My red-headed Cuban friend's the same. She takes so much shit from other Hispanics because her ancestors were probably mostly pure going back to Spain. And then all the white people around treat her like she's a liar for being pale and Cuban.
I'm blond and green eyed and look like the Swedish on my dad's side, but I have the nose and bones of the Ashkenazim, and once, when I dressed up as Tzeitel for a production of Fiddler, I gave my Egyptian best friend heart failure with just how Arab I looked when the hair was taken out of the equation. And I absolutely do not look out of place in a Synagogue. I'm caught between the occasional random person coming up to me to tell me I look Jewish (really? Are these people devoid of manners and social sense? It still makes my brain hurt) and other people telling me I don't look like a real Jew, because I don't have dark curly hair and olive skin. At least no one places my ancestors on the wrong continent.
Re: Continuation: Azula’s lightning strike on Zuko has something far more serious consequences
I'm blond and green eyed and look like the Swedish on my dad's side, but I have the nose and bones of the Ashkenazim, and once, when I dressed up as Tzeitel for a production of Fiddler, I gave my Egyptian best friend heart failure with just how Arab I looked when the hair was taken out of the equation. And I absolutely do not look out of place in a Synagogue. I'm caught between the occasional random person coming up to me to tell me I look Jewish (really? Are these people devoid of manners and social sense? It still makes my brain hurt) and other people telling me I don't look like a real Jew, because I don't have dark curly hair and olive skin. At least no one places my ancestors on the wrong continent.