# Is Shaun King (Daily Kos writer & Black Lives Matter activist) really white? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 19, 2015, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shaun-king-daily-kos-writer-black-lives-matter-activist-really-white/728271 "2015-08-19T16:39:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shaun-king-daily-kos-writer-black-lives-matter-activist-really-white/728271/161 "2015-08-21T00:57:08Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > #121 Report Post Old Today, 02:28 PM > Fotheringay-Phipps Fotheringay-Phipps is offline > Guest Join Date: Mar 2009 > > I disagree that King looks black or particularly biracial even now, let alone as a kid. ISTM that the perception is entirely created by the close-cropped haircut and facial hairstyle. This for God’s sake. At this point it’s obvious he’s a white man who is pretending to be a black man. We regularly accuse conservatives of magical thinking and denial but when the shoe is on the other foot we’re doing the same shit. It’s embarrassing and stupid. Stop it! ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shaun-king-daily-kos-writer-black-lives-matter-activist-really-white/728271/162 "2015-08-21T01:10:05Z")
So you also believe he’s lying about what his mother told him? That question is what his credibility hinges on, not his actual race. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shaun-king-daily-kos-writer-black-lives-matter-activist-really-white/728271/163 "2015-08-21T01:13:55Z")
> [@astro](#): > > This for God’s sake. At this point it’s obvious he’s a white man who is pretending to be a black man. We regularly accuse conservatives of magical thinking and denial but when the shoe is on the other foot we’re doing the same shit. It’s embarrassing and stupid. Stop it! I assume you’d be fine with saying that to King’s face? To his mom’s face? Just sayin’, the story is beyond plausible. . ---
**Author:** ![Andiethewestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Andiethewestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andiethewestie)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shaun-king-daily-kos-writer-black-lives-matter-activist-really-white/728271/164 "2015-08-21T01:16:20Z")
HIS credibility? That’s fucking rich. How About the credibility of Breibart, that fucking bitch Vicki Pate, and any other right wing rag including CNN that took the inaccuracies in their stories and ran with it determined to libel and slander an individual? ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shaun-king-daily-kos-writer-black-lives-matter-activist-really-white/728271/165 "2015-08-21T01:19:58Z")
I believe he’s telling the truth. ---
**Author:** ![Andiethewestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Andiethewestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andiethewestie)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shaun-king-daily-kos-writer-black-lives-matter-activist-really-white/728271/166 "2015-08-21T01:24:15Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I believe he’s telling the truth. I never questioned it. Especially after reading the actual accounts not the GOP noise. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shaun-king-daily-kos-writer-black-lives-matter-activist-really-white/728271/167 "2015-08-21T01:31:27Z")
> [@Andiethewestie](#): > > Shaun King confirmed his heritage Why should we believe him, over his family members who have stated otherwise? ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shaun-king-daily-kos-writer-black-lives-matter-activist-really-white/728271/168 "2015-08-21T01:32:26Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > What’s wrong with race-mixing? Because it’s Communism. Don’t you remember the pictures of the idiots in the 1950s with the signs saying so? ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shaun-king-daily-kos-writer-black-lives-matter-activist-really-white/728271/169 "2015-08-21T01:38:49Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > Why should we believe him, over his family members who have stated otherwise? So… Don’t believe what someone says about himself — instead believe what other people say about him, because the person himself has no credibility at all on issues of self-identification. Perhaps a good idea in some cases, but not a rule I particularly want to live day by day. (Then again, only one side is insisting on “Bruce Jenner,” as seen in this very thread, so that’s not surprising.) I will agree with one thing: the quote about “confirmed his heritage” isn’t the key issue here. The issue is that King was told something about himself to someone, and he believed it. That remains the case no matter whether his mom actually told him the truth or not. So even the DNA test would have no bearing on his credibility. If you want to say that he’s lying about what his mom told him, go ahead, but what race(s) King actually is seems to me entirely besides the point, considering the reason this issue is being brought up to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shaun-king-daily-kos-writer-black-lives-matter-activist-really-white/728271/170 "2015-08-21T01:39:56Z")
> [@Andiethewestie](#): > > That’s fucking rich. How About the credibility of Breibart, that fucking bitch Vicki Pate, and any other right wing rag including CNN that took the inaccuracies in their stories and ran with it determined to libel and slander an individual? You know what’s fucking rich? Calling CNN a right wing rag. Only on the SDMB. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shaun-king-daily-kos-writer-black-lives-matter-activist-really-white/728271/171 "2015-08-21T01:44:34Z")
> [@astro](#): > > This for God’s sake. At this point it’s obvious he’s a white man who is pretending to be a black man. We regularly accuse conservatives of magical thinking and denial but when the shoe is on the other foot we’re doing the same shit. It’s embarrassing and stupid. Stop it! No, it’s really not obvious. Do you think it’s “obvious” that this man is a “white man pretending to be a black man”? [http://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/33000000/Wentworth-Miller-biracial-beauty-33091143-500-484.jpg](http://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/33000000/Wentworth-Miller-biracial-beauty-33091143-500-484.jpg) To me, he looks very much like a “light-skinned black man” who probably could “pass” for “white” if he chose to or a “dark-skinned white man” who could “pass” for “black”. People who’ve known his since he was in middle school and his wife, who’s known him since he was in high school have said they’ve always known him as “black” and he’s always been treated as “black” or “bi-racial”. Now, is it possible his mother lied to him or was mistaken and the real bio Dad is just a swarthy, olive-skinned white guy who she thought was “black” but even if that’s true, that doesn’t mean he’s Rachel Dolezal. She is a clearly disturbed white woman who was raised as a white woman who went to a huge amount of trouble to convince people she was black. A friend of mine once said “you can’t be a black woman unless you’ve grown up as a black girl” and she pretty clearly did not grow up “as as black girl”. Well, even if he’s mistaken about his actual biological father’s “race”, he grew up as someone who thought of himself and was treated as “a black boy” who became “a black man.” ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shaun-king-daily-kos-writer-black-lives-matter-activist-really-white/728271/172 "2015-08-21T01:45:43Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > So… Don’t believe what someone says about himself — instead believe what other people say about him, because the person himself has no credibility at all on issues of self-identification. It’s not “other people”, though, it’s his own family. And if they are older than he, they’re more likely to have an accurate account of family history. Much like Rachel whatshername’s family said she wasn’t black. And she wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shaun-king-daily-kos-writer-black-lives-matter-activist-really-white/728271/173 "2015-08-21T01:49:00Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > It’s not “other people”, though, it’s his own family. And if they are older than he, they’re more likely to have an accurate account of family history. > > Much like Rachel whatshername’s family said she wasn’t black. And she wasn’t. So (and I honestly don’t know this; perhaps you do) King’s family is saying, “it is impossible that Shaun’s mother told him that his biological father was a black man because of X Y and Z”? ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shaun-king-daily-kos-writer-black-lives-matter-activist-really-white/728271/174 "2015-08-21T01:49:42Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > Why should we believe him, over his family members who have stated otherwise? Which family member? Ones who won’t even identify themselves who may very well be estranged from him? Just for the hell of it, let’s say the “family member” is his brother, who looks nothing like him in pictures. Would it really be surprising that the brother would want to protect his mother’s reputation and claim “no my brother is mistaken, my mother didn’t cheat on my dad, we both have the same biological father and mother. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!” ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shaun-king-daily-kos-writer-black-lives-matter-activist-really-white/728271/175 "2015-08-21T01:52:01Z")
Can a DNA test really tell if you’re black? How much of whatever DNA attribute does it take to be black anyway? Has that been established somewhere? ---
**Author:** ![Andiethewestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Andiethewestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andiethewestie)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shaun-king-daily-kos-writer-black-lives-matter-activist-really-white/728271/176 "2015-08-21T01:53:28Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > You know what’s fucking rich? Calling CNN a right wing rag. Only on the SDMB. 😛 Carrying that goddamn story and pretending that it was credible was a fucking piece of right wing shit. CNN is shit. ---
**Author:** ![Andiethewestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Andiethewestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andiethewestie)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shaun-king-daily-kos-writer-black-lives-matter-activist-really-white/728271/177 "2015-08-21T01:56:23Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > So (and I honestly don’t know this; perhaps you do) King’s family is saying, “it is impossible that Shaun’s mother told him that his biological father was a black man because of X Y and Z”? No they don’t know any of it, because it was a white supremacist stalker who “broke” the bogus story way back in June. Shaun King has been living with this shitty noise for a couple of months now. He’s dealt with his difference from his family for years. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shaun-king-daily-kos-writer-black-lives-matter-activist-really-white/728271/178 "2015-08-21T01:58:40Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Just for the hell of it, let’s say the “family member” is his brother, who looks nothing like him in pictures. Would it really be surprising that the brother would want to protect his mother’s reputation and claim “no my brother is mistaken, my mother didn’t cheat on my dad, we both have the same biological father and mother. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!” Nothing would be surprising. But why would you assume that Shaun is telling the truth, and that it’s the family members (plural) who are lying? ---
**Author:** ![camille](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/22d042/32.png) [@camille](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/camille)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shaun-king-daily-kos-writer-black-lives-matter-activist-really-white/728271/179 "2015-08-21T01:59:23Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > It’s not “other people”, though, it’s his own family. And if they are older than he, they’re more likely to have an accurate account of family history. > > Much like Rachel whatshername’s family said she wasn’t black. And she wasn’t. Who are these family members? Names? Relationship to him? First it was his brother. Now it’s been downgraded to “family members”. Funny how they want to remain anonymous, and who they allegedly decide to speak to. Rachel Dolezal’s family went public. Where are King’s family members? You think that hearsay qualifies as evidence? Of course you do. This is why they made the allegations in the first place. Now there will always be doubt, and people who claim he’s lying, no matter what he says about anything. They don’t care who his father is; that’s not what this is about. They didn’t even wait 24 hours before moving on to the next allegation: [5 Questions for Shaun King That Have Nothing to Do with Race](http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/08/20/5-questions-for-shaun-king-that-have-nothing-to-do-with-race/) ---
**Author:** ![Andiethewestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Andiethewestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andiethewestie)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shaun-king-daily-kos-writer-black-lives-matter-activist-really-white/728271/180 "2015-08-21T01:59:46Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Which family member? > > Ones who won’t even identify themselves who may very well be estranged from him? > > Just for the hell of it, let’s say the “family member” is his brother, who looks nothing like him in pictures. Would it really be surprising that the brother would want to protect his mother’s reputation and claim “no my brother is mistaken, my mother didn’t cheat on my dad, we both have the same biological father and mother. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!” No “statement” from any family member. Sorry just more bullshit from the mouth breathers on the right. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shaun-king-daily-kos-writer-black-lives-matter-activist-really-white/728271.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shaun-king-daily-kos-writer-black-lives-matter-activist-really-white/728271.md?page=10)