Reply #7: I had a similar situation -- in reverse

[nichomachus]

I'm white. I went to grad school rather late in life -- I was 50. One day there was a seminar with a visiting professor who happened to be black. I was the first one in the seminar room, which was small. He said hello and then asked me what I taught. I explained I was a student.

Later he got on a rant about people making assumptions about him because he was black. I reminded him that he made an assumption about me because of my age. So, it cuts both ways.

To top it off, his story was stupid. He was traveling out of the country and in the hotel, he came into the elevator lobby of the floor he was staying on. There was a white woman sitting there on the bench waiting and she pulled her purse a little closer to her. He saw that as a reaction to his color. I proposed that a woman by herself in an isolated spot, when confronted with a strange man of any color, will probably make sure she knows where her purse is -- but maybe I'm wrong.