It is a hot issue in the US right now.

Speaking of race, I actually have forgotten my own race for a fraction of a second once. I was still in grad school, and I was in town to visit my then-boyfriend. He lived in a Dominican/Latino neighborhood, because cheap rents for a decent amount of square footage is still possible to find in upper Manhattan.  He was a white male, with Danish heritage, and worked in Mid-town west, the A train ran express along the west side made it pretty convenient for him. The first time I visited him, I remember getting a lot of looks in the neighborhood (actually the looks continued the second, third, or maybe even forth, since I was never there often, I was always the ‘fresh face’). Feeling a bit self-conscious, I remember within the first day or two, I thought to myself, “They are looking again, maybe wondering who I am, maybe they are noticing he is bring home a girl…well, but I could be his sis….NO! Of course not!” I caught myself laughing a little.  There is NO way we look like brothers and sisters; he is white and I am Asian, obviously not the same!!! For a split of a second I had forgotten about my own race.

I live by myself now, and still in this Latino dominant neighborhood.  I feel pretty ‘blended’ in while walking about the neighborhood by myself.  Yes, I am still different, but I am in New York City, everyone is used to seeing everyone.  It is not until my parents were in town, do I feel really out of place when walking along side them in my hood.  My folks lived the last 20 plus years in the West Coast, the valleys in southern California.  There is certain baby-power freshness about them.  They scream “I am an out-of-town visitor” from their clothes and the way they conduct themselves; nothing bad, but just very different. Their clothes are too clean, they haven’t been through the grind of the city.  It was only the three of us, but it already felt like there were too many Chinese walking about in the neighborhood.