Why is a post about a white man soothing a black baby going viral?
This normal act of helping someone in distress has been labelled a simple act of kindness from a stranger and has gone viral shows what a pathetic and polarised world we live in. Photo: Andrea Byrd
A picture and post on Facebook of a white man soothing a black baby on a flight has gone viral. With 1.28 lakh shares, the post - by a co-passenger Andrea Byrd - talks about how a black woman, Monica Nelson, on the Southwest Airlines flight from Minneapolis to Atlanta, was exhausted and distressed because she was pregnant and her 20-month-old son Luke was fussy and cranky. The man, sitting next to her, only identified as Reid, apparently stepped in and offered to help, saying he was also a dad and had a son by the same name. According to the post, he "walked the aisle most of the flight" till the child fell asleep.
The co-passenger went on to write, "I was in tears...not because he was white and she was black...but because it showed me today that there are still GOOD people out there in a world full of turmoil. Big UPS to this DAD and all the DADS out there...you are the real MVPS! #REALMENTAKEACTION"
The mom, who's also a teacher, told Today, "It was such a relief because I was a little worried traveling with him (her son) without my husband there to help out... I'm still very grateful - he was so kind."
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| Monica Nelson of of Georgia was aboard a flight to Minneapolis with her crying son Luke, when a fellow passenger came over to calm the toddler down. Photo: Monica Nelson |
My point is, just the fact that this very normal act of helping someone in distress has been labelled a simple act of kindness from a stranger and has gone viral shows what a pathetic and polarised world we live in. I can bet this post is largely gathering momentum because it was a white man soothing a black baby. In fact, the post itself says, "I was in tears...not because he was white and she was black...". In India, random strangers offer to help carry a baby and no one even thinks twice before handing their baby over for a few seconds. No pictures are clicked and no posts written.
But, imagine if this were a black man soothing a white baby. Then the post would have gone viral too but for different reasons. All sorts of racist remarks would have crept in, and the woman would have been hailed because she handed the baby to a black man. We celebrate Obama in the White House and hail Usain Bolt as the fastest man on the planet and yet it continues to matter if you're black or white!
A man, a dad, offered to help a woman, a mom, and soothed her fussy toddler to sleep. This is just how this incident should have been seen. But it just doesn't have the same ring to it, does it? It wouldn't have gone viral, would it? That's the point.