A
20-year-old waitress from Wichita, Kansas, unexpectedly found herself at
the center of a debate on race relations after she was verbally
attacked for dating a black man.
Ashlyn Sullivan, who is white, has responded to racist comments about her and her boyfriend by penning a powerful blog entry, which has since gone viral.
In
her personal essay titled, 'I am not dating a racial slur,' Ashlyn
writes that she and her boyfriend, Ra'Montae Green, have been together
for two years and have never directly experienced racism as an
interracial couple.
Color-blind: Ashlyn Sullivan, 20, who
is white, has responded to racist comments about her and her boyfriend,
Ra'Montae Green (right), by penning a powerful blog post last month,
which has since gone viral
Taking a stand: Ashlyn penned the post
after a group of drunken men at a bar where she works referred to her
boyfriend of two years as a 'n*****'
All that changed on December 22 as Sullivan was working a shift as a server at a Buffalo Wild Wings bar and grill.
She writes that a table of six very drunk men began catcalling her and making offensive remarks about her physical appearance.
To put an end to the patrons' rude behavior, Sullivan told the men she had a boyfriend, but they suggested she was lying.
As a proof, Sullivan pulled up a photo of her boyfriend, Ra'Montae, on her phone and showed it to one of the customers.
'Awh girl, why are you dating a n*gger? They ain’t gone treat you right,' Sullivan quoted the inebriated man as saying.
Ashlyn writes that instead of walking away, she called the bar patron 'racist' and threatened to have him tossed out.
'Let
me just get this straight though. I am not dating a N*gger,' the
20-year-old aspiring social worker stated in her blog post before
launching into a poetic tirade praising her boyfriend's numerous good
qualities.
‘I
am dating a man with the smoothest brown skin, and curly hair. I am
dating a respectable, hardworking man that would do anything to make me
smile at the end of the day.
Courting
controversy: Before long, death threats and vile comments about Ashlyn
and Ra'Montea's interracial relationship started pouring in. For Green,
it was his only second ever encounter with racism in 20 years
‘I
am dating a man who helps me buy groceries, wash laundry, and even
clean my apartment even though he has other things to do, works 40 hours
a week, and it’s not his job. I am dating a man that holds doors open
for me and everyone else behind him EVERY TIME.
‘I
am dating a man who has never been arrested, and doesn’t walk around
acting like a fool. I am dating a humble man, someone who puts others
before himself. I am dating a man who loves motorcycles, and music. I am
dating a man with a future.
‘I
am dating a man with a great sense of humor. I am dating a man who
cuddles his puppy like a newborn baby. I am dating a man that will eat
hot cheetos with me while binge watching netflix. I am dating a man who
tells me I look pretty in glasses and pajamas that I haven’t taken off
for two days in a row.
‘I
am dating a man who loves to cook, and is sooooo good at it. I am
dating a man that spoils me. I am dating a man who loves God. I am
dating a man who loves me unconditionally.’
She concluded her post by urging people to 'wake up' and stop judging others based on skin color.
‘Why
do people care? Why make it a big deal? Why even bring race into the
picture?’ she wondered. ‘We are all human, no matter what you hair,
skin, or eye color is.. we all bleed red. I cannot stand the ignorance
of some people in this world.’
Her impassioned post in defense of her boyfriend went viral almost instantly, drawing 300,000 views the first day alone.
Before long, death threats and vile comments about Ashlyn and Ra'Montea's romance began pouring in.
Some commenters peppered her with Bible verses telling her how God doesn't want humans laying with animals.
Another attacker accused the 20-year-old college student of polluting the white gene pool by dating a black man.
A
third critic threatened her with death, while another urged her to kill
herself. There were also comments about how ‘disgusting’ she and
Ra’Montae looked together in photos, how one day she will end up as a
single mother of five living on welfare, and how her parents did not
raise her right.
Young and
in love: In her post, Ashlyn (pictured here before her tonsil surgery)
described her boyfriend as a man who is hardworking, responsible, who's
never been arrested and who loves her unconditionally
Ra'Montea said Ashlyn broke down in tears reading the comments section of her blog.
‘He told me it should not matter what is said by people who are just sitting on a computer screen,’ Sullivan told Kansas.com.
For Green, it was his only second ever encounter with racism in 20 years.
Around
the time of the incident at the Buffalo Wild Wings bar, Green said an
'old white guy' pulled up alongside him at a stop sign, showed him the
middle finger and called him the N-word.
‘I
know that for some people in some places in Wichita, racism can be
bad,’ he said. ‘Other than that thing a month ago, the only time I’ve
ever seen racism is in the movies.’
Ashlyn
and Ra'Montea first met in high school as kids. After being friends for
a while, they briefly tried dating but then drifted apart.
Two years ago, the two reconnected while working together at a McDonald’s in Goddard and struck up a romance.
Ra’Montae
works at Protection One as a monitoring representative. Ashlyn is a
college sophomore at Wichita State University working on a degree in
social work. Her goal is to become an advocate for children and animals.
She's dead now, burn the coal, paid the toll, died by the "boyfriend"
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