White dad in shock as Wal-Mart security suspected him of kidnapping his own biracial children
A white father walks into Wal-Mart with his children, only to be followed by police and asked to prove the children are his. Turns out, the children are Black — because their mother is Black.
Joseph, the white dad, has three young daughters with his Black wife, Keana. He told Fox 5 DC at the time that he was surprised and angry when a policeman asked him whether the three young girls were his. A security guard at the Woodbridge, Virginia, Wal-Mart had called police, suspecting Joseph of kidnapping his own daughters. The story went viral in May 2013.
On one hand, you would think: great — at least some good citizens are on constant vigil. But on the other hand: kidnappers don't usually take captives to Wal-Mart to buy candy.
As the world gets flatter, we will see more interracial marriages than ever before. Here, the white man was assumed to be the kidnapper. And if a Black mom has white children, she is most likely to be taken for the children's nanny. Assumptions cut both ways — and that is precisely the problem.
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