Today, it's my fourth day of my trip to the USA. I've actually started keeping count of the number of times people get confused because I was born in South Africa and yet am not black. Current count: 9. FML
Collection
Thanksgiving
Questions about your love life, a burnt turkey and the cousin who knows everything: Thanksgiving, a contact sport.
Today, I live abroad, but I was born in the USA so I'm sick of people asking me who I voted for in the last election, all while looking at me weirdly and suspiciously. FML
Today, I became the town racist for saying "black" instead of "African-American". I'm black. FML
Today, marks yet again another day that I've been asked if I'm autistic. No, that's just my Korean accent. Apparently I look "too white" to have one. FML
Today, I got back from a 3 and a half week trip to South Africa to do volunteer work with children in townships. My parents forgot to pick me up, and I had to sit there by myself and wait for them, while 80 people of the same organization got loving hugs from their proud parents. FML
Today, I checked in a group of men from Mexico. I speak just enough Spanish to realize they're discussing my breasts. I have to stand there smiling while checking in three more people. FML
Today, while meeting my boyfriend's family for the first time, the first comment I received was, "Well, at least this one is white." FML
Today, I was stuck on a campus tour with my subtly racist mother who, in an attempt to seem open-minded, deemed it appropriate to refer to our black tour guide as "Sistah". FML
Today, I, a person who will be 21 in a few months, was mistaken for my mom's older brother. My mom is in her fifties. Apparently this is becoming increasingly common, because the world sucks. I didn't realize it was affecting me this badly. FML
Today, I was mistaken for an 8th grader because of my height. I'm 32 years-old. FML
Today, I was in India. At the airport, the men and women were being searched separately. The guy welcoming us pointed me towards the women's area. I had to explain to him that I was a guy. It took 15 minutes. FML
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Top comments
Nederlander95 14
I'm actually kind of surprised it's ONLY nine.
mz135 12
This reminds me of Karen from Mean Girls
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Comments (68)
jakeroney98 14
Most Americans are too damn ignorant to realize how many different cultures are in Africa, especially South Africa
frontmanmike 14
And that wasn't a judgmental piece of staggering idiocy? Judge not, dopey. -American
Eluddha 12
Please don't judge all Americans. The majority of us are not that stupid.
priyaaaa124 22
Goddamn Americans (joking joking calm down)
Hime9908 22
It's the USA what do you expect
Bibblejomin 18
Says the fat ****, lol
TPrice21 2
I know several people from South Africa, every one of them are white.
sdroze1389 31
lol I know six people from Africa and they are all white.
DLT_fml 20
Come to Canada. Your count at its highest would be three.
MaryPoppins88 14
This reminds me of mean girls “if you were born in Africa then why are you white?" Lol
Phoebe18 14
It's actually "if you're from Africa, why are you white?"
Ziggy122 15
Sometimes I'm ashamed to be American. Sorry this country's full of idiots.
XBurytheCastleX 25
"If you're from Africa, why are you white?"
CTPope74 13
I really is sad that people do not understand the difference between race, heritage, ethnicity, and nationality. Race=Human (Homosapien) Heritage=The past nationality of a person (I am Irish, Scottish, German, French, Souix, Apache, Cherokee). Ethnicity=how a person was raised (southern, redneck, high class, jewish(which is also a religion), etc. Nationality=where the person was born or have citizenship (African-American is someone who has dual citizenship between America and South Africa).
stargirl_95 24
I don't think you understand those terms either. First of all, although race is a social construct it's still a thing that exists. So black, white, native american, are all races. Ethnicity relates to which cultural/ethnic group you belong to so Irish and Sioux are ethnicities. High class is not. Nationality pertains to the country you were born in but African American is also considered an ethnicity to an extent because it specifically relates to black Americans who descend from slaves. African immigrants typically don't call themselves African American
stargirl_95 24
Just to add you can get multiple ethnicities within a country. For example, South African is not an ethnicity because it's such a multicultural country. Therefore my nationality is South African but my ethnicity is Tswana (which is a Southern African ethnic group). Since OP is white it's likely his/her ethnicity is either Afrikaans or English, not South African. So while ethnicity can be an indication of ancestral nationality it isn't always