One of my pleasures in travel in the United States and Canada is running into, and having short enjoyable conversations with, immigrants from Ethiopia. A little game I play, when I have an interaction with someone–typically in a cab, at a retailer in an airport, or in a hotel–who looks Ethiopian, is to say, “Let me guess where you’re from.” The person then waits and I say “Ethiopia.” Typically the person breaks into a smile, happy to be identified correctly and the next question the person asks is almost always “How do you know?”
That happened this morning when I went down to the lobby at my hotel in Toronto to get a plate from the restaurant so I could eat my Chinese leftovers for breakfast. I asked the woman if she was Ethiopian, she beamed, and then she asked me how I knew. I answered that it was the combination of her high cheek bones and her particular color.
Incidentally, I sometimes run into people who seem to think it’s wrong to comment on those things. The people I run into, though, are virtually never the people on whom I’m commenting. The whole thing reminds of one of my favorite passages from a book by Steve Sailer, a frequent commentator on this site, usually critical of what co-blogger Bryan Caplan is writing on immigration. In his book, America’s Half-Blood Prince: Barack Obama’s “Story of Race and Inheritance”, Sailer has a section discussing Obama talking about why his skin is relatively dark for someone whose mother is white. Obama explains that it’s because the tribe on his father’s side was particularly dark. Sailer comments that virtually no one seems to be comfortable talking about this and then ends with this line (I might not get this exactly right because I’m in a hotel and not near my copy of his book.):
We’re supposed to celebrate diversity–but not notice it.
Well, I both celebrate diversity and notice it.
I came back to my room with my plate and, after I finished breakfast, I decided to take the plate back to the restaurant because I thought of another part of my answer to why I thought she was Ethiopian. Fortunately, Yet (that’s her name) was still there. I said, “It wasn’t just your physical characteristics. It’s your spirit. You smile a lot and you’re happy. You seem to enjoy your job and appreciate that you live here.”
She broke into an even bigger smile and then got serious. She said (I’ll quote as accurately as I remember):
I tell my daughter that we are so lucky. I can have this coffee (pointing to the coffee machine) and it’s delicious. I thank God that we are here. (Then she does a little jig.) We are not back there dealing with hunger. We aren’t threatened by terrorists. We are lucky.
She’s a more extreme version of me.
READER COMMENTS
AngryKrugman
Jan 24 2015 at 11:03am
Sounds like you’re better at this than Romney is, David:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/28/us/politics/a-new-romney-seeking-to-connect-reveals-some-quirks.html?pagewanted=all
John Fembup
Jan 24 2015 at 3:16pm
“people who seem to think it’s wrong to comment on those things”
Yes.
And the remark (or a variant) that still makes me roll my eyes is “I didn’t even notice he/she is black”.
As if the speaker has no eyes.
As if the speaker did not notice whether the person were tall, or short.
As if being black is somehow a flaw which the speaker believes is impolite to notice.
As if the speaker believes the norm is, somehow, not-black and pretending not to notice that flaw is an act of courtesy; or that not noticing somehow renders the speaker tolerant or inclusive or some other birdseed euphemism for “I’m not racist”.
I roll my eyes.
Miguel Madeira
Jan 24 2015 at 5:56pm
I once only noticed that the husband of a friend was black when I knew that he was from Cape Verde (an african not much dark and without african facial morphology could be easily confused with a Portuguese with a completion slightly more dark than the usual; but probably the typical Black Americans are more dark than Cape Verdians and White Americans more light than Portugueses)
jon thiele
Jan 24 2015 at 7:27pm
Coffee snob commentary coming up:
Yet’s pleasure at having a coffee machine at work is not surprising. Ethiopia is a coffee country (as opposed to a tea country, poor souls). Ethiopians often drink coffee along with unsalted popcorn. Try it. Also, many Ethiopian coffees have a faint lemon flavor. Try it with a lemon tart or short cake.
CC
Jan 25 2015 at 7:16am
A more extreme version of you? You’ve got to find some drug company who can bottle this stuff. People like you are quite fortunate!
David Friedman
Jan 25 2015 at 1:17pm
Where I am, the cab drivers are quite often Somali, and surprised that I know anything about that country. How do you distinguish Ethiopians from Somalians?
Or is it just a difference in the populations we are sampling?
David R. Henderson
Jan 25 2015 at 1:34pm
@David Friedman,
How do you distinguish Ethiopians from Somalians?
I don’t know. My guess is that I’ve been a little lucky in my inferences.
Milo Minderbinder
Jan 26 2015 at 1:03pm
I am impressed that you read Sailer’s book.
Walter E. Williams
Jan 26 2015 at 1:08pm
Unlike like David, I’m colorblind.
Bostonian
Jan 26 2015 at 1:59pm
“We aren’t threatened by terrorists.”
The Boston Marathon, whose finish line is near my workplace, was attacked by terrorist Chechen immigrants. If Open Borders advocates get their way, the U.S. will not continue to be so “lucky”.
David R. Henderson
Jan 26 2015 at 4:21pm
@Walter E. Williams,
Unlike like David, I’m colorblind.
I doubt it.
Ricardo
Jan 28 2015 at 12:03pm
Interesting! But be careful in the DC area, which is home to many Eritreans, who look (to my untrained eye) very much like Ethiopians…
Comments are closed.