I went to high school and college with this woman. She was extremely racist and used the N word frequently. In 2008, when we were in our first year of college, she called Obama the N word numerous times loudly and criticized me for supporting him. Her mom is white and her dad was an immigrant from Iran but she literally never mentioned him or her heritage despite her last name literally being Hussein. Now fast forward, we are in our 30s and don’t speak, but she followed me on Instagram a few years ago and has a public page that she has been growing. She posts hella thirst traps barely dressed but she also posts a lot about her academics. She’s getting her PhD in… drumroll… Indigenous, Race and Ethnic Studies, with the hope of becoming a professor in college promoting critical race theory. Every day she posts things about how white people suck, are evil, etc., and talks about her studies and research about environmental racism.

Now, while I support her work, it’s hard for me to think she has really changed her stripes. She seems to have started embracing her Iranian heritage which is awesome, but back in college she used to frequently call Arab people “sand ni*ers”, call Mexican people “illegal wetba**s” and say they should be shot on sight at the borders, Asian people “ching chongs,” and of course the N word for black people. She would say horrible things about how white people were both superior and more intelligent. She got her BS in Psychology and said at graduation she would never accept “n word” clients because they have “monkey brains”.

It feels like she is banking off “woke culture” these days because it has gathered her SO MANY social media followers and money. It does not feel genuine at all knowing her past. But maybe I’m being biased and people really can grow and change drastically. What do you think?