In reverse, why would it be such a bad thing that he mentioned that she was asian? Is then not as offending that he referred to an individual purely by an artic

In reverse, why would it be such a bad thing that he mentioned that she was asian? Is then not as offending that he referred to an individual purely by an article of clothing. PC, while good when faced with derogatory remarks and such, can be overused. I did my bachelors degree in a pretty small school which was mostly filled with white teachers and students (I live in the north), and on staff there was only a single black man. It was quite interesting repeatedly seeing PC conscious people looking for him: "Is Andy here?" "Which Andy are you referring to? We have three," "Oh.. erm.." I am not saying "Oh, lets all be non-PC", but if the only defining feature about a person is being asian I dont see why it would be any worse than saying "dark haired woman". The minute we assign some kind of shame in either direction when it comes to pointing out race, disabilities or any other defining features, that is the moment we are steering in the wrong direction.