More about passing

While it is no longer legal to discriminate on the basis of race, people who can "pass" for white often face difficulties and prejudice when people automatically assume they are Caucasian. They often struggle with their family legacies, where their parents or grandparents had to hide their true identities in order to get good work (or suffer discrimination by choosing not to pass.)

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:



Although Barbara Douglass never told anyone she was white, people see her porcelain skin and her silky hair and assume she is.

But Douglass, who lives in Wilkinsburg, is a 53-year-old black woman. She could pass for white but she has never tried, she said.

"Growing up, I knew of people who did, and I was even instructed not to say, at that time, that they were colored. In order to get their jobs, they had to say they were white."

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/lifestyle/20031026stain1026fnp2.asp

Have you ever been mistaken for belonging to a different race? Have you ever assumed somebody you met belonged to a particular racial or ethnic group, only to find out later that your assumption was wrong? What have you learned from these experiences?