Ask Lemmy

26831 readers

1436 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Please don't post about US Politics. If you need to do this, try [email protected]

Rules: (interactive)

1) Be nice and; have fun

Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them

2) All posts must end with a '?'

This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?

3) No spam

Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.

4) NSFW is okay, within reason

Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either [email protected] or [email protected]. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].

5) This is not a support community.

It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email [email protected]. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.

Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

109

What would you have done? White guy observing anti-black racism. (lemmy.world)

submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

63 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I'm a white guy from a fairly non-diverse city. I was at a grocery store today where a cashier opened up their line to serve me and, I thought, the person behind me. As they were serving me, though, they put up their lane closed sign right in front of the black man behind me. The buy was just trying to purchase some tuna, bread, and peanut butter.

The cashier basically decided to serve me, a middle class white man, but refused to serve the black man behind me. I was so shocked that I didn't say anything. It is possible that I misunderstood the situation but it seemed so blatant.

What should I have done in this situation? Should I have spoken up? Would that have just been more embarrassing for the man who was being discriminated against?

Honestly, I'm still just in shock to see someone treated so poorly when they were simply trying to buy food for themselves. I recognize that means that I'm sheltered but I also feel like I should be able to use my unearned privilege to help others who are being discriminated against.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Okay, so worked at a grocery store, but not a supermarket, I take it.

In a supermarket, the first register for instance is always closed while there are people in line, because the worker wouldn't get a break otherwise, as it's the first register and people tend towards it of there's not much line.

There's literally nothing suggesting racism in what happened.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Oh, my bad, you're just completely lacking in reading comprehension. Good luck with that.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I don't think you understands how shops work.

Does mommy do you all your shopping, then?

[–] [email protected] -1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

I can't say I'm particularly surprised that's the best you've got. People usually use their own insecurities to blindly attack others.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

What am I supposed to do when you start with something as childish as "lol you can't read", because you actually don't know how grocery stores work and you don't have a reason for why this would've been racist?