(Note: I’m half-Scottish and half-Native American.)

Supervisor: “Which one of your parents is Japanese?”

Me: “What?”

Supervisor: “It says on your resume you speak Japanese. So, which parent is it?”

Me: “No, I just study it because I get a scholarship for it. But I’m not Japanese.”

Supervisor: “Well, what are you, then?”

Me: “Um… Scottish?”

Supervisor: “Stop lying to me! You don’t have freckles, so you can’t be Scottish. You’re definitely not really white.”

Me: “My dad’s Native. ”

Supervisor: “Ah ha…”

(My supervisor wanders off and returns five minutes later.)

Supervisor: “We need to move you to another desk.”

Me: *surprised* “Why?”

Supervisor: “I don’t want you fraternizing with the other employees. They need to stay on task, and you’re distracting them. Natives have problems with authority and steal things!”

(Incredibly, my supervisor’s boss agreed with her. I was fired soon afterward, but thankfully I have since moved abroad and now have a bigot-free job in a large international firm.)

This story is part of our Native-American roundup.

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