A mother said in a now-viral post that she received a note from her neighbor, threatening to call the cops because her son looks "white."
Posting in Reddit's "That's Insane" forum under the username u/RamenRat, the mother shared a photo of the note, which she found "taped" to her door. The post has garnered more than 30,000 upvotes and over 2,600 comments from Redditors who encouraged to file a police report for "harassment."
In the comments section, the mother, a Black woman, explained that her son is "very white-passing" and therefore her neighbor doesn't believe her son is truly hers.
"Couldn't help but notice that your 'son' doesn't look like you!" the note began. "Interesting...I don't it's possible for you to birth a white baby. Please send documentation to prove he is yours to my number below or [the] police will be called! Thanks."
Redditors slammed the neighbor's "ignorant" comments and encouraged u/RamenRat to contact the police.
"Insane it's 2022 and these ignorant mfs still don't understand how f**king skin color works. I can't imagine how infuriating this must be for you," said u/Greco_nordicWrestler.
"[I]t's not like adoption or genetics exist. This lady failed biology in high school," commented u/nerdyconstructiongal.
"Call the non-emergency number for your local police. Start a paper trail. No charges no complaint, just a heads up to the authorities about some mild harassment. Will save some trouble in the long run if they try to involve the police themselves," added u/sixstringer420.
Redditor u/Intelligent_Radish15 added: "If you know what house sent this, I would put a notice on every house around you with this picture as a 'hey these people in our neighborhood did this' heads up kind of note. And I would also do what others have suggested about warning the police about the blatant racism and harassment."
According to Legal Beagle, the definition of harassment varies from state to state; however, it is generally defined as "any unwanted, unwelcome and uninvited behavior that annoys, threatens or intimidates you, or puts you in fear of your safety."
Examples of harassment include threats, derogatory comments and insults, among other unwelcome behaviors.
Before filing a police report for harassment, Legal Beagle advises individuals to "gather all the evidence of the harassing behavior you can, including printouts of emails, text messages and social media messages and hard copies of your phone records."
Once a report has been filed, local police will then investigate the complaint.
"They will look at the evidence you have provided, ask witnesses to verify your claims and interview the person who has been harassing you," Legal Beagle explained.
In response to one concerned commenter, u/RamenRat said that she has contacted the police, but provided no further details on the matter.
Newsweek has reached out to u/RamenRat for additional comment.
u/RamenRat's story isn't the first neighborly dispute to be chronicled on Reddit.
In March, a woman took to the website's ever-popular "Am I The A**hole" forum to share that her neighbor threatened to call the cops on her for jogging at 4 a.m. Posting in the same forum last month, a woman said her neighbor asked to take her wheelchair-accessible van on a weeks-long trip to Disney World and threw a fit when she said no.
Last November, a Redditor shared that they fought their neighborhood's homeowners' association for demanding the deconstruction of a ramp for a disabled neighbor.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Sara Santora is a Newsweek reporter based in Florida. Her focus is reporting on viral social media posts and trends. ... Read more
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