Reply to Kind of Felt Uncomfortable Because of My Ethnicity On a Tour

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Huh.  I've had similar experiences.  The only thing is I'm from Pittsburgh and I *AM* of Chinese descent (although I, too, was born and raised in the US).  When people ask where I'm from, I answer Pittsburgh and I've seen a lot of the same squirming and awkwardness as they try to figure out how to ask the question they know they aren't supposed to ask.  Sometimes I do get the "Where are you really from?"   I personally would have spoken with the administrator of the school after the visit/tour and mentioned that his staff really weren't very well trained in handling race issues and ask whether they had appropriate training in handling minority issues.  I would explain that while his staff tried to be polite, they went out of their way to segregate you based on your race even when you tried to avoid the topic of race.  How the administrator handles such a discussion would tell me how comfortable I might be in considering the school.  If the administrator recognized the issue and problems, then I might consider it.  If the administrator made no apologies for the inappropriate behavior of their staff, then I would definitely not put my children in that school.[/quote]
Not to side-track the issue - but how do people ask what ethnicity someone is?  I use to be the one that asked "where are you REALLY from?" but have since learned that is rude and is the same as saying they aren't American - which was never what I meant.
I am one of those people that am genuinely curious about different ethnicities. I have lived all over the world, and am still facinated. One of my friends growing up was Swedish/Japanese mix, but looked Native American so it was always funny to see how poeple reacted when they met him. My family is as blah American as you can get with NO cultural identity or customs, so I like to hear about other people's customs.
And, these things do "happen" to white people. My (married) last name is Irish. I am not Irish. But everyone always assumes that I am Irish and makes Irish jokes. I just laugh and say its my husband that's Irish, and I have never had corned beef and cabbage.[/quote]

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