Another case of ignorance in the face of cultural diversity has been documented on Twitter, causing outrage.
A mother was filmed defending her three children, who were wearing traditional African dress in a local American supermarket, after the shop assistant asked if they were going ‘trick or treating’.
The mother exclaimed, ‘You gonna apologise to my children for your little racist ass comment.’
I’m glad this woman got this clerk together. She really tried her kids pic.twitter.com/6UsuQxKNmM
— Ethan Krane (@theEthanKrane) September 14, 2016
The video was posted to Twitter by @theEthanKrane who applauded the unnamed mother for taking a stand, saying, ‘I’m glad this woman got this clerk together. She really tried her kids.’
According to one Twitter user, the children ‘had just come from a Rites of Passage ceremony and hadn’t changed yet. They were in their neighborhood.’
The ensuing Twitter storm was split in two between those who thought the clerk was ignorant and those who believed this was an example of everyday racism.
The video shows the store clerk apologising to the understandably irate mother, who requested to speak to the store manager.
Although some keyboard warriors have slammed the mother for her use of aggressive language and her refusal to accept the store clerk’s apology, she does make a damn good point: Where they hell would the kids be going trick or treating in September?
Moral of the story? Ignorance and stupidity are never an excuse for casual racism.
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.