I recently had a funny encounter with my son’s principal at his charter school, which leans pretty conservative for a public school. Every day, each class sends a student to the office to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, the school motto, and make announcements. I happened to drop my son off a few minutes late on the day it was his turn, so I stuck around to watch.

My son and his Mexican friend—fluent in English—were messing around before the recitation. Boys being boys, my son teased his friend, saying, “You’re not getting out of this just because you’re Mexican!” They both laughed it off (this wasn’t over the PA system, thankfully). But the principal, an older white guy, overheard and took serious offense on behalf of the other kid.

Having grown up in the Southwest with a large Hispanic population, I know most Mexicans are proud of their heritage and don’t mind being called Mexican. So I asked the principal why he thought it was offensive. He explained that my son shouldn’t have referred to the boy as “Mexican.” I was confused and pointed out, “But he *is* Mexican. Why is that a problem?”

It got a bit awkward, but I explained that being Mexican isn’t something to be ashamed of. You could see the realization hit the principal—he’d assumed calling someone by their nationality was a slur. It was a classic case of someone projecting their own biases and getting offended on behalf of someone who wasn’t even bothered.

-White liberals ARE the problem.

-Race isn’t something to be ashamed to talk about.

In the 90’s this is how race was handled and it was a happier time.

—Thanks for listening to my TED talk.