Funny you should say that. I am from England ,and myself and my wife were on an Alaskan cruise a few years back. We met an African American family and after a while the wife stopped the conversation and said excuse me I have gotta ask where are you both from.

I am white, my wife is white and we were being asked by an African American couple in US waters where we came from.

Most of the passengers were American citizens with a few Europeans. So I had assumed that to many I would have been an American on a cruise. Should I assumed that this couple were racist? of cause not they were genuinely flummoxed as to what part of the world this white couple came from and wanted to know. I think sometimes people read into something that is not there at all.

Again in another incident this time in an English hospital my wife's father who was in his 80s recovering from a heart attack asked a nurse who was of Asian Indian origin where she came from. Before she could speak her companion told him in quite a brisk manner that he should be ashamed of himself, he should not be asking her where she came from as that was racist. He calmly said I was only asking her where she came from because I can't place her Welsh accent I myself come from Wales, South Wales and my brother still lives there with his family. She was from North Wales and there is a slight difference in the accent and he could not place the area where she came from. Sometimes people see racism where there is non.