Oh, Brother (Literally)

I’m adopted and dark-skinned while the rest of my family is entirely composed of white people, both from my mom’s and my dad’s side.

I’m twenty-four and my little sister is fifteen. We go to the supermarket together to buy some stuff for home. Whenever we walk together, we’re often met with stares. Maybe people think that we’re dating or something, I don’t know.

We wait in line ahead of a lady who keeps complaining about the weather, and then we go inside the store. As we’re grabbing spices, we can’t find what my mom wants. My sister wants to buy the same spice but from another brand, while I want to call Mom and see if she wanted it or not. So, we catch ourselves in a small argument, going back and forth about what should we do.

My sister says something about me being “pathetic and indecisive” and makes some motions as if to shoo me away. And then, the lady from the line decides to jump in.

Lady: “Stop! Get away from this young lady and don’t harass her!”

Me: “Um, what? Can I help you, ma’am?”

Lady: “I saw you trying to harass this girl! Ever since the line, I knew you were up to something!”

Sister: “Lady, this guy’s my brother. He’s not harassing me or anything—”

Lady: “Don’t worry, sweetie. I won’t let this guy steal from you or sexually harass you. We both know guys like him always do that sort of stuff.”

And she starts pulling the “racial card” on me. As much as I could get offended, losing my time with this lady is not optimal.

Me: “Ma’am, this girl is my younger sister. We came here together.”

Lady: “Don’t you dare try to lie your way out of this! You’re not siblings; that’s impossible!”

Sister: “Lady, he’s my brother! Who are you to say who he is or isn’t to me?!”

Me: “Please mind your own business and leave us alone. I didn’t do anything.”

Lady: “Hmph. We’ll see about that.”

She leaves in a hurry and we think it’s over. I start to call Mom to talk about the spices. Then, this lady comes back with a manager.

Lady: “There he is! He’s harassing that young lady and forcing her to call him her brother.”

Manager: “Young lady, is this true?”

Sister: “No! He’s literally my brother! We came here to buy some stuff and this lady’s harassing us!”

Lady: “That’s a lie! You’re too different to be siblings. I don’t believe in this garbage.”

Manager: “Sir, I’ll have to ask you to leave if you keep harassing this young lady.”

Me: “Well, I’d gladly do it, sir. But I can prove we’re siblings.”

Lady: “He’s bluffing! He can’t do that at all.”

Me: “Then please check out our IDs and you’ll see if I really am.”

We both give our IDs to the manager who starts to check out our names and the other information, such as our affiliation to our parents. The lady also tries to check along with the manager.

Manager: “After checking them, your surnames and affiliation are the same. I’m sorry for the disturbance we’ve caused.”

Me: “It’s nothing, sir. If anything, that woman is at fault for causing this scene.”

Lady: “I— I just made a tiny mistake. No hard feelings to be held.”

Sister: “Well, aside from the fact that you’re a racist old hag that doesn’t have anything better to do, sure.”

Lady: “What?! And here I thought you were a lady, you little ungrateful—”

Me: “Lady, turn away and don’t finish that sentence unless you wish to be sued in court for racism.”

Lady: “Fine! I was done here, anyway.”

And then she left in a hurry. The manager apologized again and then left, too.