I think people who live in big cities can easily forget what the racial make-up of most of the US (land mass-wise) looks like. At least, I know I forget. Stopping in small towns in Indiana and Tennessee, where friendly people didn't hesitate to inquire where I came from ("No, not Dallas. I mean, originally, where's your family from?"). It was multiple layers of othering- the city girl and the brown girl- when I'm often only geared up to deal with one at a time.
I stayed overnight in Memphis to break up my 16 hour drive to Bloomington. While chatting with the front desk reception, she commented, innocently, "You speak English really well!" Completely confused, I thanked her...reluctantly...and walked up to my room before realizing (what will seem obvious to most of you, I'm sure) that she assumed I wasn't a native English speaker. She assumed I moved to the US from a different country and had learned English surprisingly well.
I think the most jarring part of this experience, for me, is that I know she wasn't being rude. On the contrary, she actually believed she was complimenting my fabulous language abilities.
This, as with several if not most moments of discriminatory practices, can be attributed to ignorance. But not the branch of ignorance that intentionally neglects to learn about peoples and cultures, the kind that aims to stay in the dark in order to justify their practices, that believes they know everything they want to know about a particular issue or group of people and no new information could ever change their mind. No, she was part of a more pure group, that truly just didn't know. Cloaked with unfamiliarity instead of stubbornness.
I want to clarify that I don't believe this type of ignorance is endemic to Memphis, to Tennessee, or to the Midwest. But nevertheless, here is where I encountered it, and made sure to mention the next morning that I enjoyed visiting Tennessee because "I was born and raised in Texas and rarely make it to the MidWest."
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