Your Race as Part of Your Description?

Alyssa Dare in Elkridge, Maryland, writes:

I have a friend who calls people by their race or country of origin as part of his description of them. When he mentions a person, he’ll identify the person as black, Hispanic, Korean, etc. But if the person is a white non-Hispanic and apparently of European ancestry (like he is), he doesn’t mention this fact. What do you think of my friend’s excluding his own race from the description of a person if the person is of his own race? Also, I think that the description of a person’s race or country of origin is generally not required in everyday conversation. What do you think? Considering that all of these people are U.S. residents, I think they should all be called Americans, and no country of origin should be mentioned.

Marilyn responds:

Does your friend usually note whether the person is male or female? And maybe even his or her approximate age? If so, I think he’s just trying to present an accurate physical description and doesn’t realize that he’s considering himself (a white European male) as the standard. And no, this kind of detail isn’t usually necessary or relevant, but after all, we Americans are not all alike, and I’m happy about that.