Why I Lie About My Race

Photo by Jarritos Mexican Soda on Unsplash

I was 23 years old and working a minimum wage retail job in Florida. All of my co-workers and managers were either white or black. I was the only one of Asian descent. As you can probably imagine, many were curious about my ethnicity and race.

There was one particular co-worker who had strawberry blonde hair that was as straight as a board. She had a freckled face. She had a reputation for talking a lot, sometimes a bit…