[ CYPHER CODE #1622 ]
Not every uncomfortable moment is proof of oppression.

[ CYPHER CODE #1623 ]
A retail norm became a racism claim because the American script got there first.

[ CYPHER CODE #1624 ]
The world doesn't run on America’s racial software.

BRIEFING

Grant here. Look, racial temperatures here in the U.S. can run pretty hot. As a result, everything here is "politically correct" and engineered "not to offend." But when you go overseas, those "PC" standards disappear, and all of a sudden, people are getting offended for literally no reason. Let’s break it down.

A clip from a Shanghai retail store is getting some attention as a black American claims she was being "racially profiled." In the clip, the woman records herself walking through the store and shows the employee following closely behind as she says, "Being black is so crazy.”

SOURCE

A black American from Tennessee went on a trip to visit Shanghai, China

She shows in a retail store, a worker is assigned to follow her around and make sure she doesn’t steal anything

No matter where she walks, the Chinese worker follows

According to real FBI crime statistics, the likelihood of a black person stealing from a store is over 10x higher than a Chinese person stealing from a store

Stereotypes seem to exist in multiple countries

In America, being followed around a store has a very specific cultural meaning. It usually gets read as suspicion, profiling, or racism.

But that's the culture here, not in China.

Community Notes pushed back on the racism framing and said that in China and many other countries, store workers often follow customers to provide service and help make a sale.

Then another user, who says he has lived in China for eight years, made the same point in blunter terms. He said he is white and gets followed by store staff every single time, too. He called it “hawking,” describing it as a style of customer service that Americans are not used to, where employees hover nearby to acknowledge the customer, offer help, and show they're ready to assist.

DEBRIEFING

There are two truths at play here: the woman may have genuinely felt watched and the employee may have genuinely been following her. But those two things don't always automatically = racism.

Sure, discrimination exists, both here in the United States and abroad. But it's important to note that not every uncomfortable situation in life can always be chalked up to "racism."

But unfortunately, America has trained people to interpret discomfort through identity before context. So the result is that a foreign retail norm instantly gets run through the old "American PC script" before context is even called into question.

This just goes to show that it's important to remember that the world isn't running America’s race software.

Sometimes the worker following you around the store isn't making a racial statement. They're literally just doing their job.

NOW YOU KNOW

Not every awkward moment is oppression.