Ngozi Fulani Halts Operations of Charity Due to Safety Concerns after Royal Palace Incident [Update]
Updated as of 12/13/2022 as of 3:15 p.m. ET
Britain-based organization Sistah Space announced it will be suspending some of its operations over safety concerns, according to NBC News. The announcement comes after the org’s founder, Ngozi Fulani, spoke out on the disturbing interaction she had with Lady Susan Hussey at Buckingham Palace.
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“Unfortunately recent events meant that we were forced to temporarily cease many of our operations to ensure the safety of our service users and our teams,” it said. It was unclear what events the charity was referring to,” the charity said in a statement adding they plan to fully reinstate as soon as it’s safe.
The safety concerns at hand were not specified. However, Fulani opened up about the aftermath of the royal palace incident which she said brought an immense amount of social media abuse toward her and her organization, per The Daily Mail. The Netflix documentary on Prince Harry and Meghan probably furthered tensions around the racism associated with Buckingham Palace.
Lady Hussey resigned after badgering Fulani with questions at a charity event, demanding to know where she was “really from,” reports say. Fulani said the interaction felt like a form of abuse after being pretty much interrogated about her British citizenship. Hussey’s 60-year service under the late Queen Elizabeth went down the drain after a single ignorant interaction. As expected, some internet trolls and royal-palace-praisers gave Fulani hell for what they perceived as innocent curiosity.
For example:
Being completely honest, if I met Ngozi Fulani I would be intrigued to ask her about her ancestry, mainly because she has gone the extra mile to make it noticeable. pic.twitter.com/1NzHwObRuf
— Chris Rose (@ArchRose90) December 1, 2022
This one was just rich.
I went to a charity ball last year and wore a kilt even though I’m not Scottish. A Scottish guy asked where in Scotland I’m from, he assumed that just because I’m white, wearing a kilt and have a Scottish surname that I must be Scottish. This abuse is very widespread.
— Matt (@salopmatt) December 1, 2022
She previously stated after the incident that she doesn’t want the buzz around Sistah Space to be focused on the royal palace incident but moreso on the operations of the organization. She even denounced the “old jokes” made toward Hussey and her comments, encouraging people to not be ageist.
Though, in a statement, she said social media users have gotten hasty toward her - further proving that Black people deal with situations like this often.
“I have experienced first-hand what happens when a Black woman faces adversity and has to overcome additional barriers when trying to report it,” she said.
Read more of Fulani’s response from The Independent:
The incident sparked outrage and intense media commentary around the world with some attacks aimed at Ms Fulani, who runs a domestic abuse charity geared at helping Black women.
In a statement issued through Mediazoo, a public relations agency, Ms Fulani said: “What took place at the event is now well-documented, and sadly is something that occurs on an all too regular basis.
The last week has been an extremely difficult time for Ms Fulani and the Sistah Space team, the statement continued.
“My team, family and I have been put under immense pressure and received some horrific abuse via social media. Yet throughout this time I have been heartened by the huge amount of support we have received. I want to thank everyone for that, and it has shown me that love will always triumph over hate.”
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