After arriving to a new country and seeing different ppl (I.e. non-white) asked the question "Ok, but where are you really from?", I realised asking about roots could be seen as rude by association.

I defaulted to asking, if the conversation heads that way, "Did you grow up around here?" As I see this question assumes you're a local, and at the same time it's broad enough for others to respond however they want.