

You'll never understand what it's like to be in her shoes mate.

No I won't, because I'm not a professional victim exploiting my skin colour for sympathy and profile. I'm a normal person who tries to give people the benefit of the doubt rather than assuming everyone is out to insult me. And if someone does insult me I'll tell them to fuck off and find someone else to talk to, rather than continue the conversation for five minutes and then complain. So no how silly of me to think I can put myself in Fulani's shoes.

Being asked where you're from is not a form of abuse. She is not a victim, at least not here, not unless there's actual evidence that this old lady was being malicious or at the very least completely oblivious to the offence she was obviously causing. So you saying "you can't know how she feels" is yet more unconscious racism directed at me for being white. Like white people are incapable of empathy when it comes to being annoyed by other peoples' lack of social awareness. Utter nonsense.

She posted the convo on twitter with a tone of disappointment. Not sure how that's an overreaction.

She's talking about it on talk shows for fuck's sake. It's not like her one single tweet went viral and she's trying to calm things down.

It's not like this Fulani woman has a history of whipping out the race card (afaik) every time someone looks at her sideways.

And nobody is suggesting Lady Oldface has a history of racism. So something is amiss, right?

Where is she doing that?

She is arguing she has experienced abuse. That's a very strong word to throw at someone who asked where you're from.

If we assume that Fulani regularly gets asked this question and this is the final straw, then she's unloading years of frustration on one old lady. That's not fair.

Won't someone think of the old people...

Yeah think about old people who can die of stress. Imagine highlighting this for mockery.

lol, like she planned the whole thing.

At the very least this seems highly opportunistic. I don't believe she planned it, but I do think she carped those diems.

[Poopadoop]

I'm not a professional victim exploiting my skin colour for sympathy and profile.

Unless something affects you directly, it's not a problem. Got it.

I'm a normal person who tries to give people the benefit of the doubt rather than assuming everyone is out to insult me.

She gave her the benefit of the doubt, until about the third or fourth time she pressed the issue. Seemed pretty patient and even-tempered to me.

And if someone does insult me I'll tell them to fuck off and find someone else to talk to, rather than continue the conversation for five minutes and then complain.

You can't have it both ways. Either you give someone the benefit of the doubt and assume they're not insulting you, or you decide they are insulting you and tell them off. You can't even decide which yourself, yet you're mad at this woman for not living up to your standards of behaviour.

Being asked where you're from is not a form of abuse.

Depends on the undertone of the conversation. A lot of POC say that when someone asks them that, it feels like they're doing it to put them in their place.

Also, we were taught in sensitivity training not to ask students that at all. Seems our uni is ahead of the Palace on that one.

So you saying "you can't know how she feels" is yet more unconscious racism directed at me for being white.

Dunno, sounds an awful lot like your playing the victim card based on your race here to me. I thought that was something you never did.

Like white people are incapable of empathy when it comes to being annoyed by other peoples' lack of social awareness. Utter nonsense.

Who said it was only white people? It's not even every white person. But it's some of them.

She's talking about it on talk shows for fuck's sake. It's not like her one single tweet went viral and she's trying to calm things down.

She said she wanted to raise awareness of the problem that racism is still present at the highest levels in the UK.

Yeah think about old people who can die of stress. Imagine highlighting this for mockery.

Lol.

[MadMojoMonkey]

Also, we were taught in sensitivity training not to ask students that at all. Seems our uni is ahead of the Palace on that one.

cringe

Sounds like the whole, "I don't see race," nonsense that I used to say myself, without realizing that denying a person their culture, history, and current social situation is still racist. Pretending racism doesn't exist still marginalizes their identity.

I mean, sure... if you are an accidental racist (this is far more common than intentional racism, mind), and you're not aware of it, then prob. you're very likely to accidentally offend someone - in this case, a student. From the administration's POV, that's the cheapest and easiest way of not dealing with this problem. Blame the accident as intent and end any learning or conversation about it. Definitely end any discussion before someone asks what's a better way to respect the student, in which case, you risk being accused over an accident in the same way.


It'd be better if we learn from each other. It'd be better if we see each other and understand the nuances that we didn't see before. It'd be better if everyone took a deep breath and apologized for any mistaken offense and admitted they need to learn how to be more empathetic in those situations. It'd be better if we could stop treating all racism as intent, and realize that people make mistakes, sometimes hurtful mistakes, and that doesn't mean they meant any harm at all.

It's far too easy for the media in the US to absolutely shield white people from black culture. It's far too easy for white people to have only a bastardized media bias providing them information about black lives. I really don't think it's fair to excuse people from accidental racism, but I also don't think it's on nearly the same level as intentional racism. If you've been lied to your whole life, and you believe even some of those lies, then that's a problem... but it's not an intent to devalue another person, it's being brainwashed into not seeing the other person's reality.

[Poopadoop]

It'd be better if we learn from each other. It'd be better if we see each other and understand the nuances that we didn't see before. It'd be better if everyone took a deep breath and apologized for any mistaken offense and admitted they need to learn how to be more empathetic in those situations. It'd be better if we could stop treating all racism as intent, and realize that people make mistakes, sometimes hurtful mistakes, and that doesn't mean they meant any harm at all.

This is more or less what I'm getting at. I don't think Lady TE was going out of her way to be racist to Fulani - she just didn't know any better because when she grew up it was acceptable for whites to feel superior. She may even feel superior because of her class, not race. That said, there's nothing wrong with a POC saying "this is not ok, people need to do better."

All the hysteria around this is the media making a bigger deal of something than it really is.

News update: Fulani has said she never wanted Lady TE to be sacked, and Lady TE has asked to meet with Fulani and smooth things out. I'm guessing she's learned a lesson. It's too bad the palace didn't teach it to before the event in question, that would have avoided this whole kerfuffle.

The royals have been accused of racism before, and caught saying some racist things, most notably by Harry and Megan. So it's not like this just came out of nowhere.