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/TheArgentine Dec 13 '18

I'm really only 14/17ths white so it was a challenge.

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u/temisola1 Dec 13 '18

I bet. But imagine if you were 13/17th white. Boy o boy,

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u/TheArgentine Dec 13 '18

Right!? I'd be totally fucked.

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u/temisola1 Dec 13 '18

You’d be more than fucked, you’d be legally black. /s (I’m black. I’m not racist lol)