Guess My Race Trivia

It was, by all accounts, a typical New York City night. I opted out of the freezing subway trip alone, flagged down a car on Broadway, and began the slow trip uptown.

Almost immediately, the driver asks me, "You Dominican?" Nah. "Puerto Rican?" Nah... And so began the very familiar Guess My Race Trivia. After so many years of repeating this exact exercise, you, Dear Reader, can imagine that my enthusiasm for this call and response has waned. On the other hand, I have found some twisted pleasure in timing how long my unknowing contestants will take to arrive at the correct ethnic combination. I offer no suggestions and so the driver continues with all the predictable gusto. All guesses are wrong, a few are amusing.

"Oh, oh, wait. I know! You're from the Middle East, right?" I realized at this point that he might never guess correctly, despite the many blocks ahead. So I explained, per the usual, that I was in fact half white and half black.

"Oh mixed like Mariah Carey." Unfortunately, this response is not new either.

"Yes, like Mariah Carey - but better." I say, no longer amused.

"Ohhh...Mixed like our President!" I know he is beaming, even though I can barely make out his face in the dark. His voice is so proud. To this very new and much more preferable comparison, I am also beaming.

"YES! MIXED JUST LIKE OUR PRESIDENT!"

The driver switched topics pretty abruptly, talking in solemn tones about the impending Armageddon. But I didn't care. All the sudden, I realized people's compasses for understanding my racial roulette suddenly pointed due south, to the oval office. Forget the financial crisis, war with Iran, and climate change. I am glad the guy got elected if for no other reason than he's trumped Mariah in the list of well known mixed people. Hallelujah.