America has a long history of teaching people to try to use skin color to “put people in their place.” That, of course, has never been a foolproof approach, but it is definitely not working today with the increase in interracial (and other intergroup) dating, marriage and childbearing.

So now when people can’t rely on “…the look of a person” too many people experience an intense psychological discomfort. Then to settle themselves in the social interaction, without thinking, people rudely blurt out the question, “…what are you?” Over the years, a number of my mixed-race college students have written about having this experience.

Here is my essay about the “what are you” neo-diversity anxiety moment which includes one of my @NCState student’s stories about having that experience: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/quiet-revolution/201802/what-are-you-legacy-laws-segregation