Part of the sense I get is that in identifying with a certain race, you are implying that you have participated in and/or been through certain shared social and cultural experiences. This brings up the age old question of “are you really black if you have no idea what it’s like to be pulled over solely due to the color of your skin?”
Am I right, though?
It depends on what kind of social context.
If Rachel were a new coworker of mine and she immediately latched onto me as a fellow black person, it’s not like I’d ask to see her official negro card before going out to lunch with her. As long as she was cool with me, I’d be cool with her. If she told me she self-identifies as black, I wouldn’t interrogate her as long as she didn’t bring it up all the time. And as long as I felt like it was sincere rather than a bizarre fetish thing.
However, let’s say I take her to visit my family and she keeps dropping “nigga” or “negroes”, and then she launches into a sermon about the Uncle Tom in the White House. In this case, I’d really want to know what her bonafides are. Maybe she was raised by Afro-centric parents, and that’s why she’s so super racially conscious. But if it’s all an act so she can appear “down” in front of “real” black people? No, I don’t want to have anything to do with that. I am not looking to be a prop in someone’s theaterical production.
The mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination.
You know, to ensure someone’s race isn’t used against them to cram them into a pigeonhole or limit their opportunities. All persons…except Whitey, I guess.
Then you’ll be glad to know that its leadership said they didn’t care. Or so I read on this board.
I’m not sure I agree with this and would go so far as to say the percentage of black people who have been pulled over due to their skin color is much smaller than a lot of people think. Not all blacks live in poverty or inner cities. Sorry if you’re just joking and it whooshed right over my head.
Oh, and I meant to say in my post above that I definitely agree if one is of mixed race it is absolutely up to them what aspect(s) of which parts they identify with.
What does it mean to sincerely adopt a racial identity though? I don’t see how it’s going to do anyone any good to accept the white person who’s going through an “urban” phase as black, even if that person is sincere, at the time. It seems to me that it would cheapen other people’s experiences. There’s no way I would give Rachel’s opinion, as a black woman, the same weight as someone who didn’t have the ability to pull a kill switch and go back to being non-black. It’s like if someone who was middle class decided to live in poverty. He would have more insight than the average person, but I’m not going to listen to him lecture me about how “we poor people” have it when when he could easily go to the bank and change his life if things got too rough.
ETA: Let me just mention that you don’t have to be poor, or living in the inner city to get pulled over for being black. A lot of people have had that experience for being in a nice suburb while black.
And would it kill people to read up on the story before getting outraged on behalf of “Whitey”?
Recanted, thank you.
Well, sure. And I recognize that this theatrical production can be changed by a person’s history. But imagine that the following people were doing this same thing:
-A black kid who grew up in extreme wealth.
-A black kid who grew up adopted into a white family.
-A black kid who grew up an expat American in France.
-A black kid who was from Botswana.
In all those cases, I could see the kid feeling she had something to prove, and I could see being around it as exhausting and annoying. Which makes me think that obnoxious behavior is obnoxious.
If someone grows up white in a white family but for whatever reason sincerely adopts a black identity, I figure it’s a move in the right direction for us to take her at her word, as long as she’s not otherwise being obnoxious.
I also recognize that this whole issue brings up racial stuff that I’m lucky enough not to have to think about every day, so I’m potentially ignoring major aspects of the story. It’s been interesting on my FB feed watching black friends posting passionate opinions on opposite sides of the issue.
I think the flak he caught was not because he didn’t identify as 100% black, but because his “Cablasian” identity seemed cutesy and neglected the reality of his political identity. That is, Fuzzy Zoeller didn’t make a jab at Tiger’s affinity for Asian cuisine.
Regardless, Tiger has never identified as “Asian”. “Black and Asian”, yes. But not just Asian.
Punch for me please. Some background - my ancestry is Yakhirghiz or put more simply Siberian. My grandparents and parents always thought of themselves as “Asian” but very clearly NOT Oriental. In other words, their identification was with the location and not the “race” - or how they perceived it in their minds. Dad’s Dad was even classified as “other” when he came here the first time through Mississippi because of that/it.
That being said I don’t think someone can identify as another race. Because of proximity you may have a certain understanding of, or feelings towards, another race. But that feeling doesn’t make it true.
I don’t think Tiger needs to claim that he’s black just because FZ made a crude joke about him, or because people think he’s black. If he wants to self-identify as Asian, I don’t see any problem with that. I know he doesn’t self-identify that way, I’m just saying IF he wanted to.
According to today’s stories which seem to be reaching beyond the leaders to the members, its more a 50/50 split within her state and somewhat less on her side if you go national. The basic logic seems to be that you really don’t need to be African-American to belong to the NAACP or be a leader within it. But right now everyone seems to be wishing she had come forward herself and explained her situation rather than waiting to be caught.
True. But I’m not going to snatch the negro card from a black kid who grew up with an atypical black experience. I’ll tell them to STFU. I’ll tell they need to stop trying so hard. But I’d never stop viewing them as black.
A white person who is intentionally putting on a “black” act is a different thing. Wthout a genuine experience and sincere manner of engagement, then their self-identity is meaningless to me. I’d view them as a clueless white person. I probably wouldn’t say so to their face, but I’d certainly be thinking it every time they mentioned how black they are. “Caucasian, please” would be always on my mind.
I don’t think he needs to identify as anything either. But as I keep saying, people have the right to roll their eyes when someone breaks from convention.
Spike Lee syndrome.
Inasmuch as race means culture, yes.
Inasmuch as it means ancestry, no.
So since the OP was about “can”, yes. It’s not the only possible way, but it’s a possible way.
The old saying is you’re allowed to have your own opinion but you’re not allowed to have your own facts. I’d have been willing to let it slide if Rachel Dolezal had just said “I consider myself to be black even though my ancestors were all white.” I (and other people) might have questioned her belief, but it’s her belief.
But claiming that she has a black father is factually wrong. Claiming that her adopted brother is her biological son is factually wrong. Claiming she was born in a tepee is factually wrong. Claiming she lived in South Africa is factually wrong. Claiming that she has been the victim of eight hate crimes is factually wrong. These are lies. And Dolezal should be held accountable for her lies.
In the Dolezal case, let’s not forget that she once sued a predominantly black university for discriminating against her for being white. So it’s clear that her true racial identity is “please give me some money.”
But in a bigger picture, I’m answering “No” from the limited poll options. Facts are facts, and those facts may permit some options or they may rule out some options.
I’ll use myself as an example… going back to my grandparents, we have 1 English, 1 Irish, 1 Polish, 1 Italian. All of my different ethnicities fit into white, but I could choose any of those options to self-identity with. Personally, I find it ridiculous to call myself anything other than American. My family always called themselves Italian. But I have the Polish influence too - I learned how to make pierogi from an aunt, and that’s the spelling for the word that she taught me. If I want to call myself Irish on St Patrick’s Day, that’s my right too.
For other options, though… am I black, Hispanic or Asian? Absolutely not. There’s no choice or option or justification, period. Even if I was raised in China, no. Even though I love tacos, no. I’m just not.
This is the crux to me as well.
I could see calling a white person (meaning someone who is almost wholly of European descent with no recent black ancestors) “black” only if they were routinely mistaken for black due to their phenotypic features AND they were raised to think of themselves as black. For instance, if a curly-haired, olive-skinned white baby was kidnapped by a black family and raised as their own in a community that subscribes to the one-drop rule, it is unlikely this baby will grow up seeing themselves as any different than the black people around them. And with this perspective, they will take being called “nigger” just as personally. They will find the sight of another black man being gunned down by a prejudiced cop as scary because they can easily imagine themselves in that position, not just some faceless negro. And they will feel the shame that lots of blacks feel when the camera focuses on black folks fucking up.
They could move away from home and be seen as white by people who don’t know their family, but it is unlikely they will feel white. The way they express themselves culturally may signal to others that they identify as black.
That to me is how racial identity manifests itself. It is not something that can be “adopted” because it arises from a lifetime of internal and external reinforcement. It isn’t forced and isn’t acted. Now is it possible for Rachel D. to empathize with black people and their experiences? Yes, it’s possible. But her identity as a black woman is based on falsehoods she has contrived. Nothing organic about this.
And for what’s it worth, there are plenty examples of black people with black identities who look white enough to pass as white. Jay Smooth is such as person.
So obviously racial identity doesn’t require you to look a certain way. Rachel D.'s status as a black woman isn’t invalid because in the absence of her wigs and tanner, she’s phenotypically white. It’s invalid because she was raised as white and has no black ancestry.