Naga Munchetty says she is branded ‘difficult’ when she calls out racism

BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty says she is branded “difficult” when she calls out racism.

The journalist, whose mother is Indian and father is Mauritian– discussed her experiences of racism for a Panorama special Let’s Talk About Race.

Munchetty, 46, said it was “it’s hard to explain” what it is like.

She said: “It’s like when someone asks, ‘Where are you really from?’ That’s telling, it makes me feel like I don’t belong.

“And if I call it out, I’m being difficult, regardless, it chips away at you.”

Munchetty , who grew up in London, said she had never forgotten “the first time” she encountered discrimination as a seven-year-old.

She said: “I was seven when someone I thought was my friend at school said we could no longer hang out because I was a P-word.

“The sense of shame was overwhelming. I was told I didn’t belong when, up until then, I assumed I did. From that moment on, I knew I was seen as different.”

Munchetty described how she spoke to two black fathers while making the programme, saying: “Both of them had to tell their children, their sons, you need to be small, you need to be less loud, you need to think about how you’re perceived.

“Don’t walk around in a group because you will be seen as a gang, don’t give the police any excuse to stop and search you, don’t bring your true self to work because you will always be seen as loud and as aggressive.”

She added: “Having that conversation with a child when they are nine, can you imagine that? Telling you child not to bring their true self to school?

“That shocked me.”

Munchetty was investigated by the BBC after complaints were made about a comment she made on BBC Breakfast when then US president Donald Trump tweeted “go back home” at four congresswomen which she said was “embedded in racism”.

She was initially found to be in breach of the BBC guidelines on impartiality but decision was overturned by then director-general, Tony Hall.