Race

White girl: I don’t know why I don’t like dark-skinned people…
White guy: Maybe because you’re a racist?
White girl, annoyed: Nooo… I just don’t like them.

http://www.overheardatmcgill.com/archives/2007/03/12/or-maybe-its-because-youre-a-racist/

Guy: Man, I have a ton of friends who are Asian. But watch out — if you touch one of them on the head, they’ll kill you.

http://eavesdropdc.blogspot.com/

Nervous white guy to friend: Are we gonna be the only white people on the train?

http://overheardinphilly.blogspot.com/

Overheard by: eastchestnut

Asian guy: Goddamn, that shooter down in the US is gonna give Asians a bad name. Quiet Asian guys will only be able to stay silent for five minutes before people get suspicious.
Mexican guy: Join the club. Down in the US people only think of us as cheap landscapers.
Asian guy: I don?t think we have a lot of Mexicans here.
Mexican guy: That must be why your lawns look so shitty.

http://www.overheardatmcgill.com/archives/2007/04/28/blacks-and-arabs-break-out-into-dance/

Stressed undergrad: Yeah, I have to write a 25 page paper on my experiences with racial ideology.
Bimbette: Oh my god, I would just write a list of every time I talked to a black person… But I would never be able to get 25 pages.

overheardatnu.blogspot.com

English professor: Outer space is occupied by evil orientals.

Marymount University
Arlington, Virginia

Overheard by: Sarah Yvonne

50-something female to Native American presenter in elementary school: Is it true that the arrival of whites changed your way of life?

Denver, Colorado

Black woman to child: You just mama's little white boy, aren't you? Yes you are!
Passing Hispanic woman: Is he really white?

Wal-Mart Parking Lot
Austin, Texas

Overheard by: Walk By Faster

Crazy old white lady trying on wedding veil: So I always wondered why I didn't look good in these things…until 2004.
Disinterested customer: Oh?
Crazy old white lady: Yeah, then I found out I was part Native American. At least 5%.
Disinterested customer (confused): Oh…?
Crazy, old white lady: Yeah. That's why I don't look good in veils. Cause we Native Americans don't wear them.
Disinterested customer: I got married in a courthouse.
Crazy old white lady: I hate to say it since I am part white, but damn those white people!

Goodwill
Altoona, Pennsylvania

Literature teacher: So what the Europeans did was take the description of Jesus from the texts and made their images of him Caucasian so as to be more relatable to those they were teaching to.
Girl of questionable literacy: European Jesus was hot.

Delta Secondary School
Ladner, British Columbia
Canadia