I see what you mean - sort of like the heteronormativity involved in assuming a given person is straight unless they act gay. But on the other hand, I'm very unlikely to turn around and say 'come here so you'll be treated as white' :) I'm not denying that she is a Latina and that that is a vitally important part of her identity which she wouldn't want to part with at any cost.
I'm just saying that in the UK, if you saw someone looking similar to that on the street you would be much more likely to be right if you thought 'French or Spanish exchange student' than if you thought 'mixed'. It would take talking to her to find out for sure. But being part of Europe and with open borders we are simply more likely to see Mediterranean people, and it is equally disrespectful of a person's heritage to assume 'mixed' when they are in fact French (like the fellow in my icon).
But having said all that, I do see what you mean - that the assumption that someone is white because they look white is just as annoying as the assumption that I'm German because I'm blonde and blue eyed. There's nothing wrong with being German, but I'm just not.
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I'm just saying that in the UK, if you saw someone looking similar to that on the street you would be much more likely to be right if you thought 'French or Spanish exchange student' than if you thought 'mixed'. It would take talking to her to find out for sure. But being part of Europe and with open borders we are simply more likely to see Mediterranean people, and it is equally disrespectful of a person's heritage to assume 'mixed' when they are in fact French (like the fellow in my icon).
But having said all that, I do see what you mean - that the assumption that someone is white because they look white is just as annoying as the assumption that I'm German because I'm blonde and blue eyed. There's nothing wrong with being German, but I'm just not.