This crime is a kissing cousin to aggressive pan handling.

If a Pan Handler asks for change and you say "No".

Any and all requests or statements that pan handler makes toward you are a crime punishable by arrest and fines. The crime is aggressive panhandling.

When someone asks your race and you don't want to talk about it. Any further requests on that subject make them a criminal.

These people should be arrested and sentenced to jail time and fines.

Respecting peoples boundaries in this day and age is a criminal issue, not a civil issue, and not a political issue.

last year at this christmas type flea market thing in berkeley, i found a t-shirt vendor. the first shirt i saw said "What Are YOU??" i thought for a brief moment and the yelled at the vendor "THIS IS A HAPA SHIRT!!! YOU HAVE MIXED PEOPLE APPARAL!!!!" yeah, i bought the shirt. : )

oooh, "American"

That one peeves me. I always respond "United States of American" Because Guatamalens are American too.

How it usually goes around me:

"Where are you from?"
"My Mom. Where are yooooouuuu from?"

"What are you?"
"Hot Ass"

I get asked "what are you?" "what is your race" and other similar questions just about every time I am out in public. I understand that people are curious and want to know my racial/ethnic background and I try to be understanding of this. The first thing that comes to mind is, "I am a stranger to this person so why are they asking me a personal question?".
I get the whole "you are exotic and beautiful, what are you?"..or variations of that. My answer is usually that I do not have a race and I am mixed with many things. Then if they continue to ask (which is usually the case), I break down the mixture for them. Often times, after all this explaining to a stranger the person will ask, "what are you more of?" that one really gets to me. I answer with, "I am more of a teacher ballet dancer, animal-lover, and an American actually.."
I have had people respond to my answers to these questions by saying to me "oh so your a mutt", I have had this happen to me MANY times, and I find it terribly offensive, especially since the word mutt refers to a mixed dog that lacks value. I am sure that most of the people that have responded to me this way are far too ignorant to know that the word mutt can also be defined as meaning 'a stupid or foolish person'. I have tried pretty hard for so many years to be patient with people regarding these issues but the response that I am a "mutt" is just plain insulting.
Asking a person's race does not tell you about who they are or what cultures they have learned, or were raised with and adopted. It is simply asking what "race" they are. I don't like the question, it is objectifying and most of the time it appears as though a stranger just wants to fit me into a little racial catagory in their little heads (the, "what are you more of?" question adds to this).
Something else that I find strange is that often times people have a lack of respect for my personal space. I cannot count the amount of times strangers reach out and touch my hair. Some people ask if they can touch my hair and some people don't, and instead just reach out and touch it. It is, on the one hand a compliment because people are trying to learn and admire my hair and genetic make-up, but at the same time it is a disregard for my personal space and for the idea that I may not be in the mood for strangers to reach out and touch my body. I remember as a child people grabbing my hair, sometimes with a smile and other times with a strange look on their face.
On the one hand I am happy to hear that people find me attractive and that the curly hair and pale skin combination gets their attention in a positive way, especially since I was teased so much for it as a child. On the other hand, it is forcing issues and views on me in a way that is not me or my responsibility. My family has many colors and every type of hair, eye color, you name it. I was raised around every kind of person and I see them as NORMAL. I did not care if one of my family members looked drastically different than another because I looked beyond their external to find something more intense on the inside. I enjoy and am happy that I am part of so many cultures and appearances. Race is not an issue within my family, and I like that we define ourselves with much more depth.
I do not like being forced to drop down to the level of looking at people as 'this color or that color', but I find that sort of mentality gets pushed in my face by strangers just about every time I go out in public.
When friends ask me my family background I do not get offended because obviously a friend is so different from a stranger passing by.
I have had to answer and deal with these types of behaviors my entire life; after a few years you get tired of answering the same old questions and wish that people could just look beyond your "race" and get to know WHO you are. I am aware that I will have to continue to deal with this so I try to be positive about it the majority of the time and try to see it as a question from a curious person that thinks I am "different".
If you want to get to know me, then do so like a regular person gets to know another, and if you don't want to get to know me, then you should not be asking me questions about my personal family history.

I think it's less so the question as the approach. Most Caucasians tend to take a sidelong way of asking rather than just outright asking what my background is.

I love it when people ask me. Most people generally assume I'm White so when someone asks me I can relax a bit and assume they're not going to expect me to completely act or think in a certain way. Or think I'm crazy if I act other than what they expect. They will generally be a little more open to what any comment or body language might mean.

I don't care how they ask me, I care more about their intent or attitude towards it.

i really hadn't planned to post here but since this just happened a couple of days ago i thought i'd share. last saturday nite i was in tahiti with some friends and our tahitian "family". we'd just finished a dance performance and a group of folks were standing around talking to us. this guy, who i assumed to be either fijian, papua new guinean or even african asked me & my friend our ethnic origin. ( this is translated from the french ). so she laid her genealogy out there, then told him mine ( we are kinna the same mix, cept she has no caribbean roots and i don't have cherokee blood (thank god !!) : creek/yamasee/miccosukee all the way :) yochee!

we talked with him for a while and he was really impressed that we knew our bloodlines and was glad that we shared with him. most of the people in that sector of the world ( minus the tahitians ) have only mixed with neighboring islands so the visual differences between folks is most of the time very subtle.
i was not offended by his question at all because he was truly interested in knowing about us. in fact, it was cool. in that part of the world seeing black americans is rare and the only ones they know of are on television yet, alot of folks are VERY curious about the who black people in america are in a real sense. cause they KNOW we are not the stereotypical ugly american.

so then, i'm never offended......cause i'm never asked in this country what i am...... it's when i go out of the country
and i'm always happy to oblige.

if you're ever in edinburgh and someone thinks you're african.... tell'em your american and watch them totally roll out the carpet for you.