kenyatta reblogged (via glenda) a great post on the 7 Thing NEVER to Say to Asian-American Excecutives.

I would like to create a list called 7 Things a stranger should NEVER Say to Asian-American Females.

(btw - these are all true below - I’ve had strangers - usually white males - come up and say this to me. Or within the first 10 minutes of some introduction from a colleague, the white male will ask one of these questions to me. og and this only happens outside of NYC and SF)

1. you must be super flexible.

2. my friends and I have a bet about which Asian country you are from - we can’t seem to agree - can you tell us?

3. never say anything about our features!  “wow your cheeks are pretty big for being Chinese - I couldn’t sworn you were Korean.”

4. “I have a Thai (or whatver country) wife so I know a lot about….” Don’t preface any of your Asian knowledge with our Indian or Korean or Chinese wife - it does not make you an expert on Asian cultures. Just say what you know and stop using your ethnic wife as a your IKnow-About-Asia-license.

5. What does your last name mean?

6. From where are you visiting?

7. “Wow you sounded so different on the phone! You look different in person - from what I was expecting - I was expecting someone else - I  thought you would be like a blonde or something.”

8. Why are Asians so successful? There are so many at my college!

9. Do you date white guys?

10. What would your parents think if you dated a black guy?

ok so the list grew from 7 to 10.

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7 Things NEVER to Say to Asian-American Executives

1. “You must be the IT person.”

2. “You aren’t like them You don’t act very Asian.”

3. “Asian Americans are not risk takers.”

4. “Where are you from? No, where are you really from?”

5. “Oh, you speak English good!”

6. “You’re not a minority because all Asians are rich and successful.”

7. “You’re not Asian, you’re from India.”