What I hate is that some folks I know who aren’t white have come to expect this kind of thing. Knew a great guy at work of Indian descent, got to meet him in person for the first time and I asked him where he was from. Normal question when you personally are an army brat and pinged around the country in your formative years.The response was “Well my grandparents are from India”.
I have never cringed so hard, and was quick to say “Shit, no, I meant did you grow up in Toronto, or did you used to live in some other place in Canada before?”. Made me think about how many people did that “No, where are you really from” shit with him before.
Back in the 80s one of my first jobs out of university was working downtown Toronto. One of my coworkers was this effervescent woman of Japanese-Canadian descent.
She would talk about what it was like meeting guys in clubs.
“So, where are you from?”
“Scarborough”
“Uh… no, I mean where are you originally from?”
(feigning an “oh I getcha now” moment) “Ohh okay, yeah… Saskatchewan”, since that’s where she really was from, previously.
What I hate is that some folks I know who aren’t white have come to expect this kind of thing. Knew a great guy at work of Indian descent, got to meet him in person for the first time and I asked him where he was from. Normal question when you personally are an army brat and pinged around the country in your formative years.The response was “Well my grandparents are from India”.
I have never cringed so hard, and was quick to say “Shit, no, I meant did you grow up in Toronto, or did you used to live in some other place in Canada before?”. Made me think about how many people did that “No, where are you really from” shit with him before.
Back in the 80s one of my first jobs out of university was working downtown Toronto. One of my coworkers was this effervescent woman of Japanese-Canadian descent.
She would talk about what it was like meeting guys in clubs.
“So, where are you from?”
“Scarborough”
“Uh… no, I mean where are you originally from?”
(feigning an “oh I getcha now” moment) “Ohh okay, yeah… Saskatchewan”, since that’s where she really was from, previously.