To think MN has a race problem and it’s getting worse

[MovingOutofZone2]

Posters say incredibly offensive, often outright racist things and MN lets them stand as it’s a ‘difference of opinion’ and that’s fine. Other posters complain about this and MN deletes said complaints as they are ‘personal attacks’ and that isn’t fine.

Then we have mods wandering in and going ‘let’s have peace and love’, as though ‘both sides’ need to calm down. No, we need to stop placating racists.

I’m not going to give examples as this will get taken down as a TAAT, but I cannot be the only person to be fed up with all this. MN needs to do something about the racism, race baiting and general cultural ignorance. Unless the site is ONLY meant to cater to white people and, even then, I firmly believe that most posters of any race don’t want to see all that ugliness.

It’s getting to the stage where, as a Black person, I’m steeling myself before I log on. And knowing that half the time I report a comment, I won’t even get a token acknowledgement. This isn’t right. It wasn’t always like this.

Her name is Ngozi Fulani. This is what she wishes to be called and it’s perfectly legal. Is there a reason you’re referring to her as ‘Marlene’?

She was wearing a leopard print dress and a brown cardigan. As a Londoner, I can assure you that both those items of clothing are very commonplace here.

Unless, gasp, your aim was to…goad?

Wow! Magnificent bit of shoe-horning there! Women defend women’s rights and child safeguarding, on a site called Mumsnet of all places. And abracadabra — racism.

Like all registered charities, Sistah Space’s annual accounts are reviewed by the Charity Commission and are publicly available on the Charity Commission website. Sistah Space accounts

No £65K salary, no £180K expenses, just a small charity being run on a shoestring.

The claims about this woman are getting a bit ridiculous, now. The desperation to discredit her is quite frightening. But, apparently, all this slandering somehow isn’t due to racism.

This should be interesting. What indefensible thing have I defended, pray tell?

As Ngozi stated in her conversation with Lady Hussey, they didn’t leave records.

So, yes, if your ancestors were brutally kidnapped from Africa and you have no idea what your roots are, yes, please feel free to pick a name from an African culture (or cultures) to which you feel you can relate. Black people in the US and Caribbean have been doing this for decades, and some Black people in the UK have chosen to follow suit.

If it offends you that some people no longer wish to bear names that they associate with being property, that’s unfortunate.

Apparently you’re unaware of the issue around African “slave names”.

African Carribeans, as opposed to native Carribeans or Asian or European Carribeans were Africans (generally W.Africans) shipped to the Carribean via the transatlantic slave trade to work as slaves until the 19c.

Their original African names were deleted by their owners. The traders simply referred to Africans by a number. Then their new owners renamed them.

There has a been a movement among people descended from enslaved people to reclaim African names that were erased from their history.

In 2021 Utrecht in the Netherlands announced that any descendants of enslaved people who wanted to change their name could do so without having to pay the standard fee.

The difficulty is that it can be very hard to trace original African names, so effective was the deletion. By the time the British abolished their trade in the 1830s slaves had Christian names reflecting their religion. Some, after abolition, simply adopted the names of their owners.

So trying to track down original family names is hard. For people who can’t, but wish to reclaim their African heritage, some choose a name that is from the general area of their ancestors. Some take a different line which is to preserve their family history of enslavement and retain their birth name.

Fulani is a W.African name.

Xpost - snap!

The labour you’ve put into this thread is really rather wonderful, particularly considering the rather limited return on your investment. You’re appreciated, I just want to say.

Everyone has opinions and they voice them on the internet.🙄

Ngozi Fulani was subjected to racism. It was witnessed. It was reported. It was investigated. It happened.

The fact that so many people are willing to deny it happened is shit, racist and damaging to the UK. If your uninformed opinion is black woman wrong, then maybe it's time to learn and grow?

Rather than make a tit of yourself on the internet.🙈

Do you and PandoraRocks believe the stuff posted on Reddit? Really?

That's brilliant 😁
That's made me laugh on a cold winters night.

On an unrelated note, are either if you interested in buying some magic beans?
They are real, promise.
I advertise on Reddit and eveything.

Actually, I'm going to apologise for this post as maybe it was a step too far. But I'm still a little sceptical of Ngosi after reading some of the links in that thread. For now I shall reserve judgment.

Why do you have to judge her? Do women need to be judged as acceptable before you accept the racism aimed at her?

Aww a feel a bit mushy. I take my hat off to your patience and perseverance.

If it offends you that some people no longer wish to bear names that they associate with being property, that’s unfortunate

How is the name 'Marlene' - to give just an example- associated with being property? Nowadays it's parents who name their children, this is not 1400

Although my original points were not specifically relating to this particular situation, more the general cultural trend, it's looking less and less good the more I dig into that link.

It is just one reddit thread but the people it links to are genuine Twitter accounts and defo don't seem like sockpuppets. One has 18.5k followers and the other is a two year old account with 3k followers. Both BAME women. The latter (mixed race with a white dad) claims that Ngosi treated her terribly and wouldn't help when she was suffering DV as she was deemed to be 'privileged' (i.e. the 'wrong type of victim').

At this point either Ngosi has been the victim of a huge injustice/smear campaign by other WOC (which seems odd) or there are some really dodgy things going on with her charity. I can't see a benign explanation tbh.

@unsureatthispoint If it’s important to other people, does it matter if you personally don’t understand it? If it’s relevant to their life, does it matter if it’s not relevant to yours?

Why do you have to judge her? Do women need to be judged as acceptable before you accept the racism aimed at her?

If someone goes with all guns blazing, causes someone to lose her role and creates a ruckus, of course they are going to be judged and scrutinised to the nth degree as a natural attempt (by most people, I should say) to ascertain credibility.

Do you really believe that people take claims at face value? You can't say 'I'm going to make someone's life hell, but no one should dare judge me' It doesn't work like that

If it’s important to other people, does it matter if you personally don’t understand it? If it’s relevant to their life, does it matter if it’s not relevant to yours?

I can understand it sometimes, but in general I'm uncomfortable with people trying to present as something that they are not.

@Mirabai has explained it in quite a lot of detail upthread, but I’ll parse it for you. ’Marlene’ is not an African name. She clearly wants to reclaim her African roots and would like an African name. Due to the slave trade (during with Black people were property, stripped of name and culture), she doesn’t know exactly where those roots are, but West Africa is an educated guess. She chose an Igbo first name and the name of a West African tribe as her second. This is how she’s chosen to reclaim her roots.

What part of this is confusing you?

Also, do you foam at the mouth every time anyone else goes by a name that isn’t their birth name? When famous people change their names, does it make you ‘uncomfortable’? Muhammad Ali’s birth name was Cassius Marcellus Clay, are you upset about this? Was he trying to present as something he was not? Is everyone who changes their name trying to ‘present as something they’re not’ according to you?

And I’m still waiting for you to tell me how I am ‘defending the indefensible, showing an evident lack of dignity and integrity’ by saying Ngozi has chosen the name she wishes to be called. You’re yet to explain.

Are you uncomfortable that the Royal Family changed their surname to Windsor? Are they lying too?

Is everyone who changes their name trying to ‘present as something they’re not’ according to you?

Generally speaking, it makes the person in question seem less trustworthy in my opinion. So, yes, it tends to make me uncomfortable. Is feeling uncomfortable allowed in your thread or not?

Are you uncomfortable that the Royal Family changed their surname to Windsor? Are they lying too?

Are you seriously comparing both scenarios?