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Any time I’ve been racially profiled. The words might be different, but the feeling is the same.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 December 2022 source ↗
The question
What is the harshest thing anyone has said to you?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A fixed Guardian Q&A prompt asked directly across respondents and years.
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Others on this question
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Maya Jama
British television and radio presenter
That I wouldn’t be successful. Joke’s on them, I guess.
“You don’t stand a chance of succeeding as a writer in this country. The demographics are against you.” They were wrong. The only demographic that counts is the human heart.
It would be a racist comment.
In a rehearsal just after graduating from drama college, I say my lines to an older actor. He pauses, turns to the director and says: “I’m sorry, but is she going to do it like that?”
More from Edward Enninful
View profile →When my trousers nearly fell down at Buckingham Palace. I was there to collect my OBE, and the suspenders for the beautiful Alexander McQueen suit I’d had made for the occasion went missing. Naomi Campbell was with me and we had a good laugh about it.
Impatience. Though sometimes it helps!
A shoot with a showbusiness icon who I’d loved all my life and shall remain nameless. She walked into the room and immediately said she hated everything. Things went downhill from there. Rough day.
That there is no ideal life. Disappointments sit around every corner, so enjoy the here and now.
In African families, you can be one of three things: a doctor, a lawyer or a failure. I wanted to be an Egyptologist, but things worked out in the end.
When I get to the restaurant and don’t see any hot sauce on the table.
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