Reply to Why do people asked me where I am from if they don't believe me?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]When I answer that I'm originally from Pittsburgh, I'm asked where I'm really from. It's veiled racism. They are trying to stereotype you and you don't fit their mental image of what you should be, so they discredit your answer. [/quote]

How does that work? People can already see that you are Asian. [b]Why is it veiled racism and stereotyping trying to learn if you are of Chinese or Taiwanese decent[/b]? [/quote]

Because PP isn't from China or Taiwan! He or she is from freaking Pittsburgh! It's racism and stereotyping to assume that an Asian person is foreign or can't really be from the US. If you must be so bold as to ask what someone's ethnicity is, then use the right words.  What is your ethnicity? Not "where are you from" because they're from Pittsburgh.[/quote]

This.  The PP isn't "really" from China or Taiwan.  He or she is "really" from Pittsburgh.  Just like I am not "really" from Germany, even though my grandparents were born there.  I'm "really" from California.  But no one asks me where I'm "really" from, because I'm white and so apparently I can "really" be American.  If you want to know where someone's family is from originally, then ask that, not "No, where are you *really* from?"  
[/quote]

Ok, noted. So it's only racist if asked in exactly that form? 
I'm a foreigner and those questions don't bother me at all. Usually people just try to make conversation. [/quote]

It's racist when the question is based on the assumption that someone isn't fully or truly American, despite being born here, because of how they look.  That somehow, even if they are second- or third- or fourth-generation American, they are still foreign.  [b]It's not the first question ("Where are you from?") it's the pushback and the refusal to accept an answer that doesn't match the asker's preconceptions. [/b] [/quote]

I understand, but how often does that happen? Each person who asked 'where are you from' also asked 'no, but really where are you from?'?! 
[/quote]

It happens often enough that I've heard pretty much every non-AA, born in America, POC person I know complain about it at least once.  And remember George Allen's "Macaca" moment?  In addition to using a racist slur to describe a man of Indian heritage, he said, "Let's give a welcome to Macaca, here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia," to a guy who was born and raised in Fairfax County.  He looked at him and assumed that he was not born in the US based entirely on his looks.  [/quote]

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