AITAH- people have always treated me weird when i tell them my little brother is mixed and adopted.

i’m a white girl lol. this idea has always stumped me. i grew up with no real context of racial tension, my little brother is light skin and he has natural curly hair. even though he’s adopted i’ve always viewed him as family, i’ve never once viewed him as different than me.

i’m a photographer so specifically i had a family come in recently and their 6 year old had just gotten cornrows for the first time. i complimented his hair and the mom had said that he “hates them” because they hurt and his head was itchy. i told her i understood because my little brother had gotten cornrows around the same age and felt the same way about them and that he enjoyed box braids more. she gave me kind of a weird look and then was like “oh well that’s nice.” and i then felt the need to explain that my little brother is mixed and adopted and it seemed like that just made it worse.

but this wasn’t just a one time interaction. i’ve had interactions like this almost all my life. when he was real small id have people asking if he was my kid, as we got older people would assume we were dating. everytime i’ve told someone he’s my little brother i’ve gotten heavy side eyes and weird vibes all around.

ive seen the commentary about white people overcompensating to be like “im one of the good ones” or the i-have-a-black-friend white people, and i totally understand how that can be weird. just like when i tell people im jewish by ethnicity they’re like “oh i support israel” like good for you, i dont? just a weird thing to live with and id love for some feedback from black americans.