AskReddit is a section on the popular website Reddit where folks post pretty philosophical, sometimes abstract questions about things like how not to procrastinate, what surprises Americans about Europe and people's best one-liners.
AskReddit is also the best place on the Internet to talk about race.*
And people do, often. Last month, for example, someone posed a question that spawned a luminous dialogue:
The floodgates opened:
It surprised us, having heard so many questions ourselves, that there were still folks who felt reluctant to ask them. After all, some people are comfortable asking pretty bold questions.
Just this week, a police officer followed a white father to his home and asked whether the man's biracial children were actually his. We asked our multiracial followers on Twitter if they'd ever experienced something similar. Turns out, they too have been asked some outlandish questions.
(Once, a friend asked me why Chinese people always go by their full names. "I mean, you go by Kat Chow," he said, rattling off a string of his other Chinese friends' full names. "What's up with that?"
I go by "Kat" or "Katelin," too, by the way.)
So we wanted to turn the question around. What odd or ridiculous or hilarious questions have you been asked, no matter your race or ethnic background? And in case you want to share with us in a more private way, you can answer using this form.
Let us know in the comment section, or tweet your question to us at @NPRCodeSwitch, using #theyasked.
*AskReddit is not the best place on the Internet to talk about race.
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