Weird/incorrect race assumptions you've made?

[Howallergic]

My first was Tracy Chapman. I presumed, despite the first name Tracy, that she was a white male. I was shocked to see from a picture that she was not only female, but that she was also black.
My Mum's ex partner presumed that Millie who sang My Boy Lollipop was white and was disappointed (80's) to discover that they were all black. From how he described it to me, it was almost as if he had fancied a girl who turned out to be trans - he felt ashamed.
Latest I can think of is an Irish singer called Hozier who my father assumed was a black man. He's a white Irish singer.
My most recent one was this very posh lady I had to deal with at work, and I presumed she was white, don't know why, but that bias was there. When a black girl turned up in jeans and a hoodie to meet me, I was a little shocked.

This is not a race row argument thread. I'm just wondering whether you've ever made incorrect assumptions based on accents or whatever. Jesus I hope it doesn't get me deleted. I started this with the intention of showing just how stupid our assumptions can be, not the opposite.

Anyway, I'll leave it to you.

Name-changed, as this was a very recent conversation had with colleagues of mine!

I get this all the time.

Because of my job, 'accent', name..people assume I'm white. I'm not bothered about that, but the over-the-top reactions, on finding I'm not what they expect, make me smile.. it's the "Oh, I didn't expect this!", or the most recent one: "Could I please speak to Dontassume?". "Hi, yes, that's me" "Oh, are you sure?"

Regardless of race, I always conjur up an image of what I think someone may look like. For instance, I always imagine Sarah's to have black hair, or Emma's to have blonde hair. It's always interesting, in interview, to realise that I got it completely wrong!

Showing my age here but when I first heard the song ‘Never gonna give you up’ I assumed Rick Astley was a black guy and yes I thought ‘My boy lollipop’ was sung by a white blonde too.

I thought John Legend was going to be a white redneck guy with a checked shirt, a bald head and red beard... I think he might have sung a more 'country' style song at one point which made me think that?! Who knows.

And yes to pp with hair colours - for me Hollys are always dark haired!

The girl who sang "My.boy Lollipop" went to the same school.as my mum in rural Jamaica.

I am white - I guess you weren't expecting that?

When I first heard Janis Joplin I assumed that she was black. That was in the mid 80s so way after she'd died and I heard her songs a few times before I saw a picture of her.

Lewis Hamilton F1 driver. Assumed he was white, so was shocked when I first saw him on tv.

I've had loads where I've assumed the singer looks a certain way because of their voice and it's been the opposite.

I also speak with people on the phone as part of my job and have a mental picture of what they look like. I always imagine them looking better than they are!

Oh thank God I'm not the only one. For a while there I was thinking, I'm the only one this happens to. It's funny the assumptions you make on the phone re accents/voices etc. I've fancied sales guys on the phone and they turn up in person and they're 50, short, fat and have a beard. But a nice sexy phone voice. Lol

This is something that I’m a ‘victim’ of on a fairly regular basis.

I’m Asian but people often assume I’m white, I only knoe this due to reactions when new clients etc meet me. I often get things like “oh I wasn’t expecting one of you” or it takes several goes at me introducing myself as they ignore me or I get “are you sure?” when I explain who I am.

I met my boyfriends parents for the first time in January, he knew it wouldn’t go great anyway but he failed to reveal to me that he had never introduced anyone to them before, okay fine. He also hadn’t told them that I’m not white, not usually a problem as most people wouldn’t care. Well they very much cared.

I've fancied sales guys on the phone and they turn up in person and they're 50, short, fat and have a beard. But a nice sexy phone voice. Lol

Yes, to this!

oh I wasn’t expecting one of you” or it takes several goes at me introducing myself as they ignore me or I get “are you sure?” when I explain who I am.

That's the bit that gets me..when they ask "are you sure?"

SimonJT. Regarding meeting your boyfriend's parents...just remember, their problem, not yours!

"are you sure?" because the likelihood of them being mistaken is clearly far less likely than you being confused about who you are.

This is behind our unconscious biases. And it is something we need to think about - why a ‘posh lady’ has to be white for example.

I’m not blaming you or calling you racist because many of us white people are there or have been there, but this is exactly what we need to be ‘doing better’ because I’m so many cases, this thinking is the very thing which means that some ethnicities have a more raw deal than others in numerous areas.

A brave post by the way. And you are right, we do make assumptions based on stereotypes.

I used to make far more assumptions when I first started work (I'm now retired).

I was brought up in the very white West Country. The first people from ethnic minorities that I came across (at university) were either overseas students who had accents that were typical for people from their ethnic heritage, or 'RP' accents. I remember being very surprised when I first discovered some with regional English accents.

At work I once had to phone someone with a typically Indian name. It sounds ridiculous know but I was amazed that she had a strong Lancashire accent. My father had the same accent and it seemed very incongruous.

At one point I worked with a man called Colin with a London accent. A colleague spoke to him regularly by phone but had never met him and was very surprised to find that he was black. I'm not sure whether that was because of his voice or because of his name, because he was also surprised to find that he was much younger than the typical Colin.

Finally, when I was in my twenties I had many dealings by phone with a French colleague. He had an incredibly sexy voice. Alas, when I met him he turned out to be middle aged, balding and overweight.

Based on the sound of his voice, the first time I heard George Ezra, I thought he was a middle aged black man.

Again showing my age but my (definitely racist) uncle was absolutely convinced that Edwyn Collins was a black man. And Paolo Nutini. His assumption; soul singer with rich voice = black. But then he was racist.
I try to be as aware of unconscious bias as possible but as it's unconscious it's obviously hard. A teacher I know faced a huge backlash for pointing out that we needed to be aware of this when awarding our centre assessed grades.

"are you sure?" because the likelihood of them being mistaken is clearly far less likely than you being confused about who you are.

Joss stone. I assumed she was black purely on the sound of her voice and the style of music she sang.

Based on voice alone I thought George Ezra was a black man (not middle aged though as a PP suggests) and I thought Sam Smith was a woman!

When I was tiny (like 4 or 5) I was also convinced Boy George was a girl and that his name was part of the joke.

There was a programme being advertised on Radio 4 about a black girl losing her local accent and black phrases of speech to be acceptable on Radio 4 - but I'm Scottish and it's always been a bone of contention that you had to have two ways of speaking - the acceptable one for your job or dealiing with the public etc, and the local dialect. Kids used to get punished at school for not speaking properly. Suddenly it's a new thing that black people have to work through - oh, no it's not......

My daughter mentioned a friend at school, who I’d never met. The girl’s name was a common name in my grandparents’ generation but I’ve never heard of any child my daughter’s age with this name. It’s a really nice name but no longer popular. Anyway, I said something like, “Bit of an unusual name for a 15 year old,” and my daughter told me actually it’s not the same name, it just sounds similar but has a completely different spelling because of her friend’s heritage, which is not in fact white British as I’d assumed. Unconscious bias in action.

About 16 years ago now my friend told me she had a new boyfriend called Kingsley. I met him a few weeks later and the first thing I said to him was "oh! You're white!!!" I had assumed he was black. He still teases me about it now

Where I grew up, it was really diverse, black, white, Chinese, Gurkhas, polish - so much diversity!
But nonetheless when I was about 8 years old I remember a black guy talking in a strong Scottish accent and it totally threw me. I'd never in my life, and haven't since, met a Scottish person who wasn't white.
I guess I haven't met many Scottish people? 🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️

There was a programme being advertised on Radio 4 about a black girl losing her local accent and black phrases of speech to be acceptable on Radio 4

That's really sad. We shouldn't all be expected to fit into the same mould.