Have you ever been told you don’t fit the stereotype of your “group” and were you offended?

I guess my groups are Jewish, Northeasterner, American, not sure what else.

People sometimes guess I’m not American. Trivial things like they see me dance, or hear me speak Spanish. Some people guess my national background incorrectly based on my features. I get Italian a lot, but also have been assumed to be Polish, Irish, one person guessed correctly that my family is Latvian. Mostly Latvian anyway. I guess that is stereotyping how people look. I could care less what country people guess my family is from, but some people get upset when Americans seem concerned about someone’s nationality. Once someone told me I don’t look Jewish because I had blue eyes. I dismissed that as ignorance.

I have a Black friend who was told more than once growing up that she didn’t seem Black, or her friends told her they don’t think about her as Black or didn’t see her race. She found that offensive, but I think her friends intended that to mean they didn’t see her any differently because of her skin color. I’m not sure how it came up.

People don’t guess my husband is Mexican. They say he doesn’t look Mexican or were confused by his name.