I don't know if this belongs here, but the mods are free to move it if there's a more appropriate forum for it. I apologize if this has already been discussed, but I didn't come across anything like it.

I stumbled across a few topics on this forum and some other forums arguing over whether Indians ,Pakistanis, Sri Lankans ,and Bangladeshis should be called "Asians" or not.

Well, is anbody aware that there are some Indians out there, with no immediate Eastern Asian blood, who do get mistaken for Cambodians, Phillipinos, and Indonesians? I showed a few of my Korean friends pictures of Indian actresses Bipasha Basu, Tanushree Dutta, Riya Sen, and Lara Dutta. They said that they would have thought these women were South-East Asian, or at least half-Indian and half-Korean.

There was someone saying that "Indians are their own race," which isn't true. Being Indian is a nationality, not a race. Technically, most of us are heavily mixed, and do have some mongoloid genes from many years ago. So, it's no surprise to come across a South Asian with slight Mongoloid features, nor is it a suprise to see an Indian that has naturally light eyes, or an Indian that could pass for black. I also hear that South-East Asians have some Indian blood in them, which might make sense as to why other Indians are getting mistaken for South-East Asians.

I'm not trying to start a fight, as I was accused of being a troll on another forum. I'm just curious if anybody is aware of this, or do you find it very hard to believe that a South-Asian can get mistaken a Khmer? Do you think that all Indians, Paks, etc are supposed to share the same set of features? You hear so much talk about Indians and Pakistanis getting mistaken for Arabs, Latinos, Italians, and even blacks. But, nobody ever talks about South-Asians being mistaken for other Asian nationalities.

There were a few people who didn't believe my bofyriend, when he said both of his parents were Indian. One of his customers said it wasn't possible for an Indian to have his features, and another guy said his mom or dad must have had an affair with a Chinese person.

First, the term "Asian" (just like European and African) are misleading, since they are merely land areas that are subjectively named and defined.

Next, the term 'race', in and of itself, is also a man made construct designed to justify racism, murder, rape, theft and other bad deeds by bad people.

My girlfriend is "Chinese", and full blooded, but she gets mistaken for being part black, or as, what was formerly called, an "Indo-Chinese" person. Folks often think I'm mixed black/white, when I'm no more mixed than any other black person in the U.S.

The people who traditionally occupied the area that is now called "India" and "Pakistan" are both Indo-European and Afro-Asiatic. Thats why you have many people in the south who were/are very dark, and you have folks in the north who were/are fairly light. There has been just enough mixing so most fall somewhere in between. You'll have some Indians who are light and have relatively kinky hair, and some who are dark with straight black hair.

Nature knows no racial, cultural or background boundaries that would prevent folks from breeding.
Thats all man-made stuff. All you can do is try to educate people on the migration patterns of humans, from Africa and , subsequently, from all over the world. If they still don't believe you or your boyfriends heritage, what have you lost but a bit of time?

"All you can do is try to educate people on the migration patterns of humans, from Africa and , subsequently, from all over the world. If they still don't believe you or your boyfriends heritage, what have you lost but a bit of time?"

I have tried that, but even though, some people are too silly to understand. Whoever coined the term "race" sure succeeded in the brain-washing of some people.


I'm very familiar with what you said about the genetic dynamics of South Asia. Believe it or not, there are some Indians and Pakistanis that have no idea about what you said, and assume that they are an actual race. There were several American-born Indians that have also thought my boyfriend was Phillipino, or at least half-East Asian. They don't live in India, so they may not be fully aware of how diverse an Indian/Pakistani can look.

So, I just wanted to educate the other Asians on here that we're not really a race.

tantric, people always try to find a way to make themselves look 'better', others 'worse' and to categorize anything they are unfamiliar with.

such is life....

First of all, no single race can 'corner' the market on the term 'Asian'. Since Asia is the name of a continent, ALL people living on that continent have the inalienable RIGHT to call themselves 'ASIAN'. It's not for anybody to say that such-and-such ehnicity shouldn't be called Asians, just because they don't have the Mongoloid features.

I hear all this talking and complaining of how non-Asians are racist, stereotype Asians, etc etc, but I have had more than my share of racism at the hands of Mongoloid-Asians during my Bachelor's and Master's programs. Many Mongoloid Asians - especially Koreans and Vietnamese - would tell me I wasn't Asian because I didn't look like them! My counter was that they did NOT define the term 'Asian'. Geography does. And since India is an integral part of Asia, I am as much Asian as they were. And that if they didn't like it or accept it, then it was THEIR problem, not mine. Who gave Mongoloid people the right to decide that THEY and THEY ALONE are Asians and that others are not? That's ignorance at best and racism at worst.

When I joined Goldsea and looked around their Top 10 / Top 50 / Top 100 achievers in many categories, I noticed that most people listed on there were people of Mongoloid origin. Are there no non-Mongoloid acheivers? I was shocked to notice that Manoj N. Shyamalan, Hollywood's most famous Asian Indian director was not recognized as an achiever and I wonder why? There was one only category - business acheivement - which listed 2 Indians.

Asia stretches all the way from Turkey to Alaska (excluding both), so every single population residing in that vast stretch of land is Asian. That includes Arabs, Persians, Indians, Thais, Malays, Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, etc. IMO, Saddam Hussein is as much an Asian as Emperor Naruhito!

If Mongoioids have a problem with non-Mongoloids refering to them by the same lable, maybe they should just refer to themselves as Mongoloid Asians, so no one else will upset their sense of superiority by sharing the same Asian-American title (which is what their problem mostly seems to be). And if GOLDSEA.com wants to refer to only Mongoloid acheivers and achievement, maybe they should rename this the Mongoloid Asian portal, rather than an Asian portal

Maybe I come across very strongly, but I'm sick and tired of other Asians (esp. Koreans) getting in my face and telling me to quit calling myself Asian, because I am not Mongoloid.

Wow,those responses really answered alot of ? for me.I just got the cold shoulder on modelminority.com for stating that,if an afr.amer. married a dark asian indian or even a dark se asian,the people who would usually have a problem with it wouldn't even take a second glance.Take Allan Keyes,his wife is indian,that has never been brought up(I met them).If his wife was japanese,chinese,or korean, you probably would have heard it by now.Oh,don't forget about BJ SINGH,YET YOU CAN TELL HE'S INDIAN AND NOT AFR. AMER. I don't think anyone would care if an afr. amer. and an indian that dark married or a dark skinned thai,filipino,cambodian,etc.


It is not true that se asians don't get mixed up with other asians.People typically get filipinos and thai's mixed up.I heard filipinos are of malayasian decent among other people groups.I don't care when people think I'm puerto rican,afro-cuban,or what.I actually play along with them,especially if it's a cutie.


One of the problems with celebrities from India and even China being confused as mixed or a different nationality is that most countries' celebrities tend to look as white as possible.My Lord,look at the spanish stations,one phd from Mexico said'"They all look Swedish".