Black Mom’s Viral Message to Assuming Strangers: ‘It’s 2024’

A black woman with a biracial daughter took to social media to advise people not to make assumptions based on skin color.

Faith Spoonmore, 35, who posts on Instagram as @ahealthymixture, can be seen in a May 17 video talking to the camera with her baby by her side. Spoonmore, who was born in West Africa and is married to a white man, described an awkward moment in which a stranger assumed she was not related to her daughter, who has lighter skin.

In the clip, Spoonmore urged viewers not to make assumptions, saying, “It’s 2024,” implying that people should already be familiar with multicultural families.

She said Newsweek that she was inspired to make the video to “encourage others to think twice before making an ignorant remark.”

Spoonmore said that during the interaction, which took place in a parking lot, her daughter was crying and a woman asked her, “Where’s her mom?” She said she didn’t respond at the time because she was taken aback.

“I was shocked,” she said. “Direct comments like that are very hurtful.”

After reflection, Spoonmore felt “disappointed” that she didn’t correct the woman. She then shared the video to avoid similar interactions.

“Once I had my thoughts together, I wanted her and everyone else with that mindset to know how that way of thinking affects other moms,” she said.

“I will never understand why people think this is acceptable. It’s so rude. A family doesn’t have to look the same to be a family,” she wrote in the caption of the video, which has received more than 214,500 likes.

The 2020 census data showed that 204.3 million people identified as white only, making it the largest racial or ethnic group in the United States. Since 2010, the white only population has declined by 8.6%. In contrast, the multiracial population has grown from 9 million people in 2010 to 33.8 million people in 2020, an increase of 276%.

Despite the growing multiracial population, other mothers in the comments section of Spoonmore’s video mentioned having similar experiences while out with their biracial families.

“Once while I was on vacation at a resort, a lady came up to me while I was breastfeeding my daughter and asked me why I was feeding a black baby. I was absolutely shocked. I wondered who you were, ma’am. I kindly told her to keep running. The ignorance of some people is unreal. You both are so beautiful,” wrote one user.

Another added: “I totally agree with you, this is really rude! My husband is Mexican and I’ve gotten a lot of comments like this about my baby. I was stopped by a person in a store because they thought I was trying to steal my own daughter!!!”

“This happened to me with both of my kids,” one user said. “They assumed and insisted that I was the nanny.”

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