A Black woman was lauded online for her response to a set of racist messages she received through a dating app.
TikToker @daybabyx, who goes by Day, posted a now-viral video explaining exactly what she did after meeting a racist on the app.
She starts the video by showing the man’s profile, a 22-year-old nursing student identified as James Pinedo.
Even though his page featured a message that said he “liked” Day’s dating profile, he sends her a string of racist replies after she initiates contact with him.
The screenshots Day posted of the message thread show that Pinedo wrote, “I’m racist,” and “Don’t like darkies,” then called her the N-word in another message.
In response, Day took action to ensure that Pinedo learned that his discriminatory behavior has consequences.
“He’s racist and calls people the N-word,” Day says in her video. “So, I called his college, High Desert Medical College in Lancaster, and I let them know that,” she said, showing a screenshot of an e-mail to a school official.
“I let them know that James doesn’t like ‘darkies’ and he is racist and that he shouldn’t be a nurse because Black people also have to go to the doctor,” Day continued.
She also went a step further and contacted the California Board of Registered Nursing to file a formal complaint and even contacted Pinedo’s mother and stepfather for good measure.
Day posted the video on Saturday, which drew nearly six million views on TikTok and thousands of comments praising her response.
“So thorough. Love the execution,” one person commented. “You ate this up so effortlessly,” another commenter wrote.
People also flooded the official TikTok account for High Desert Medical College in Lancaster, California, requesting updates on Pinedo’s current status as a student.
The college responded to several comments on Monday, stating, “We have resolved this situation in accordance to our code of conduct policy published in our catalog. Due to FERPA, we cannot share the outcome of the situation. We do not condone racism in any manner at HDMC.”
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law that addresses the privacy of a student’s educational records and information, according to the California Department of Education. The law affords parents/guardians rights to their child’s education records until the child turns 18 and attends a school beyond high school. After that, those rights are transferred to the student.
It’s unknown at this time whether Pinedo was banned from the dating app and how the California Licensing Board for Nurses is addressing Day’s complaint.
