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Comment by rfrey | Hacker News Reader

What? What if it's a neighbour you haven't met asking you over for a bbq? Or somebody who noticed your garage door was swinging open and wanted you to know they'd closed it?

Or OMG what if somebody needs a boost because their car battery is dead? Oh man, I couldn't bear it if I became that guy who didn't give someone a boost.

Signed, A Canadian HN user

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This really hit me for some reason. I’m a non white American, and not to exaggerate, afraid of knocking on a stranger’s door.

I’d be quite worried if I ever became stranded in a white neighborhood and had to knock on a random door for assistance.

I hope you'll consider changing your media diet, because your current selection is filling you with irrational racist fear. That's not how the real world is. Consider lolc's comment below:

"I once got lost in typical U.S. suburbia and the first door I knocked the guy wouldn't tell me the direction I needed to go but insisted on driving me there.

I was conscious of being percieved as a potential threat in that situation. But me being percieved as a likely nuisance to be ignored didn't cross my mind."

It is what it is. I’d rather be overly cautious than the potential alternative.

My concern is neither racist or irrational, based on my particular racial mix and phenotype.

I think your comment might have had a useful alternative perspective if it could have been made without calling the parent racist and irrational. ISTM difficult to change someone's mind while disparaging their reason and character.

With all the news I keep hearing from the US, I can't say I blame you. It's sad, though. I want to live in a society where people can knock on each other's door, and open the door trusting it's a legitimate friendly talk or person in need, and not a threat or someone looking to take advantage of me.

I’d hope none of your hypotheticals would require a “clipboard in hand”, which is the red flag GP mentions - likely it’s a cold calling solicitation.

"If you don't have a badge and a gun, I'm not opening the door for any reason"

That was with the pretext of it being a person standing at your front door with a clipboard--if such a person did not also have a badge and a gun, GP wouldn't open the door.

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