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That's definitely one palpable reminder that we all carry around several identities at the same time. There's our personal identity--our personality, background, peculiarities, experiences, etc. There's our ascribed identity--what identity others impose or "layer on" top of of us. This could be racial, ethnic, religious, class, etc.
One common thread of ascribed identities is that a member must have similarities to, if not affinities, to a perceived COMMON IDENTITY.
Nothing to do with racism/ethnocentrism (although it can be taken to that extreme), people just think that way. No malice needed. Group identit, group identity ascription, and thinking in such terms probably conferred a cultural evolutionary advantage during our collective evolution, that's why it's fairly common throughout the world.
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