To be disgusted about Prince Charles racist comments...

[Saywhatnoway]

... and the fact that what would be headline news for any other public figure has being played down?

Yesterday, Prince Charles told a woman of Guyanese extract that she “didn’t look like she was from Manchester”. The article linked was on the Guardian front page in middle of the night - and now almost impossible to find. I can’t find mention of it anywhere else.

So AIBU to be disgusted that he (or anyone of normal intelligence) would think, much less say such a thing - and disappointed (not sure if that’s actually the right word) that the media doesn’t seem to be reporting in the way they would if anyone else had said similar?

www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2018/apr/19/prince-charles-brown-skin-british-people-head-of-commonwealth?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

"He's more likely to talk to plants than notice whether someone fits a stereotype.
I smell a rat."

Don't be ridiculous - or stereotype PC.

Also, this 'just like his father' - the differences in sensibility between him and his father have been well documented.

We can't know 100% why he said it or what his meaning was. What we do know is that plenty of people are tired of this same old thing - for the reasons well articulated by the PP who said it amounts to saying 'I notice you are different'.

And 'I am making assumptions based on that difference'.

I believe her, the royal family are known for being racist.

MN really does hate strong black women for some reason. It's pretty shocking

Birdsgottafly I agree that it's not so bad if you're doing it after getting to know the person and if there's genuine interest (you're not looking to simply place them in a box). But, I think it's even better to let them volunteer the information themselves. I often tell people about my gran and where my mum is from once I get to know someone and if it's relevant to the conversation.

Perhaps, being from Manchester, the lady ought to have donned clogs, flat cap and ferret?

@downthestrada your post could be me! My dads white English and my mum from Caribbean.
I’m born and raised here, known no different and never even been to my mums home country. Yet every day without exception someone asks where I’m from. Last night someone wouldn’t even believe my name because it’s English and not ‘ethnic’. I’ve even taken it one step further and named my dd something not too English because I didn’t want her to go through it like I have!!

Dunno why everyone's surprised, really.

How do you don a ferret? :o

chunkychunk Yes! It's the same for my brother, although he gets hassled less because he's male and I think that people approach men less with this sort of nonsense !

I've had "oh I didn't expect that to be your name. You look like you should have a more exotic name!"

"You look to exotic to be from....."

It's tiring.

Stealth very carefully.

I'm mixed race and this happens to me all the time. Can't see why it wouldn't have happened! Crazy mental acrobatics going on here.
It pisses me off when ppl ask me this. I'll often respond London and be asked where I'm 'really' from.
Nobody would ask me that if my skin was lighter. It's not ok that.

I was taught that it's polite to ask people questions about themselves when you first meet them, but maybe that was all wrong?
Ask someone about their job- classist
Ask where they are from - racist
Asking if you can hold a door open for someone is a minefield - ageist, disableist, sexist

Maybe we should all be given an approved list from the ministry of truth of acceptable things to say. Big red letters warning about thoughtcrimes and what not to say incase it causes offence. Or perhaps to be safe, just stick to talking about the weather?

Alpine - or just be an aware grown up.

Looks like Commonwealth leaders will endorse Prince Charles after all. Maybe they just don't like making monumental decisions on the basis of whiny articles in the Guardian, unfathomable as that may be to some.

Umm a very recognizable American accent

I've got a very recognisable accent of the country I grew up in. It's most definitely not where I'm from originally though.

Alpineflowers It's easy to try and make people complaining sound unreasonable if you totally ignore the situations people are in.

I don't see why people can't just have nice conversations without making these types of assumptions. Am I really unreasonable to complain about this? What about when people will cross a shop floor to ask me "where I am from"? Why aren't they asking everyone else in the shop if it's just polite conversation. Is this polite? Was Prince Charles just being polite when he said she "didn't look like she was from Manchester"?

Is it so difficult to understand that I get tired of these questions? That the frequency of it makes me very very aware that people see me as different, that they want to classify me, that they look at me and immediately think I'm "not British".

Alpine "I was taught that it's polite to ask people questions about themselves when you first meet them, but maybe that was all wrong"

Why not just let conversations flow?

Birds, maybe wait and see if people volunteer that information instead of asking.

For those of you who go about asking people what their ethnic background/heritage is, why do you do it?

It's not something I do regularly but I have done in some situtations.

Where I asked, the reason is because I am interested learning about other cultures, I am interested in other people and to educate myself. An example of a situation I might ask is someone is introduced to me who has a given name or family name where I can't recognise even vaguely the linguistic origin or even hazard a guess as to where it would originate geographically or ethnically, I might ask what the origin is of THE NAME. this may lead into a discussion of a heritage and a culture that you know nothing about.

I would never just look at a BAME individual and demand to know where they were from though.

I'm black and I'm not sure it is racist?

I'm proud of telling people where my grandmother hails from, even if they don't ask. Why is it embarrassing to be from a different country. I don't look 'English', because I'm not, I'm black.

I just don't understand the embarrassment/shame for belonging somewhere else in the world

Oh, and I know I'm only one person so I don't represent the views of other black folk..

You're not English because you're black? Where were you born?

PerfectlySymmetricalButtocks, I was born over here. I may be British, but I'm not English.

PerfectlySymmetricalButtocks and before you get your knickers in a twist, I'm happy with that. I identify as being Black British, not English. Hope that's okay with you?

OK. I don't really understand, but I'll accept it.

Perfectly It's not hard to understand, I have friends that went to international school in Qatar, for example, their parents were there because they were being paid over the odds for their jobs. Those children were English. Not one of them would consider themselves Qatari.

Similarly to me; I'm mixed race, raised for the most part in England but neither of my parents are English. Ergo - I am not English, neither do I consider myself to be.

It would be a completely different issue if someone said that they felt I did not 'belong' in England.

Oh goody. I've been getting withdrawal symptoms. I haven't been offended for days and this is just perfect. Never mind that we are on the verge of nuclear war with Russia, people are dying of thirst in Ethiopia and there are atrocities taking place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Chas has dared to suggest that a woman of Guyanese extract doesn't look like shes from Manchester.