Or is this a bit inappropriate?

[Mycatishere]

I was listening to an audiobook today, and I’ve already read the book - wanted something easy to listen to while I got on with other stuff.

So in the book, one of the characters is called Maggie and is half sister to a character named Bonnie. Bonnie is white British and is narrated with a slightly cockney accent (she’s Scottish in the book but anyway …) and she and Maggie have different fathers. But there’s no mention in the book, no hint, of Maggie having grown up anywhere other than uk.

Yet Maggie is narrated with a Jamaican accent am I alone in thinking that’s a bit off, really?

Thedogshouses What a ridiculous, nasty comment. The OP has made a valid point about a choice that is problematic and racist. It's like a white character randomly being given an Australian accent when they are born and raised in Britain but had an Australian dad. It would make no sense, and neither does this. If you can't get it, maybe don't comment.

*actually it's even more of a bizarre choice than that, because we don't even know where the dad is from.

Why don't you raise this with the author? She seems pretty proactive on twitter. She will know more about the people featured in the book than anyone.

This thread has an awful
lot of posters who seem to be confused about racism.

There are many British people who speak with an accent which has been influenced by their family heritage, and their location in the UK, and this is true of people from all races.

Black British people could very easily have family heritage from Jamaica, it doesn’t make them any less British- and it wouldn’t occur to me that a character wasn’t British because they had a Jamaican accent.

There is a common theme on mumsnet - a middle class white person see’s (or hears) representation of diversity and immediately thinks it must be racist. Do you not know many black or ethnic minority people OP?

Having a mixed race character speak with a Jamaican accent isn’t racist, not many Black people speak with an RP accent, and it is odd that your first thought of hearing a Jamaican accent is racism.

I agree with you. If the implication is she's had the same upbringing with the same mother as her half sister, then they've just used the accent to try and 'show' she isn't white on the audiobook. I think that's a bit off definitely.

It's hilarious that your argument is based on I live in a diverse area. Is this a new version of 'some of my best friends are black?'

I also live in Birmingham and actually a lot of Brum is not "diverse" at all but lots of separate areas next to each other. As a whole yes sure, Birmingham is diverse but individual places are not, as I'm sure you realise.

I am curious about where you live though, I can't deny.

I think that the OP needs to get out more.........

silvercatstripes but why does a mixed-race character who was born and raised in Britain have a Jamaican accent?

Of course if the character was actually Jamaican it would make sense, but it honestly doesn't here. We don't know where their family is from.

It shows a certain laziness on the part of the narrator to go - oh, mixed raced - I will put on a hmmm let me see Jamaican accent!

And imitating accents has a long and nasty history, so if people are going to put on an accent they should keep that in mind.

Honestly I find these threads so illuminating when it comes to the absolute resistance people have to any suggestion that something is possibly racist. Even a logical, coherent point like the one made here by the OP is shouted down.

This is the second thread in the last 24 hours that show racism is alive and well on MN.

In fact is go as far as to say it has a clear racism problem, and MNHQ are not doing nearly enough to deal with it.

Do posters really think British people who happen to be mixed race generally have a Jamaican accent? And if not then why does it make sense for this character to have a Jamaican accent? The mind truly boggles

This isn't about anything other than bored, unfulfilled people using racism angst as a way of feeling good about themselves. Save the angst for people who really need it. Take in a Ukrainian family, collect clothing for Yemeni people, volunteer in your own (diverse) areas. Do anything but sit on the back of something that isn't even real.

Thedogshouses It's not "racism angst*.

We all have to deal with racism and white supremacy. It is a huge, ongoing issue, for those it personally impacts and also because we end up with utterly incompetent people in positions of power because they are white – and the planet can no longer afford that.

This is one example of lazy racism, but it's important to discuss it and question it because racism manifests in so many ways and really should and could be stamped out (yes I'm an idealist) if people took the time to understand it.

PS and bringing up the war in Ukraine is weak as piss in this context and shows you have no real argument.

Racism isn’t real?

Racism in any form, no matter how low level it may appear is not okay.

And it’s possible to care about racism and other issues at the same time. The majority of caring people are capable of that.

What makes you think any of the posters on here calling out the racism aren’t so any of the things you mentioned or other similar actions?

The same could be said for you. Save the racist angst for people who really need it. I’m sure you have something better to do than post racism denial on MN after all

I guess it's just a way to distinguish between the two characters, since they are narrated by the same actor?

In which case, Jamaican is as good a choice as any?

I listen to a great many audio books, unless accent is relevant to the character they are not given random accents.

Stephen Fry narrates all of Harry Potter which has a great many characters, and they’re not all given random accents.

You really think a Jamaican accent is needed or appropriate?

@user1471459761, no, sorry, I realise my reply sounded a bit flippant.

I meant that I don't see any issue with using a Jamaican accent as a way to distinguish between the characters as the character has ties to Jamaica.

This is such a non-issue! People look for things to be offended by these days, I swear 🙄

In what way is this an example of racism? Racism is prejudice against people of a different race especially those of a minority ethnic group. Racists consider themselves superior to these people.
I agree with a previous poster who said that the narrator in this case was only trying to distinguish between the two characters for the sake of the listeners. There is no evidence of an intent to show racial superiority

I typed a long response but it seems to have disappeared. So the short version. A possibly clumsy assumption about accent may be a bit lazy or just dim but it is not racist in itself. There is no implication the person with the Jamaican accent is a lesser being. It is a story! Why assume the author or producer of the book makes any assumptions about all mixed race British people? They are writing about one not all. It's an audio book. It is important to distinguish voices clearly. If no harm is meant by the accent then it is not an issue at all.

I'm Irish and I CONSTANTLY hear people do the leprechaun-sounding accent on tele, not once has it even crossed my mind to be offended. I don't care if the person doing the accent is white, black, pink, purple, or gold. There's no harm meant, and they're just having a laugh.

Assuming OP is not Jamaican, I'll never understand why on earth people feel the need to be offended on behalf of others. Get a life, OP 🙄

Yay thanks for proving the need to feel superior bored housewife vernacular 😚

@JustRambling - Because put simply, the inference is that mixed race people are not ‘really’ British.

@Hiimblahblah ’get a life’ stopped having the power to wound me at around the same time I stopped breastfeeding. I genuinely have no idea what point you’re trying to make. Who do you think I’m offended on behalf of, a fictitious character? I’m not offended at all. I am calling it out as racist.

thedogshouse Your last post makes no sense. If you are going to insult strangers you might want to construct actual sentences to do so.

What?

Did you mean to say something else?

What has being a housewife got to do with it? Even if the poster is a housewife which I don’t think they said