I'm Canadian.

I was visiting a friend in Texas in 2015. They were out for the day so I was just kinda wandering around in the afternoon.

Found myself belly up to a bar, chit chatting with the bartenders. Shooting the shit, having a great time. Trump came on the TV and I commented what a knob he was.

The bartender said something somber, like "Yeah if he wins, we all are gonna have to go home"

I sincerely didn't understand why. I was like "What... he's going to close the bars??" The guy was like "No... we will have to go home"

Again, I was like "what the fuck are you talking about"

Buddy looks at me like I'm from outer space. I look at him the same way.

He just slowly says "We're... all... Mexican". The whole body of staff is gravitating towards the unfolding scene.

"How the hell was I supposed to know that?" I asked. He was like "Isn't it obvious?". No? Like they had dark hair. Is everyone with dark hair Mexican?

He was like "did you walk by any construction sites today?". Yes, I had. "Think back, did the foreman look different than everyone else?". Now that is really thought back... yeah. He was like, ginger.

At this point, like 10 of the staff are watching me come to the realization, in real time, that I've been surrounded by Mexicans like the whole day and no part of my brain registered it.

I don't even really remember exactly what I said next... but it would have been along the lines of "I'm from Canada. My brain isn't even wired to distinguish a Mexican from anyone else." I'm really confused. I'm basically apologizing.

At that point they just burst out laughing. Basically surrounded at this point. They poured me a shot. Then another. They told me my bill was covered. We kept shooting the shit for a few more hours. They kept teasing me for not being able to recognize a Mexican. A relatively famous band was playing there later that night, and they snuck me back to listen to them warming up.

To this day, I still don't really understand how Americans can distinguish Mexicans. It must be a learned "skill". It was pretty eye opening talking to them... the fatigue of being treated as "lesser"... even "distinct". We had a good time.

Story time?