I think its one of those things that was always going to happen. You have a generation gap. The older one has their hands on the levers of power and a lot of the assets. The younger sets whats considered popular.

I don't think the folks in the article are being dicks intentionally. I can see how it can be galling though when being black can have all these negative implications for you and your family but someone can basically vacation being black and dip when its time for a job interview, loan application, or when the police pulls you over. The idea that if you enjoy the things a community has produced you should probably stand up for them is valid.

I'm curious to how this will continue to pan out, because multiculturalism is not going away, and our idea of what constitutes beauty is finding a different mean.

I understand the resentment at the cultural, societal "us vs. them" level. So, you know, if I want to go and become a Jew and Jewish people go "fuck off, where were you during the Holocaust" I mean I would totally get that, but at the same time I would feel it's a bit unfair to me personally.

If I want to be a part of the black community, since, say, I grew up adopted into a black family, and the black community rejected that saying "fuck off, you are white so white people will treat you differently so we won't let you join our cultural club" at a personal level that also seems unfair.

I remember thinking that back when that story of a "black activist" who, it turned out on investigation, wasn't actually black she just acted that way to be accepted in the community she enjoyed being part of. The backlash to that seemed - the hate she was on the receiving end of - seemed to me as unreasonably nasty and personal as anything the keyboard white supremacists / gamergate crowd managed to pull off.

i understand it is a strawman for comparison sake, but you can't "become" a Jew. You can marry one, or be born one, you can't just up and convert to Judaeism on a whim.

Not on a whim, no, you'll probably have to take some classes and they'll try to talk you out of it, but you can absolutely convert to Judaism.

I think that depends on who you think is the authority on the subject. If you want wear a beanie and rock tefillin you just need an Amazon account. If it means being recognized by Israel and are able to enjoy the rights afforded by the Law of Return, well theres a process and its contentious.

What gave you the idea you can't convert to Judaism?

Maybe they or someone they know is one of the 400,000?

Every Jew i've talked to about being Jewish. i'll chalk it up to being misinformed.

My bigger issue is they're more like the mob when you try to leave. It can be very difficult to convert, but once you're in it's nearly impossible for them to recognize you've left.

On life being unfair to white people.

Ta-Nehisi Coates on words that don't belong to everyone | We Were Eight Years In Power Book Tour


Rachel Dolezal. Thats who you're thinking of. A part of why people were pissed was because she took advantage of scholarships and assistance set aside for the black community. So it was kinda a bit like this.

Soul Man - C. Thomas Howell - Trailer


The kind of unfairness you speak off is not unfamiliar to first generation Americans who cannot pass for white. It's actually even worse. Cher wrote a song as a matter of fact to that phenomenon. To simply get along you have to adopt mannerisms and method of speech that can and does lead to alienation among your own community. Code switching. Oreo, twinkie, coconut, these are epithets, consequence for doing your best to be accepted by a majority that would prefer you do your best to not remind them your parents came from somewhere else. Yes yes, not everyone is like that, well unfortunately enough are, and a much larger contingent is fine to standbye.

You can't blame someone for a system that was instituted before their parents were conceived. You can find fault for someone who is happy to enjoy multiculturalism but would do nothing to defend it. Or perhaps act like Tucker Carlson, who is gungho to warn of the dangers of the migrant caravan, then insist that the tacos and pupusas he enjoys are a wholly american invention.

I'm forth generation from the last person that considered themselves black in my family, at one time at least that meant i could put black for race on state forms in Mississippi and Louisianan despite being white as looks go.

My half black half native canadian great grandfather told everyone he was white, and got into fist fights with people who challenged him on it

My great grandmother had to threaten to throw a screaming fit to the doctor to put white on my grandmothers birth certificate, all her life she just claimed to put part native and Italian.

In short, i come from a family of people who claimed to be white because they got some advantage from it, if someone is now claiming to be black because they get something out of it, well, more power to them.

being bi-racial in Canada has some odd implications when one of those "halves" is Aboriginal. i've also met some folks who have stirred the genetic pot a little more to result in a pale-looking Filipino with an afro. If 23anxMe give you a map of your DNA ancestry that just says "everywhere" then maybe we can move beyond the idea that your melanin levels has any impact beyond your protection to UV radiation.

To be fair, i think they claimed to be white so as to be seen as a human being. For matters of safety. If someone posing as black for Instagram followers to score freebies as a influencer is to you equitable to the experience of your grandparents well that's your business of course. Little weird though.

Honestly i don't believe these people are posing as black. They are just conforming to a new standard of beauty that is more multiculural. It also seems much less extreme than say double eyelid surgery or skin whitening.

Equitable in that race should never be a issue.

"Everyone wants to be Black until it's time to be Black."

This is so confusing, I can't even comment. And I'm black. Or pretend to be.

I look at this the same way I look at sexuality...you are what you think you are.