On point
Yesterday, an older man visited the temple I attend on Saturday mornings.
During kiddush, he sat down with the cantor and I and interrupted our conversation with the following.
"So. Chinese nationality?"
What a different greeting this is compared to what white people receive. Is this the new thing? Should I sit down with someone I've never met and say, "So. English?" instead of "Hi, my name is John"?
I replied, very pointedly, "No, American is my nationality. Chinese is my ethnicity." At that, the cantor remakred that that was quite an excellent way to put it.
The man clarified that I was raised in America, before saying, "You know what? That's okay. American's a melting pot anyways!" In other words, "That's okay that you're not white. You can still stay here."
At that, I made my exit without saying that it was nice to meet him. Because it wasn't.