F.O.B.

If the pilgrims landed on this land by way of ship, then aren't they the original "boat people"?

Yellow Fever

So I get off work yesterday and was waiting at the bus stop when a white guy, probably a little older than me, comes up and comments on my bag (it says New York all over it, even though I've never been there), and then he says:

-"Are you Japanese? Chinese? I LOVE Japanese culture."

Mmm hmm. I'm sure you do.

-"You see that girl over there? She's Japanese. Chinese, Japanese, Korean, they're all different languages. Where are you from? Are you Americanized?"
-"I was born here. I am American."

Then he goes on to say something about how some people lose their culture and how America doesn't really have a culture, like China, and that "culture is a really beautiful thing."

-"Uh huh."
At which point I start pulling out my reading, hoping he gets the hint that I don't want to talk anymore.
-"You have a boyfriend huh?"
-"Why do you think that?"
-"From the way you're dressed."
As if to insinuate that one had to dress "sluttier" to get a guy. Note: I was dressed in my work clothes, which consisted of black slacks and a collared shirt.
-"Ok, I'll let you get back to your work."
And then he walks away.

The irony of it all was that I had copies of the newspaper I work for in my bag which says ASIA Journal on the front, and I was studying for my Asian American Studies class. So yeah, I'm a little "Americanized."

I actually found the exchange humorous, in the "I can't believe people are still ignorant" kind of way. I should have probably kept talking to the guy, just to see how far the ridiculousness would have gone, or to educate him a little, but I was in no mood.

For those who have studied race, does it ever make you more conscious of it in your own life, and not necessarily in a good way?