"No!" they say. "Where are you from?" She continues politely and firmly with her (true) answer.
Oh, yeah. I love the "but where are you really from?"
Someday, I'll just lose it and say, "I'm from Mars, okay? I've been lying to you all this time. I'm not from Sydney, I'm actually from Mars..."
Ultimately, though, this story isn't about me and my pain. It's about societal perceptions and how they affect the people who end up on the receiving end of bigotry and prejudice. And how they do so in subtle ways that the well-meaning people on the giving end of bigotry and prejudice would never notice until someone points it out.
The thing is, it's not even my job to edumacate such people; better people than I have tried it and burned out in the trying. But if you don't at least try to whack them upside with a cluebat, the bigotry and prejudice just keep going.
And maybe someday, a cluebat will land on a brain cell and activation and understanding will happen. It might even be before the Second Coming. If we're lucky.
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Oh, yeah. I love the "but where are you really from?"
Someday, I'll just lose it and say, "I'm from Mars, okay? I've been lying to you all this time. I'm not from Sydney, I'm actually from Mars..."
Ultimately, though, this story isn't about me and my pain. It's about societal perceptions and how they affect the people who end up on the receiving end of bigotry and prejudice. And how they do so in subtle ways that the well-meaning people on the giving end of bigotry and prejudice would never notice until someone points it out.
The thing is, it's not even my job to edumacate such people; better people than I have tried it and burned out in the trying. But if you don't at least try to whack them upside with a cluebat, the bigotry and prejudice just keep going.
And maybe someday, a cluebat will land on a brain cell and activation and understanding will happen. It might even be before the Second Coming. If we're lucky.