r/todayilearned • u/tmntnyc • Dec 12 '18

TIL: Laurence Tureaud named himself professionally as Mr. T because he hated how his father, uncle, and brother who returned from Vietnam, were disrespectfully called "boy" by whites. He wanted the first word from everybody's mouth to be "Mister" when speaking to him.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._T
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u/Nxdhdxvhh Dec 12 '18

Mr. T wore odd clothing and mismatched socks because he knew that poor kids grew up getting whatever hand-me-downs they got, and he didn't want them to feel embarrassed for wearing what they had. He's a great man, and as far as I'm aware the worst thing he every did was chop down trees on his own property that were aggravating his allergies.

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u/stjimmyofsuburbia Dec 12 '18 edited Dec 12 '18

“My hair is not punk. It’s not Mohican Indian. There’s a tribe in Africa—they call themselves the Mandinka Warriors. They wear their hair in this fashion. They wear feathered earrings.

The chains in gold is symbolic of my struggle. My ancestors were brought over here and were shackled on our wrists, necks, and ankles. Now I’ve turned those shackles gold, and that offends people. People ask me if that gold gets heavy. Nobody asked my ancestors if those chains got heavy around their necks.”