Online dating as a minority

I moved to Providence from NYC. I am ethnically a South Asian. I always get asked about my ethnicity or where I was born right at the beginning of a conversation on dating apps. I am not used to it as in NYC nobody asks these questions right at the beginning, before they even get to know me as a person. I get a feeling that I don’t belong here or an outsider when I get asked this question. Am I wrong to feel this way?