Where in the world is Alessandra from?

For years we have been astounded at the individuals that will ask Alessandra what race she is. She has had school chums ask her if she was part black, part Mexican, full Mexican or Asian. I mean to tell you this has happened probably 40 or more times over the past 8 years or so. It’s uncanny.

What is even stranger is that people will ask her are you “fill-in-the-blank”? And the most common fill in the blank is “Guatemalan”. I once was talking with a ward member who had served a 2-year mission in Guatemala and I asked him his opinion about this. His answer was, “you know I can see it. Put her in native dress and she definitely would pass as a Guatemalan native”. Crazy!!

Anyway the reason I bring this up, the other day Ali was cleaning her room and came a cross a notebook where she had written down a few of these exchanges with strangers and/or school mates. Here are a few good ones.

1. The three of us are at Taco Bell in Yakima. Ali is holding our table while Melodie and I order the food. Her hair is braided very tightly for a week of Young Women’s Camp. A 60ish black woman walks by and stops. She says, “Who braided your hair?” Ali replies with “My mom”. The woman says back, “Oh is she black?”

2. Troy, a black student in the high school band, asks Ali to produce a picture of her mom. He wants to figure out why she turned out so “not white”.

3. While on a trip to Washington DC after 8th grade a young lady, who has one white parent and one black parent confesses that she thought Ali was always of the same parentage.

4. During a band performance the Saxophone section queries Ali.

Saxes: Are you black?
Ali: No I’m not.
Saxes: Asian?
Ali: No.
Saxes: You mean you’re white?
Ali: Yes.
Saxes: You sure you’re not Puerto Rican?

All this racial background and there’s no college money. Where is the “Guatemalan/Part Black/Asian/Maybe Puerto Rican College Fund” when you need it? It’s just not right.