I’ll rather be flattered if I’m asked where I come from.

4 min read.

Quite recently, an incident was well publicised in the media when a royal aide asked a woman few questions about her ethnicity. The woman was the chief executive of a charity that supports women of African and Caribbean heritage who have faced domestic abuse. To be honest, I had never heard of the charity nor its chief.

The chief was annoyed beyond limits when the royal aide asked her where she came from. I guess, only she was privy to the reasons when adamantly refusing to answer the simple questions. It took sometime before she budged a bit and gave her a skeletal and opaque reply i.e., she was of African Caribbean descent. She could have simply said that, as her name suggested, she was from West Africa. There is every probability that she is from Northern Nigeria. But it looks she wanted to hide the name of the country because she might not like to be associated with any of the African countries. Instead, according to her, she felt “violated”, “stunned” and “as everybody”. She and some others embraced it as hare brained opinion of branding the innocuous questions as racist, and there is no dearth of such people, particularly when they know that there would not be any defence forthcoming. 

Hereunder, I narrate the scenario of my reaction to the similar questions if put to me. The fact of the matter is that during my working life in West Africa, South Asia and in the UK, I have been asked such questions.

Whenever I am asked where I come from, I felt mightily flattered and answered:

I was born in India, raised in Pakistan, and got education in London. My wife was born in Pakistan, my son was born in West Africa and my daughter was born in the UK.

I would be proud to go further if the enquirer is interested to hear more:

The fact is that my forefathers were settled in what is now in Pakistan a place which is eighty miles from Lahore. In the nineteenth century they migrated to the place which is now in India about 180 miles from Lahore.

At this stage I would be even prouder to volunteer further facts:

The information about my ancestry which I’ve furnished thus far is just hearsay and I don’t have any documentary proof of it. But beyond that I’ve the proof. According to the authentic history books, my ancestors migrated from Tajikistan (Central Asia). They migrated in 400 BC to the sub-continent and converted to Hinduism. After centuries, some converted to Islam, but the majority remained as Hindus. Sikh faith began around 1500 AD. Beyond that, our species, Home sapiens, has now spread to all parts of the world but it is generally believed that we originated in Africa by about 200,000 years ago.

The nub of the matter is: Does it amount to racism if I am asked a question about my country of origin?

Could the chief be incognito so far as her African origin was concerned? From her appearance she indubitably was a woman of African ethnicity. But a common-sense interpretation of the questions asked by the royal aide is that she was, just for the sake of indulging in a conversation, interested to know which part of Africa the chief came from. It beggars belief that the definition of racism is stretched too far. The questioner could just be interested to know whether the chief was from Ghana, Kenya or DRC. Is it racism? I would charitably describe those people unreasonable.

Sometimes, I’m asked:

 I know you are from the sub-continent, but which part of it?

I have a few properties which I advertise now and then to let. When someone shows interest, I ask the potential renter the following questions:

What do you do for living?

Where do you come from?

If you’re not British for how long have you been in the country?

Also, I ask about the size of the family, blah, blah.

No one ever questioned over my nous with the idea of my asking such questions. During the last quite a few years I have had the tenants: English, Scottish, Irish, American, Polish, Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Nigerians, Zimbabweans, Sudanese and Iranians etc. etc.

Coming back to the titled story, the chief should have narrated braggingly the history of the Fulani empire which flourished in West Africa in the 19^th century. Her forefathers must have lived there before moving to Barbados. If she did not know, she needs to brush up on her history.

The chief must have savoured when it resulted in taking the scalp of an innocent woman of 83. It was unfortunate that she has apologised.

Not unexpectedly, the chief’s outburst caused consternation among some members of the public, who would not stand idly by on the issue, and they raised it on social media. Her charity is now on the cusp of being investigated by the Charity Commission. It has put her in an invidious position.

——————————————————————————————–

Ps: Next story will be published on the Boxing Day (26th December) at 11 am. It is titled: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is running the Tory government on a wing and a prayer.

---

---