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242 posts tagged ethnicity
“You don’t look Jewish.”
On multiple occasions, when I tell people about how I’m secular, but still culturally Jewish, they tell me, “You can’t be culturally Jewish, it’s a religion.” Yes, please dictate to me my own cultural and religious experiences. One man once told me, when I explained my situation, “Oh, then I don’t consider you Jewish. You’re an atheist.” When I told him, “You can’t tell me what I am or am not,” he said to me “I just did.”
Teacher:: what do they look like? (referring to a picture of Middle Eastern women in hijabs)
Student:: Terrorists.
Teacher:: I was looking for “religious, traditional, or worried.” But yes, that too. Good, Tyler!
“Yeah, but you’re not that kind of Native.”
This has happened more than once. A person complains about the lazy “Natives” downtown, suggesting they are all a bunch of ‘huffers’ exploiting the system. I respond by pointing out that I’m Metis (I have pale skin).
“All immigrants should go back to their own countries!”
My white American gay classmate to another fellow classmate, who was an immigrant from Poland. It made me, another immigrant, feel shocked because he himself was ridiculed all the time, and I did not expect him to stoop down to the level of his prejudiced, homophobic peers. It made me feel worried, marginalized, unwelcome, nauseous and rejected.
“You people make a lot of those, don’t you?”
My company’s CEO, after hearing me mention my family’s continued our longstanding tradition of making tamales for the holidays.
A substitute teacher to my class of English as a Second Language students- "So what? Are you all Mexicans?“ The kids came and told me the next day :(
While at the copier, the topic of homework completion came up with another teacher. I tried explaining that many ESL students don’t have the support at home due to parents not knowing English. Her response was, “Well they’ve been here long enough. If they’re in our country, they should speak our language. No excuses.” I could do no more than turn and leave. Our district is 16% English Language Learners - our building is roughly 25% students from non-English speaking households.
The honor roll certificates are being given out in alphabetical order at my school. During a streak of Patels, one kid shouts “We all know they’ll all get As anyway! Who cares?"
Enjoying a family reunion with my husbands family. I am the only one ethnically different - Hispanic. I received a bug bite on my cheek with a significant swelling and redness. My sister-in-law of Swedish decent says, “I’m surprised someone like you with such dark skin is so sensitive. I didn’t think dark skin was as sensitive as light skin.”
“She’s Mexican, she can be our maid.”
My white step grandmother talking about me when I visited her house i felt like i was being made the butt of a joke because of my race.
In an elective class in high school, a group of us students were talking about laws regarding sexting. I asked hypothetically if I would get in trouble if I had naked pictures of myself in my backpack. The teacher who was near me, muttered "that’s not what you’d have in your backpack" I was genuinely confused as to what he was getting at, and asked him what he meant, he said “oh you know what I mean” and just to make sure there was zero ambiguity he added “a bomb!” Growing up south Asian in a small town in the south, I was used to being made to feel guilty because of my ethnicity and presumed religious beliefs, but something about how blatant and irrelevant to the conversation his comment was, really affected me. It made me feel so isolated and hated.
“I guessed you must be Japanese because in my experience Japanese people have very modern haircuts and clothing. Chinese people usually have very traditional looking clothing and hair, and you don’t look that at all! You look so chic and modern!”
A white man I met at a conference explaining himself after he asked if I was Japanese, and I had corrected him that I am Chinese.
Welcome to this country
From a colleague who heard my accent and asked when I came here. My response - “I’ve lived here since before you were born, buddy.” At a smoke break at work.
Today, my white co-worker brought her dog to work. When I walked in the office this morning, she mentions how her dog likes to be talked to in Spanish (inferring that I can speak Spanish). I’m Mexican American and can speak Spanish but have not shared this with her (given that we have only been sharing an office for less than a week). She goes on to say that she lived in a “diverse” neighborhood where people spoke Spanish and how her dog must have come from a Spanish speaking home because he gets very excited each time someone speaks Spanish. Needless to say I did not speak Spanish to try and impress her or her dog.