Racism has unfortunately been a part of the fabric of our United States history and some Americans have recently become more emboldened to reveal their bigotry.
But among them, there have been instances of prejudiced individuals who turned a corner and dispensed with their hatred towards people based on their skin color or ethnicity.
These people eventually realized in the grand scheme of things as a part of humanity, we are not all that different.
Curious to hear from those who came to see the light, Redditor Gamerbrineofficial asked:
"Former racists of Reddit, what made you think the way you do and how did you get out of racism?"
The world of entertainment can be very educational.
Exposure To Black Sitcoms
"I come from a non-practicing Christian background and grew up in a small town where everyone was white as well. Though I never personally experienced outwardly racist sentiments from my family, I did not personally meet someone with different skin color than mine until I was 19."
"That's 19 years of development and never personally interacting with someone of a visibly different race. There was 1 black family that moved to my town when I was about 11 and I found out years later they sadly had to move due to racism. I'm sure that was very isolating for them."
"Thanks to a weird, archaic, low-tech device called a 'television' I was exposed to African Americans by way of Family Matters, The Cosby Show, and 21 Jumpstreet. Carl Otis Winslow's outbursts cracked me up. I never much cared for Urkel and his antics, Carl was my 'average dad next-door' hero. Theo Huxtable was an early tv crush, and as I got a little older, I adored Judy Hoffs! She was the coolest cop chick on tv and wanted to hang out with her at that modified church headquarters."
"I still watch the show just for her character, and to recognize filming locations and scenic backdrops from Vancouver. Not to mention some of my favorite vocalists are Mixed Race/African American/Jamaican or from the Bahamas."
"Through the entertainment I consumed, I just accepted that there are people out there, vastly different than myself that I was always curious about them. I just always assumed people who weren't having vile racist poison poured down their gullets and had access to cable, movies, and MTV would experience different people the same way."
"It's nice to know there's hope for people to come out of that. I'd like to believe that racism, is one small jagged fragment of the human condition that has never taken hold in my mind and I hope it never does."
– AwkwardRadish3820What Rap Artists Have Taught
"My parents were both closet racists (racist behind closed door/out of earshot) but we were taught other races couldn't be trusted as kids. I can remember my mum deliberately not inviting a Pakistani kid to a birthday party that sort of thing."
"I was stereotypical angry white kid, around 15yo I started listening to Eminem that progressed into black artists I heard him duet with."
"I genuinely give credit to rap music for making me realise my parents were wrong. Biggie, Snoop, Dre, Kanye and 50cent opened me up to a different path in life which ended me up with a Japanese partner so all's well that ends well."
– butwhywouldit
Sometimes, all it takes is for someone getting acquainted with another who does not look like them to find a connection.
A Life-Changing Event
"Not me, but my dad was quite racist to the local native group. My dad was a woodsman and felt the native land agreements were unfair, and didn't agree with their hunting and fishing rights/treaties."
"At age 18 during my last year of highschool I was doing a lot of community volunteer work and my dad helped out managing a youth program with me. The parent group above us arranged for an event at the local reserve."
"My dad begrudgingly went with me to the event to supervise the younger kids."
"It was a transformative experience for him. We were invited to take part in a drum circle, did a bunch of ice breaker activities, listened to talks, met elders, and were served amazing food."
"The band gave my dad a t-shirt and he proudly wore it so often after that, someone actually asked him if he was native. (he does have darker skin colouring from being outside but is still as white as they come)"
"Now my dad speaks out a lot against racism directed at native/indigenous folks. He's become very passionate."
"On the one hand I'm really glad he improved but on the other I think it's sad he needed a personal experience of such magnitude to have empathy. It places the burden on THEM to educate US. But I suppose it's still better than him being racist the rest of his life."
– HFXmer
The Strangest 'Wrong Number' Stories | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Before we all had caller ID, wrong numbers phone calls were commonplace. But now that almost everyone screens their calls, it's wrong number texts that have ...The Platypus Analogy
"Let's pretend you’ve never seen a platypus. But you’ve heard about them. You’ve heard that they have a bill and webbed feet. You’ve heard that they lay eggs. You’ve heard that they have a tail like a beaver. But you, yourself, have never seen one. You take for granted that these things are true because EVERYONE around you says they are."
"I grew up in a super tiny farm town in the middle of nowhere. All 300 people in the town were white. My parents were racist. My friends were racist. My friend’s parents were racists. Even the vast majority of teachers in our k-12 school grew up in or around my town, and were racist."
"Guess what? With literally every single person around me telling me that black people were inferior, i thought black people were inferior. I took for granted that it was true, because it seemed unlikely that EVERYONE was wrong. Just like I currently take for granted that a platypus lays eggs."
"When I was 10 I went to a summer camp a few hours north of me. There were black, hispanic, and asian kids there. Hell, I even shared a cabin with a black kid. I honestly thought I would get attacked at night."
"By the end of the third day of camp, I realized that other than talking a bit different, my black cabinmate was no different than my white cabinmates. And the talking a bit different thing didn’t bother me. I had family from other parts of the US that talked different from me, and it didn’t matter much."
"This started a slow but steady realization in me that maybe my parents were wrong about things, and maybe people were just people. I’d like to think that I treat everyone with the same level of respect today. I sincerely hope I do, anyway."
"Still not sure about platypus though."
– awesomecubed
Former skinheads shared their stories of when they turned a corner.
Sense Of Belonging
"I was skinhead adjacent during high school. It offered me identity and a sense of belonging and purpose. Started becoming more extreme, identifying more with the idea of white oppression by 'the Jews.' "
"Then I had this sudden realization that my best friend was a Jew. And his family offered me more acceptance and belonging than I’d ever find in the movement. It was an amazing aha moment. To think that I was teaching myself to hate the people who showed me the most love was a little heartbreaking but it was an important moment in my life. I’ve never looked back."
– I_been_some_places
A Heart To Heart With A Cab Driver
"I was/am a skinhead too. I posted my experience before."
"My story is a bit different from the others here. I was a skinhead since I was a kid..about 13. We ran in a gang and listened to both racial music and also non racial music. We were a bit mouthy etc... about race, but the place we grew up in was totally White. There was one Chinese lass out our whole school..about 1,200 people. It didn't take me too long to realise that the 'they took our jobs' talk was a load of shite as there were no ethnic people..and no jobs. So I did grow out of the racist thing myself pretty quickly."
"It was only really when I went to university that I actually encountered different races. I got to work beside Black and Asian guys, played football with Africans and Greeks and generally had a great time and met great people who I still keep in contact with."
"I think even though I didn't consider myself racist..I couldn't imagine me having Black friends..or going on holiday with a group that included several Muslims, which I did do a couple of years back."
"Wee funny story before I end about prejudices. I went to live in another city, and was just myself..talk to anyone. One night I got a cab. The driver was a Muslim in full Pakistani cultural gear. Skull cap, long gown etc. I thought, people are people and have the right to do or dress how they want, but I don't think we are going to have a lot to talk about, not much common ground. I gave him my address and sat back to chill out."
"Guy turns round..you a Scot? I said yeah mate. Then he starts chatting about when he first came to England in the 60s before the majority of Pakistanis, he used to get picked on at school. The other guys who were picked on were Scots and Irish. So they formed a gang of the eight of them."
"From that day they could go watch football, go out at night, and generally stick up for each other. He said, that was a long time ago, and I still get a shiver when I hear Scots or Irish accents. Now he teaches kids at the mosque not to dislike White Christians, and the best ways to mix and interact. We sat for 20 minutes when we arrived at my house and just shot the breeze."
"I think that's when the last bit of bigotry left me."
– Allydarvel
As many of these Redditors shared, a lot of ignorance stemmed mostly from people living in homogenous societies or communities, or they were falsely informed about different cultures or ethnic people at an impressionable age.
Have you ever imagined how much we can all achieve together as a human race? The possibilities are endless and I can only see them as nothing but positive.
Although we still have a way to go in this country for peace, I refuse to give up hope for our humanity.
We all just need to tap into the good inherent in all of us. At least this is my grown-up Christmas list.
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Racism is terrible, there's no room for debate on that. But sometimes terrible things can also be terribly weird.
Today we're going to talk about instances of racism that left the victim confused more than hurt. Because, apparently, some people need to be told that Asian women are allowed to be named Lisa.
One Reddit user asked:
And fam, I cannot handle it. Some of these people legitimately seem like they mean well - which kind of makes things worse, honestly.
A Kobe Fan
Ok I'm a 17 year old half black male and I'm at the counter at McDonald's, taking orders and such and then this old guy comes up to the counter to order. This was a week after Kobe Bryant's death (I'm not exactly a sports person but it's important to the story)
So I do the usual "Hi sir how is your day going?" And what happened next was the most surreal customer experience I've ever had.
He goes BEHIND THE COUNTER and puts his hand on my shoulder and asks "Are ya a Kobe fan?" Not really thinking because this creepy old dude is right behind the counter I respond with a confused "Yes?"
He goes on to say "Oh I could tell by the color of your skin"
I was really uncomfortable and I nudged over for my coworker to save me and she luckily comes to my rescue by saying that I needed to go sweep and that she'd finish the order. That is still my weirdest customer experience to date.
To See How My Dark Skin Would React
coffee winks GIFGiphyI have a few, but the one I was most confused about happened when I was at the mall. I'm a dark-skinned Black woman and I live in Canada. Even though it's a predominantly white country Black people do exist and it's very multicultural and multiracial so this incident can't even be thrown to a "never seen a Black person" territory.
So, I was at the mall with my sister going down the escalator and there was this white woman behind me holding a coffee in her hand. So as we're going down I feel a light touch on my back and I turn around and she just looks at me in shock.
I realize she was trying touch my skin. This is not that uncommon as many people touch me or my hair without my consent which is another story entirely.
I let it go cause I didn't want to assume anything and it could have been an innocent touch. So I turn around. And all of sudden I feel hot coffee on my back.
This women poured her coffee on my back intentionally. At first I thought it was accidental so before she says anything, I started to reassure it's okay, because who would purposely pour coffee on another person.
But she just keeps looking at the place she poured the coffee just repeating "Wow. I've never seen skin that dark. Wow. Wow. Look at how it slides down. So soft. Wow."
And then it clicks she poured it intentionally to see how my dark skin would react to the coffee. This incident still shocks me today and I just remember thinking....did that just happen?
Sing Something Black
I was asked to sing at a graduation event in college. I was asked because I have experience in musical theater and singing in general and they wanted a member of the faculty to do it.
The director of the faculty sent me at least 10 voice messages telling me what he wanted me to sing. It was just different forms of "something black". Like the first two audios he suggested like 10 black artists, then he said I should sing something from [a black city I am NOT from], then he said something about how it should honor my "roots", then he said he wanted me to sing something soulful, then he went back to mention other black cities he assumed my family was from.
The director and I are from the same city and live in the same neighborhood. By the end of it I was so confused. Also this happened last week and I still don't know what I'm gonna sing but I'm really into the idea of rickrolling him.
Sideways Vagina
I was hanging outside a bar with my current boyfriend and a bunch of other people when an homeless woman sauntered up and said to my boyfriend, "Do you like sleeping with that gook with her sideways vagina?"
Everyone went quiet and she just walked away.
The weird bit was that I was the only person there that didn't know that the word was a slur. So I just stood there really lost after hearing some really old-timey racism.
We Just Wanted Dumplings
My friend's story not mine.
She was invited to another friends house for a dumpling party. It's where a bunch of friends get together and everyone brings dumplings. Everybody gets to eat some and take some home with them.
The host had a friend from school come as well and at the end of the night, that friend said, "Thank you for the cultural experience."
She was completely serious. Lady .. we just wanted dumplings. Sometimes woke goes too far. But now we say that jokingly to each other whenever we go get Chinese food.
Turn Out Your Pockets
2 Chainz Pockets GIF by MOST EXPENSIVESTGiphyMy friend invited me over his house and his parents allowed me to stay the night. I was a teen at the time and during dinner his dad said if I wanted to sleep over he was cool.
Well the next morning before I left his grandma asked me to pull out my pockets before I left to make sure I didn't steal anything. To date I've never felt more dehumanized.
I know the feeling. I had cops with guns drawn on me, cuff and slam me on the hood of their car, pull everything out of my pockets and threw it on the ground. They put me in the back of the patrol car and asked what gang I was a member of. I told them the biggest gang in the world, the United States Navy.
They looked at my leave papers, apologized and said they thought I was part of an Asian gang and released me.
The Wrong Slur
Went to a bar while back visiting my hometown. Small town in the Midwest. Drunk, angry hillbilly looks at me and says "filthy wetback".
The brazenness took me off guard, so I wasn't even offended. After the situation sank in, I got my friends and we left, because who knows what a racist piece of sh*t and his friends might try to pull if we hang out too long.
Also, I'm Asian, so if he's not even smart enough to call me a ching chong and not a wetback, he's probably more dangerous than a normal racist.
- phd2k1
Lee Sah
I went to college at a diverse school - it wasn't like it was at all unusual to encounter Asians. One fresh September day, we have the first TA-led group session for a course.
I was one of the earlier students to arrive, so I chitchat with the TA. She praises my English in a patronizing way, which is a bit off-putting given that I've lived in this country for the vast majority of my life and speak English more fluently than any other language (and not to brag, but test scores and my eventual career suggest better than your average Canadian). I do not have any accent at all.
Once we're all settled, she goes around asking for names, and writes them out on the board to help her remember. When she gets to me, I say "Lisa".
She writes down... Lee Sah.
I laugh and tell her that it's spelled the usual way.
She responds that she's sorry, but she's not sure what the usual way is.
I finally get though when I say "like the white kind of Lisa."
Kapiolani
I'm white, but have a good story:
A family member was (is?) convinced president Obama was born in Kenya and his birth certificate was fake. The family member's main "evidence" is that the hospital, Kapiolani medical center, sounds like a fake and made-up name.
One minor flaw in this logic: we lived in Hawaii for several years. We've been to Kapiolani Medical Center--it definitely exists.
As someone who grew up in Hawaii (ironically near Kapiolani), you'd be surprised how many people don't really know that its a part of the US. I've applied for jobs here in the mainland and I've had managers ask for my immigration papers or my passport when filling out my w2 forms.
Dreamy And Racist
Brown guy. I was with a girl I was dating. We had a tender moment ruined when, while cuddled in my arms, she said:
"Sometimes you think a race of people is not attractive and that you would never date one, but one comes along who is so incredibly pretty that he changes your entire world."
I sat there for a moment because she meant it as a complement and she was being all day dreamy in my arms while at the same time I realized how grossly racist it was
Kung Fu In Court
kung fu no GIFGiphyAsian American, I was born and raised in the Midwestern USA and English is my first and only fluent language. I got a fix-it ticket for a burnt out headlight a couple years back and before getting it replaced I ended up getting carjacked at gunpoint. The guys ended up totaling the car in a high speed chase with the police.
A couple days later I go to my assigned court date for the aforementioned ticket and explain that I won't be getting my headlight replaced since, ya know, I got f*cking carjacked and had a shotgun stuck in my face.
The clerk to the judge (middle aged white lady) looks at me and with a straight face and says: "What? Don't you know kung fu?"
I don't think she meant to be malicious or racist but it's amazing that people are that daft. It's pretty messed up how open racism towards Asian people is just tolerated since we're 'model minorities' and considered to be timid and subservient.
- direct07
Donuts And Respect
I went to this 24 hour donut/bagel spot. This woman approached me before I began sinking my teeth into a lox sandwich and said: "Just because you're Mexican doesn't mean you don't deserve respect"
That's it. Just said it and dipped. I felt like her intention may have been wholesome, but her execution was poor and came off as her trying to to convince herself that I'm deserving of respect.
Italian
Hoo BOY I have a particular confusing racism story I continually bring up:
I was working when a middle-aged white lady came up to me to ask some things. I answered her, it being my job, and she made a face and asks:
"Hey that's an odd accent you have, where are you from?"
I answered "Mexico"
and she said "Oh... you know you're quite tall and pretty handsome, you could get away with telling people you're Italian so you know..."
At this point she left. I was just frozen and baffled. She said this like it was earnest life-changing wisdom.
- SPicazo
In America We Don't Do That
I'm an American born Asian. Freshman year of HS, this Mormon kid from Utah moved to my school in a wealthy and very diverse East coast suburb. Randomly, the Mormon kid would say something to me in passing as if in response to something I said or did to him earlier in the day. Except I never talked to the guy and had no idea what he was talking to me about.
I would just shrug and ignore his odd confrontations with me.
One day I'm sitting near all our duffle bags stretching between races at a track meet. The Mormon kid comes up to me and starts scolding and lecturing me that: "In America, we don't just go into other people's belongings and borrow stuff without asking. we have to ask permission, and if the answer is yes, then you can borrow something..."
He was literally explaining to me how I should behave since I'm in America now. I just give him an evil eye mixed with disgust and contempt for lecturing me about something I didn't do, as though I'm a newly immigrated 5 year old.
Still, I'm confused as f*ck about him, thinking he must be psychotic.
Ten minutes go by and another kid I barely know comes up and grabs a hat from the Mormon kids bag in front of me. It's an Asian kid, fairly newly immigrant from China. This kid is a good 40 pounds lighter than me. Completely different haircut. No resemblance to me at all other than also being Asian.
He tells me he's been f*cking with this racist Mormon kid since day 1. He's been pulling pranks like, in this instance, repeatedly taking his hat from his duffle bag and giving it to someone else to wear.
Racist Mormon kid thinks it's me pulling pranks on him this whole time, because he can't tell 2 completely different looking Asians apart from each other. I'm Japanese, tall, and have no accent. The prank boy is Chinese short, and has a very Chinese accent. I already mentioned the hair.
All I could do was shake my head Captain Picard Style.
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Asian People Expose The Racism They've Faced Since The Coronavirus Outbreak
Nothing brings out the secret hate like a physically threatening force that justifies deeply internalized racism.
The Coronavirus is a serious problem. The threat has spanned multiple parts of the globe, taken the lives of 2,707, and infected 80,370.
But something must be pointed out: the overwhelming majority of people across earth do not have the virus. This is true even for people in or from China, where the virus first broke out.
Unfortunately, many people apparently think every single Chinese person has the virus.
Those people also think that every person of Chinese descent living in another country also has the virus.
They also think every Asian person is a Chinese person.
A slew of incorrect conclusions like that creates a plenty of day-to-day issues for people.
harmony-rose asked, "Asians, what type of racism have you endured since the Coronavirus came out?"
Multicultural When It’s Convenient
My favorite Chinese restaurant has lost massive amounts of customers in the past month. It used to be one of the most popular places to eat, but because the entire staff is Chinese, people are afraid to eat there anymore.
I'm just enjoying the uncrowded buffet.
Year of the Brat
My parents put up some decorations on their front door for chinese new year's (red banners with gold lettering around the door frame) and someone egged the house.
Weird When They Make an Errand of It
Am Chinese. People. Keep. Shouting. At. Me.
I'm a pretty small 14 year old girl and I literally had a grown man follow me down an alleyway shouting about how I should go back to my country and how I'm infectious.
Mic Drop
I was at a groccery store in the alcohol department. I was minding my own business and then these college students begin to slowly walk towards me whispering and giggling, "Pst. We need to put on our masks."
They stopped about 6 feet away from me. I looked at them dead in the eyes and coughed. Then I said, "Your health care should be able to cover for that."
GiphyWouldn’t Do Much Anyway
I was on a Delta flight, and as people boarded the plane, they would see me and cover their face.
I'm a Korean-American, and have been living in the Midwest for 30+ years.
THAT PERSON KNOWS MORE ABOUT ILLNESS THAN YOU
A friend (Chinese doctor in the UK) had a patient walk out of the room as soon as they saw she was Chinese.
Has Never Been Subtle
The amount of times I've been picked up by an uber driver who then "subtly" puts on a mask is hilarious.
GiphyA Lot Going on Here
I'm not even Asian but someone asked me if my mother brought the "Kung Flu" with her.
We're from Mexico.
Opportunist
If I'm waiting in line and it's really long, i just cough and say "man this cough has been getting worse ever since I got back from China."
Line clears up pretty quick after that.
GiphyScattering Twerps
My Asian friend said that as he was passing outside of a primary school a group of kids yelled at him "its Corona time" . He stopped and approached the gate and said " oh no i feel a sneeze coming " and the kids ran away.
Even if the Assumption was Correct, Would NOT Recommend Charging Into Closer Contact
Some lady demanded I leave a public area next to a shopping center. When I refused, she left, and then charged at me a few minutes later, this making me slam my head into a metal trash can.
Kids are Always the Cruelest
Not an Asian but there is this one Asian kid at my school and he got shut in a cupboard during math because he needed to be 'quarantined' while the teacher wasn't looking. Then they pushed a table in front of the cupboard so he couldn't get out.
A Very Poor Response
I went to Hong Kong and Taiwan to visit family during fall break and my teacher who had known about the trip and announced it to the class.
The entire class mutually agreed to put me in the back corner and make me wear a face mask every time I step in.
It Spreads Through the WIRES, man!
I'm not even Chinese. I'm Indian. I made the mistake of saying that on a Minecraft server and got myself banned lmao.
Reason by one of the admins "cause of corona virus spreading around the world."
Zero Subtlety Whatsoever
Recently got blood work done at a lab. The waiting room is split into two halves. About 9 chairs on one side wrapping around the walls, and another 7 chairs on the other half. I'm on the side with 9 chairs and seated at the very end.
I look up and see everyone is sitting next to each other filling up the 7 chairs and staring at me and whispering.
A Gigantic Escalation
I coughed because I swallowed my water incorrectly and someone near me told me to go back to where I came from.
Someone in a position of authority is really inspiring the racists all over the United States to speak out, as if what they say should matter.
Some of them are even writing their thoughts on overpasses and promposal signs.
Where have we gone so wrong?
How did people get the ideas for things like this promposal sign in the first place?
A student at an Ohio high school is apologizing for a racist promposal sign that got him banned from prom https://t.co/JtAWjs79tl— CNN (@CNN) 1556871927.0
So.
Much.
Wrong.
@CNN https://t.co/HUFBVr0lu9— Alan O'Connor (@Alan O'Connor) 1556872298.0
@CNN https://t.co/LHzVDwNL0r— Jane Smith (Karma) 💋💋 (@Jane Smith (Karma) 💋💋) 1556872228.0
@CNN https://t.co/COaGE8o5YO— CRAZy BTS trASH (@CRAZy BTS trASH) 1556873104.0
@CNN To all racists: https://t.co/a5CNXnTrhp— LibTees (@LibTees) 1556872100.0
Reddit user letsgetdickered saw an offensive sign on their commute home every day and decided to get it out of the way once and for all.
r/trashy - Got tired of look at this on my commute home and finally pulled over and cut it down. from trashy
Okay, hold on.
First of all, Mexican food is the third most popular menu type in the entire United States, so, slow your roll, racist sir.
The Reddit community knows this.
"You can pry my Mexican food from my cold, dead, white fingers."
"Don't make me choose between tacos and America."
"Seriously though. Most Hispanics I know work their asses off and take care of their families. If that's not American Values, then I don't know what is."
"Fun fact: according to this study, Mexicans work more hours per year than any other nationality included in the data. They average over 2,200 hours of work per year (equivalent to six hours a day with no days off), compared to 1,783 for the average American."
And it feels pretty crazy that anybody could hate Mexican food like that. Have they just not tried it?
"Wow. I never thought it was possible for anyone to hate Mexican food. They must have busted taste buds."
"These are people who burn everything and cover it up with salt and ketchup."
"Steak? Well done, with fries on the side."
"Maybe they just want Mexican food made by white people? I once went to a Mexican restaurant clearly run by white people. The rice tasted like chicken soup. It was off-putting and unpleasant."
And the USA is done with racists.
D.O.N.E.
Because "WE THE PEOPLE " are done with your racism, bigotry, lies, and propaganda. ENOUGH is ENOUGH ! Facebook Wi… https://t.co/1rtG0vSzBX— Dolores Goff (@Dolores Goff) 1557011697.0
The damage that racist/islamophobic/antisemitic politicians have done by emboldening ppl with those same views is i… https://t.co/7xE3BlUY0B— Sophie Wenderoth (Löwy) (@Sophie Wenderoth (Löwy)) 1557016290.0
Yep, and also dear reporters, from now on, rather than asking your guests ‘is the president a racist?’, ask instead… https://t.co/0mgsiySTV0— Mehdi Hasan (@Mehdi Hasan) 1556981802.0
"This is honestly disgusting. Our cultural diversity is what makes our nation great and some people are just so narrow minded."
"I did a similar thing. We have a bread baking store in my town, and they had a sign recognizing the welcoming of foreigners. People would knock the sign over, and if I passed it, I'd always put it back up. F*ck prejudice."
"Seems fake. The way they spelled restaurant correctly - doesn't quite fit the typical homemade ethnic rant sign."
Can we all agree we are leaving racists behind in 2019 or at least in November 2020?
My man's got this friend named Chad. Chad isn't his real name, but that's what we're going with for this article. Chad is in a relationship that is ... well ... there's a reason Facebook had to come up with the "it's complicated" status. Nobody is happy, they often go out of their way to avoid one another or are forcing performative affection for the 'gram. One night, Chad decided he was going to hide from LadyChad and told her he couldn't see her because he was spending time with us. He then made up a whole elaborate story about drinking wine (which he doesn't normally do) and overdoing it because he really liked it.
Thing is, Chad never told US that he used us as a ridiculously specific cover story.
So imagine my surprise when I get a message from LadyChad on Instagram (not an app I'm terribly active on as far as messaging and I have literally never spoken a single word to LadyChad at this point) asking what kind of wine I had given Chad because she wanted to go out and purchase several bottles.
Um ... what? So there I am awkwardly staring at my phone already having responded to her "hi" so I can't just ghost the girl. She knows I've read her messages and am actively on my phone. Chad doesn't really talk to me, so I have no idea how I got roped into this, and I'm looking around like "WHAT DO I DO!?!?!"
Babe later assured me this is the sort of thing Chad did to him all the time and LadyChad was probably well aware that he was lying. Still, I didn't appreciate getting sucked into some elaborate Chad-scheme. If you're going to do that to people, you have to give them a heads up! One Reddit user asked:
What's the most awkward position someone's ever put you in?
... apparently the world is FULL of Chads. Get it together, guys. Stop being Chads. Here are some of my favorite responses - edited for clarity when needed. Enjoy the cringefest!
H/T: Reddit