My stepfather is a naturalized American citizen, born in Palestine. When he came to this country and married my mother, he was a Jordanian citizen. Now his family are stateless. My sister was always pulled out of the line for extra security screening, until she married and got herself a German last name. Now she never is, in spite of the fact that she still looks like an Arab, and still has an Arabic first name.
Prejudice and profiling come in many forms.
My mother (in her 70's) has a friend of her own age, born to American-born parents and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. Her first name, the only one she has ever had, is Jane. Because her ancestry is Chinese, she gets asked where she is from. "Phoenix, Arizona," she will say. No, where is she from?
I'm sure this is all too familiar to you.
With these examples before me, I assume someone I meet is American, no matter what their face or name, or accent, unless I have good reason (like a foreign passport prominently displayed, or a name tag that reads "HELLO My name is Ambassador So-and-so").
I hope that this eloquent piece reaches many people, and sensitizes them to the scope and nature of the problem!
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Date: 2010-09-19 04:11 am (UTC)Prejudice and profiling come in many forms.
My mother (in her 70's) has a friend of her own age, born to American-born parents and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. Her first name, the only one she has ever had, is Jane. Because her ancestry is Chinese, she gets asked where she is from. "Phoenix, Arizona," she will say. No, where is she from?
I'm sure this is all too familiar to you.
With these examples before me, I assume someone I meet is American, no matter what their face or name, or accent, unless I have good reason (like a foreign passport prominently displayed, or a name tag that reads "HELLO My name is Ambassador So-and-so").
I hope that this eloquent piece reaches many people, and sensitizes them to the scope and nature of the problem!