“Excuse Me But What Are You?”
Sara Dawit, Lake Mary, FL. I am bombarded with questions on my racial and ethnic ambiguity almost everyday of my life. Thankfully, I’m able to...
don’t TELL ME what I am
Rico Rodriguez, Hillsborough, CA. I’ve been told, by a lot of people who have never met me, that my racial background is not what I...
What are you? White? or Italian?
Terri, Chicago, IL. Um…neither – Really. That is the first question asked by someone who had just met me. Really? That’s the first question you...
“He’s so cute! What is he?”
Adrienne Karyadi, Los Angeles, CA. I think of this as a supermarket check-out line experience: I’m waiting with strangers in some kind of line, and...
Oh, so your mother is Dutch.
Alexander Calica, II, Carlsbar, CA. This phrase was often used by adults when I was growing up after hearing my answer to their question, “What...
What are you? I am Other.
Barbara Racca, Austin, TX. When I was younger, that question would immediately cause my shoulders to hunch and a look of hunted suspicion to cloud...
Who you are, what others are.
Jose G. Martinez Flores Mayaguez, Puerto Rico The essential fact that we are all human, regardless of any difference.
Don’t tell me what I am.
Nicole “Nico” Cisneros USA I know what I am! I’m Cuban-Filipino-American; first-generation Filipino on my mom’s side and second-generation Cuban on my dad’s side. I...
What are you, anyway?
Abigail Curtis Belfast, ME I am an American mutt! Dominican, middle eastern, white. I don’t think these words are said with hostility, but they always...
Don’t ask me, “what are you?”.
Danielle Guardado San Francisco, CA “What are you?” A simple question; yet, I had no answer. Every time I am asked this question, my response...
Your hair’s pretty. What are you?
Jessie V. West Sacramento, CA. As a little girl I was always told “you have such pretty hair” and then with that i was asked...
