As a Korean-American man growing up in New York City, it always amazed how frequently I was mistaken for some other Asian-American men around town. I've had men buy me drinks, women give me hugs, and complete strangers running up to me to say, "what's up?"...all because they mistakenly thought I was someone else. At first, it used to annoy the crap out of me but then I just said "screw it." There was nothing I could do about it anyway.
I never thought the case of mistaken racial identity would happen with my own daughter!
Yesterday, we were watching baseball highlights on television. Suddenly, the camera zoomed in on Seattle Mariner player Ichiro Suzuki. Without missing a beat, my 2.5-year-old daughter turns to me and excitedly yells, "Look! My daddy's on TV!"
Today, I asked two of my African-American buddies whether this ever happened to them with their kids. Both resoundingly said "yes." In fact, one of them told me that whenever his 4-year-old sees Morgan Freeman on TV, he yells out, "Hi Grandpa!"
How about you? Do any of you minority parents ever experience the same thing with your kids? Does it ever happen to Caucasian parents as well? An inquiring mind wants to know...
