Rants, Raves, and Rhetoric v4

Haven’t Been Called Middle Eastern In a Long While

Was invited to dinner at Nasrin’s last night. Some others from the neighborhood were invited as well. I got to tell the story I formerly blogged about in the Melungeon post:

Laurie: Ezra, where are you from?
Ezra: Right here, born and raised.
Laurie: Oh… Where are your parents from?
Ezra: Dad is from here. Mom was a military brat, so she’s not really from anywhere.
Laurie (Getting visibly confused… Long pause.): Okay, I’ll just say it. Why do you look like that?
Ezra: Oh, okay! I understand now. My father is black. My mother is white.

There was shock on various faces. More so on the trio who had never previously met me. None had thought I was black. They had thought me maybe Middle Eastern. Like maybe I was related to Nasrin? ROFL

The only time anyone has ever thought I am from the Middle East was back in college. Rahat, I think, who was from Saudi Arabia wanted to know when I was going to apply for my work permit to stay in the US. LOL It turns out he knew I knew so many people from the Middle East, he assumed I was as well.


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One response to “Haven’t Been Called Middle Eastern In a Long While”

  1. […] techniques to “pass” as white. Many people look at me with my mannerisms and assume foreigner not black. By Leila McDowell’s standards, I guess that makes me not black […]

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