Many non-White people living in North America have been annoyed by this question.

A White person who just moved to Canada from the US, or the other way around, is quite unlikely to encounter this question, while a nth generation person of color may still have to suffer from it.

This reflects the scary effects of how particular ways of thinking have been naturalized to become parts of an unquestioned common-sense world. The fact is all people came to this continent at some point in history. The earliest human beings originated in Africa around what is now Tanzania.

Well, that’s taking things literally.

The person who asks this question positions herself or himself as an unquestioned native of the land, and the person to whom the question is asked has a presence that is problematic, and that needs explanation.

The question is a political move that put people in different positions, giving them different legitimated claims, and therefore different power. The question serves to mark off social space, and is only one symptom of the complex process of social exclusion.

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