She's just curious.

I don't mean to knock on my mom, she's a good person. She's..........just not quite on the wagon. As a child, I always was intrigued by the black wisemen. He brought a present, was a wiseman-so clearly went to college, and therefore was respected and got to stand with the other 2 in the nativity scene. Sometimes during Christmas, I see Mom look at the little dark skinned figurine and can feel that by letting him come to Christmas that was her civil rights tolerance allotment for the year.

The other night we were watching track and field for the Olympics, and seeing as Mom needs to fill every moment with nonsensical chatter, some very awkward things came up.

(After a race was over, many of the athletes were interviewed)

Me: Wow, they said he was from some poor place in Africa, his teeth are really white. How do think they got so white if he was poor?

Mom: I don't know. He's really dark.

Me: He's from Africa, he's black.

Mom: But from far away you can barely see his face. It's so dark
(She says the same thing about my Scottish Terrier, after that some of the Asian athletes are being highlighted)

Mom: His cheeks are really sunken in. Where did they say he was from?

Me: Korea, and I don't think it's a nationally recognized characteristic, I think it's just the way he looks.

Mom: Well, the other one looked like that too.

Me: He was from Japan. And Mom, they are all runners, they're all very skinny, they don't have a lot of fat on their faces.

Mom: Oh.
(Someone from Romania had just won a race)

Me: Wow, they have a really long last name. It has like 17 letters.

Mom: I know, I mean, how are we even supposed to pronounce that?

Me: Well, you can just........read it.