#IHadAWhiteFriend Is a Thing Now

Have you ever had a white friend? Apparently lots of us have, and that’s probably to the shock of Rhode Island state Rep. Patricia Morgan, who we have to thank for the hashtag #iHadAWhiteFriend.

Morgan, a Republican (obvs), jumped on Twitter apropos of absolutely nothing on Tuesday with an attempt to have a take on Critical Race Theory–which, by the way, isn’t taught in any grade-level school in her state—vis a vis a crazy personal anecdote. To her telling, CRT, which again, isn’t taught in any public school in her state and never has been–cost her her friendship with her only Black friend. We’ll sip the tears while you read for yourself.

One more time for clarity: Patricia Morgan’s singular Nameless Black Friend suddenly copped an attitude with her for absolutely no reason. That can’t possibly be Morgan’s fault since only a total ingrate wouldn’t love a white friend who sends tweets like that–so the only possible explanation is that Nameless Black Friend had been corrupted by the evils of Critical Race Theory. On its face, the tweet would have been insulting for how much thoroughly bathed it was in the worst stereotypes of Black people. In addition to being pliable enough to lose a friendship over CRT, Nameless Black Friend was also a woman, which in Morgan’s mind clearly made it more believable that they’d suddenly be “hostile and unpleasant”. Who among us hasn’t dealt with a gullible, surly Negress?The problem for Morgan is that Nameless Black Friend is as transparently nonexistent as eighth grade CRT courses, so her stunt landed more like a joke once Black Twitter got hold of it.

From the Boston Globe

The tweet spawned two hashtags, #ihadablackfriend and #ihadawhitefriend, where people shared their experiences, positive and negative. It even inspired at least one parody Twitter account.

We’d say more, but Twitter did it better. RIP @RepMorgan’s mentions.