Jennifer Lindsay
Los Angeles, CA
I get asked some variation of this on a fairly regular basis, about once or twice a week. The conversation usually goes something like this:
OP: where are you from?
Me: Los Angeles, although I was born in Orange County
OP: well where are your parents from?
Me: My dad’s from New Jersey and my mom’s from Virginia
OP: oh ok, so what ethnicity are you?
Me: I’m black
OP: really? so just black then?
Me: yup
OP: because you totally look [Indian/Arab/Native American/Asian/etc] to me. are you mixed or something?
Me: there are no known non-black relatives in my family tree, so it doesn’t make sense to call myself anything but black
OP: hmm, well you’re really exotic looking, you probably have some mixed blood somewhere
Me: anything’s possible, I guess
