I have worked with Asians who have emmigrated; I have also worked with Asian-Americans who are 2nd generation, 3rd generation, etc. The same can be said for Indians, Dominicans, and French. The “Where are you from” question, at least in my circles, seems to be more related to accent than to skin color. I don’t remember anyone ever asking Yi-Ling where she came from (I believe she was born in Chicago), but it was asked of other Asians. I aggree with RevTim. It’s usualy an ice-breaker, or someone looking for an interesting story about a land they are not too familiar with.
“The large print givith, and the small print taketh away.”
Tom Waites, “Step Right Up”
[[JillGat once persuaded me, in the-thread-that-shall-not-be-named, that certain ethnic and racial information may be necessary for medical purposes, particularly for identifying what groups may be more at risk than others for illness or genetic disease, and so I now make the single exception that when the information is being collected for medical tracking purposes we will write “Northern European” (I mean, are the kids Scottish, Irish, French, German, or Cherokee Indian?? They got bits and pieces of 'em all!) and “white.”]]
They also ask for ethnicity on the college forms in my state, and so found out that a large percentage of Native Americans drop out. Because the university discovered this (because of the forms), they have investigated the causes, and implemented programs to mentor Native American students who may have a hard time adjusting to college life. Most forms that ask for ethnicity do so to find out about the inequities between races, not to create or exacerbate them.
Jill
I sometimes ask people about their ethnic origins, but I do it for the same reason that I ask them what year they were born, or where they grew up, or where they went to college, or the history of how they got their job. Perhaps I’m an obnoxious busybody, but I’m not a racist. All that sort of information is as interesting to me as finding out what their favorite book or movie is. I frequently annoy people by being able to remember these facts and then years later saying things like, “O.K., you two must be three years apart in age. How did I know that? Well, of course I know it. Don’t you remember that conversation five years ago when I asked you your age?”
Jill, if you really believe that the only thing those notations are used for, then I guess you are naive enough to believe “Hi, I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.”