Sometimes, the best way to shut down a rude (and possibly racist) stranger is with kindness.
On Sunday, the Love What Matters Facebook page shared a story submitted by Brandi Benner from South Carolina. In her post, Benner details a trip to the store with her 2-year-old daughter Sophia, in which Sophia stood up for herself, even in the presence of a total stranger.
Benner writes that she and Nick, presumably her partner or husband, had told Sophia that if she potty trained for a full month, she could pick out a prize for her hard work. When the time came and Benner took Sophia to the store, the toddler acted on her doll obsession and picked out a doll.
However, it was while checking out that the mother and daughter were strangely confronted by the cashier for Sophia’s choice—the doll was black, and the cashier wanted to know if Sophia, who’s white, had picked the toy out for a friend’s birthday party.
“Sophia continued to stare blankly and I let the cashier know that she was a prize for Sophia being fully potty trained,” Benner wrote. “The woman gave me a puzzled look and turned to Sophia and asked, ‘Are you sure this is the doll you want, honey?'”
When Sophia confirmed with a “yes, please!” the cashier pressed again, saying, “But she doesn’t look like you. We have lots of other dolls that look more like you.”
Though Benner wrote that she became angry, she was cut off by Sophia, who told the cashier that, yes, they do look alike.
“Yes, she does. She’s a doctor like I’m a doctor. And I’m a pretty girl and she’s a pretty girl. See her pretty hair? And see her stethoscope?” Sophia replied politely.
Sophia was clearly more interested in the similarities that she and the doll shared than their different skin colors. It was then that cashier finally stopped questioning against the 2-year-old.
“This experience just confirmed my belief that we aren’t born with the idea that color matters,” Benner wrote. “Skin comes in different colors just like hair and eyes and every shade is beautiful.”
Though Sophia will probably come to understand prejudice and racism in the future, her quick shutdown gives us hope.