- What type of music do you listen to?
- I love electronic music.
- Okay.
- I also like, you know,
kinda like indie-rock type of thing.
- White.
(laughing)
(soft music)
My name is Rebecca Zark,
and I'm a pediatric mental health specialist.
Uh, probably not.
Okay.
(laughs)
It's okay.
Hey!
Hi!
(laughs)
Come on over!
- Yo.
- Okay.
(laughing) - Hi.
- Hi.
Where are you from?
- I was born in Phoenix, Arizona,
but I grew up in Bellingham, Washington.
- Look into your soul.
(laughing)
I'm gonna guess non-white, just 'cause, maybe?
I don't know.
- What do you think I am?
- Oh, I have to guess your ethnicities then?
- God, this is so stereotypical then.
I don't know, are you of like,
Mexican heritage perhaps?
Or something of that nature?
I don't know.
'Cause you said that you're from Arizona.
(laughing)
- Hello.
- Hello. Oh my god.
What type of music do you listen to?
- All sorts of stuff.
I love rap, I love electronic music,
kinda like indie-rock type of thing, yeah.
- Yeah, feed into my stereotype
and I'm gonna say he's white.
- Why are you uncomfortable?
- Why am I uncomfortable?
- Yeah. - I don't know,
I think it's a really complicated discussion,
- Right, yeah.
- and it feels offensive to be like, you're white,
you're non-white, yeah, so.
- And hard to do on the spot.
White.
(laughing)
(sniffing)
(laughing) Can I smell your whiteness?
(sniffing) (laughing)
Uh, let's go with
(vocalizing)
you're non-white.
- What do you think my ethnicity is?
- God, I have no idea.
- I get that a lot.
- Where are you from?
- I was born in Saudi Arabia.
- Oh nice. Okay.
What languages do you speak?
- I speak Arabic and French.
- Nice. Bonjour.
- Bonjour. (laughs)
- How do you say hello in Arabic?
- Uh, Salaam.
- So I would say you're not white.
- Mm-hmm.
- And Middle Eastern?
Thank you!
- Good luck!
(laughs)
I hate you.
(laughs)
Hi, how are ya?
- I'm good.
- Talk again for me.
Just like, say, hello, how are you?
- Hello, how are you doing?
- You sound kind of like, you're like,
have, like, Eastern-European in you, for some reason.
Sound like, kind of Russian, I don't know why.
Let's go with Russian!
Uh, let's go with white.
(clicking boots)
- Thanks. - Trick question.
Okay, well I'm gonna go with white,
because of your very white complexion,
and your blondey, strawberry hairs.
- Yeah.
- So that's what I'm gonna say.
- Okay.
- Is that good enough?
(laughs)
'Cause she's just rosy, I don't know.
I don't know.
Yes, because I'm white. Ya know?
Yeah, so definitely I would say yes.
- Hey, how are ya?
- Uh, getting worse. (laughs)
Doing even worse now.
- It's all good. It's all good.
(laughing)
- Okay.
- Just take a deep breath, and...
- (inhales, exhales) So where are you from?
- San Francisco, California.
- Oh, sweet!
What do you do?
- I'm a professional ballet dancer and actor.
- Ooh!
You a white man? I don't know!
Um.
Yes!
Buh-bye white man. (laughs) - Bye.
(laughing)
- This is the worst thing ever!
Say I shouldn't have had that second glass of wine.
- I shouldn't have had that second glass of wine.
(laughing)
- May I... (laughs)
(laughing)
May I speak to the manager?
(laughing)
- May I speak to the manager? (laughs)
Oh my god, I don't think I've said that before. (laughs)
- Oh, there we go.
He is not a white individual.
(laughing)
Non-white.
Oh my god! Hello!
- Hi.
- How are you?
- I'm good. How are you?
- I'm, ya know, okay.
Oh! Okay, part of your eyebrow is shaved.
- Mm-hmm.
- Is that, uh, I don't know...
- I did it myself. (laughs)
- Oh, beautiful. Beautiful.
- Yeah, it's my way of telling people not to fuck with me.
- [Rebecca] Cool.
- Yeah.
- [Rebecca] I like that.
- Yeah.
- Get the fuck away from me.
- Yeah, people really read it that way and it's great.
- Nice.
(laughing)
Don't fuck with me
- Yeah.
- Okay. I don't want to. (laughs)
I'm gonna with non-white.
- Cool.
- Mm-hmm.
Come on over!
Last person!
Yes!
You're tan.
(chuckles)
Did you go on vacation recently?
- Yes, but there was no sun.
- Mm-mm. I'll go with non-white.
- Yeah, what ethnicity do you think I am?
- Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm. Like, Spanish...
But like...
Like that way.
Like eastern...
Like Moorish.
I don't know.
Something like that.
I feel like that works.
(laughs) I don't wanna look at any of you.
Hello! Look at that!
Okay.
- Oh wait!
(laughing)
- Did I get you right?
- Uh...
Yes and no.
- Okay.
- I'm half Japanese and half white.
- Oh! Very cool. Okay.
- So not Latino.
- People think that you're Latino a lot?
- They do actually.
- Yeah.
- I think it partially is 'cause...
- The facial hair. Mm-hmm.
- Yeah. - Mm-hmm.
Come on over! - Hey!
- Hey! - How's it going?
- Good! - I'm David.
- David! Becky!
- Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you!
- So I'm bi-racial, actually. - Nice!
- Yeah. So you're half right.
I am white, but my dad's black, actually.
- Okay! - Yeah!
- Do you feel like you don't belong in either place then?
Like you're not, accepted?
- In some ways.
- Sometimes, yeah.
- That can be really hard.
- That's something that does happen.
Like people will think you're not really either, but...
- Mm-hmm. Do people think you're Jewish?
- Yeah! For sure! - All the time.
- So I was expecting that!
I was like... - Well, I was like...
He might be Jewish. - Right!
(laughing)
- So was I right?
- Yeah! - Cool.
- You were right about not white.
- Not white.
- And you were wrong about...
You said Latino?
- I don't know what I said, yeah.
- Black? - Sure. Something, something.
- Yeah. - Where are you from?
Oh, well like, what ethnicity do you identify as? Sorry.
- Oh, um.
- You're right. Thank you. - Bi-racial.
- Bi-racial, uh-huh.
- Yes, my mom's black and my dad's white.
- Oh, nice. Okay.
Hello!
- Hey.
- How are you?
- I'm good. How are you? - What's your name?
- I'm Amid. I identify as North African.
- Cool.
- I think you said Middle Eastern, which is close...
- Yeah. I don't know.
- I don't personally identify as white,
but I guess I'm white by the US definition of it.
- What does that mean to you?
The US definition of white.
- I feel like on forms and stuff, it's like,
people of European, Middle Eastern, North African descent.
But I don't feel like that's the reality of it.
- [Rebecca] I agree, yeah. - In America.
So I identify as a person of color, obviously. (chuckles)
- Yeah, yeah.
- You were wrong.
That I identify as white.
I identify as Native American and Mexican.
- Oh, okay.
- Often I think it works in my benefit.
I think that because a lot of people think
that I might have something in common with them,
it makes me more approachable.
I find that I get hired a lot more.
Because my race is ambiguous.
- Mm-hmm. So you can play to that.
- Yeah.
- Yeah. So I do identify as white,
but my mom is Native American.
- Oh wow! - Yeah.
- Well see, there ya go.
- Yeah.
I'm realizing now, the more we talk about it,
that it comes from a really privileged place,
that I have never to had to question my own identity.
So, yeah, that's why I don't identify as Native American.
- Yeah! Yeah.
I mean, I guess I'm gonna do a lot of that today.
- Thank you. - Yeah, thanks.
- Keep on going?
I'm getting hotter.
(laughing)
I'm so bad at this. (laughs)
I know, but now I have to meet everybody.
Was I right? Wrong?
- You were wrong.
So I'm Latino.
Actually I'm half Mexican and Nicaraguan.
- Does that happen to you a lot,
where you become like-white passing?
- Oh yeah. It's worked to my advantage.
Moving on.
(mumbles)
Okay. Hey, hey!
- Hey.
- How are ya? - Good.
- Was I right? Wrong?
- You were right. Yeah, I'm not white.
Err, I am, and I'm not.
I'm a person of color, but I am part white.
Yeah, so I'm white, Pacific Islander,
Native Hawaiian, and Asian.
- Oh, wow. Very cool.
Hey! - Hi!
- Was I wrong? Right?
- You were... - Ish?
- You were right.
But I'm Puerto Rican and Trinidadian.
- What are your earrings of?
I'm just noticing that now.
- This is Trinidad.
Which, I wore today.
- Dammit!
If only I knew geography better.
- Exactly. Like I'm giving it away!
- I would have known!
- I'm giving it away.
(laughing)
- You were wrong. - Yes.
So you identify as?
- As white, yeah.
I'm half Sicilian and a quarter Latvian,
and, like, modern day Ukraine.
- Do you feel tokenized,
and that you're sexier because of your ambiguous...
- I wish I was more...
- Ambiguous nature? (laughs)
(laughing)
- But, um. Some people say I have an exotic look.
It's usually when people think I'm Persian.
Or something that... - I see that, yeah.
- Maybe because people don't know a lot about Iran,
I don't...
Who knows? - Yeah.
- They find that
- Right
- Kind of like mysterious.
I think it's Orientalism.
- Yes!
Thank you, guys!
(applause)
(laughing)