Seriously?!

I believe there is a serious problem amongst some parts of society in which individuals may be socialized to deny and misperceive (inadvertently/subconsciously or consciously) a person's ethnic identity. Growing up Asian-American, this has been repeatedly problematic for me, and at times I have felt as if I were at the fringe of American society, not yet having received my invitation. At times, I've been asked where I'm originally from, because I speak perfect English, as if being Asian and born in America was an unprecedented phenomenon. Or, because they heard me speak Cantonese, Mandarin, or Vietnamese, that I was absolutely, positively, not born in the United States. It could not be, that I (not only) look Asian, but ALSO speak an Asian language AND was born here. SHOCKING! It makes me wonder when more people will understand that the Chinese-American experience began BEFORE Columbus. When will history books say, during slavery, Chinese-Americans worked alongside Black and Latino slaves on the West Coast in sugar cane farms? Will the history of the Civil Rights movement include Yellow Fever, the Red Guard, Yuri Kochiyama, Richard Aoki, etc. as part of the mainstream rhetoric? In all of my 24 1/2 years of existence I have only witnessed one (relatively) accurate broadcast television show featuring an Asian-American family...and that was only given one season because the main actress (Margaret Cho) stood up to TV executives over their demands for a (mis)guided portrayal of Asian-Americans. 16 (!!!!) years later...we get a few roles here and there, half of which are where Asian-AMERICAN actors have to portray roles better fit for their FOREIGN counterparts (ie. Lost, Heroes). Seriously?! Maybe I should start wearing a name-tag that clarifies my city of birth....no.. I'm pretty sure I'd still get the, really, where are you from? (Insert identity judgment based on language/ethnicity rather than nationality/ethnicity)....