All my life, I've been asked some strange questions by people who try to figure out my ethnicity. Yesterday, I was asked the strangest one at an event I attended:
"If you don't mind me asking, what is your original homeland?" asked a height-challenged man with an ambitious soul patch and very little other hair.
I wanted to roll my eyes and say "Texas." But, I try not to be rude to people who try to relate to others meaningfully. Also, years of experience as a racial curiosity taught me that my exotic ancestry would be the more desired response. So I said, "India."
"If you don't mind me asking, what is your original homeland?" asked a height-challenged man with an ambitious soul patch and very little other hair.
I wanted to roll my eyes and say "Texas." But, I try not to be rude to people who try to relate to others meaningfully. Also, years of experience as a racial curiosity taught me that my exotic ancestry would be the more desired response. So I said, "India."
He then said, "Namaste and welcome" which I tried not to take the wrong way but probably did anyway.
Later, I relayed the incident to my brother and a couple of friends because it did amuse me a little. Also, the experience made me wonder how other people would have responded if they had been asked that question. The very nature of it makes you feel like an outsider. Hello? What did we learn in Microaggression 101? I'm sure he didn't ask the not-so-brown folks that question though many of them very well could have come from a homeland other than the United States.
Aaaannd, that's my take on that. Namaste, y'all. :)
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