Why can’t you swap race?

[Filcin]

Rachel Dolezal, the American civil rights activist

who claimed to be black despite having white

parents, has finally spoken out.

 

Even though she grew up with blonde hair and

freckles, she says she ‘identifies’ as black, and

from the age of five was ‘drawing self-portraits

with the brown crayon instead of the peach’.

 

How odd that many of the people who have so

vociferously criticised her are the same people

who champion the rights of transgender people

to ‘self-identify’ as whatever sex they choose,

and insist we respect this.

 

If we are going to allow people to pick their gender, why can’t we do the same with race?

[citizenB]

Question worthy of debate, Filcin.

[Sparks_]

Isn't it time to forget what colour we are? It is just pigmant! Under the skin we are all the same

[unclebulgaria67]

Isn't it time to forget what colour we are? It is just pigmant! Under the skin we are all the same

 

Yes, but humans have to find reasons for division and conflict. It is in our DNA !

 

Since humans lived in caves, they have been fighting each other and finding ways of division.

 

Every form you complete for government or employment has a section asking for ethnic group etc.

[Conniff]

But it doesn't answer the question If we can chose gender, why can't we chose race or colour ?

[hightail]

I heard a very interesting article on the radio. The objection appeared to centre on it only being a 'choice' available to white people - not so easy 'choosing' to be white if your skin is very dark. The interviewee was a black woman who had been brought up in a white family, sounded intelligent and reasonable and I found her arguments compelling.

[aburobert]

A bit like a German Shepherd wanting to be called a Dachshund!

 

Ethnicity is not something you can change as it is a descriptor. If you are Negroid what is the point of trying to label yourself as Caucasian? Or vice-versa?

[Sparks_]

A bit like a German Shepherd wanting to be called a Dachshund!

 

Ethnicity is not something you can change as it is a descriptor. If you are Negroid what is the point of trying to label yourself as Caucasian? Or vice-versa?

 

Whydo we need labels? And to say its in our DNA to have the need to find divisions and conflicts....can we not evolve past that now?

[unclebulgaria67]

Whydo we need labels? And to say its in our DNA to have the need to find divisions and conflicts....can we not evolve past that now?

 

Difficult to change habits. Humans are programmed to identify differences and to seek division. For example children or animals born as part of the same litter or close together will naturally compete which each other. Animals compete for sources of food, even if there is plentiful supply. Did you see the news of the Tesco store where grown men were fighting over the discounted meat on offer. Look at the campaigns of people not wanting a Mosque in their area, where they may be happy for a new Catholic Church to open.

 

You can call yourself what you want and don't have to confirm your ethnicity. I don't like having to declare myself as white British. My ancestors came from Germany hundreds of years ago, just like HM The Queen.

 

Gone off the subject question a bit, but much of what I see with humanity at the moment, is a long struggle to become an intelligent species.

[antone]

But it doesn't answer the question If we can chose gender, why can't we chose race or colour ?

 

I suppose the main reason is that no form of racial dysmorphia has been formally identified as any sort of biological condition or disorder. The same is not true for transgenderism, which has been extensively studied and researched for decades. It seems pretty obvious that there are a small number of individuals who simply cannot reconcile their biological gender with their mental gender. These days, with great difficulty, some such individuals can be treated. What's more puzzling to me is why so many people seem to be heavily invested in the gender of others, to the extent that they oppose attempts to treat this known problem and steadfastly refuse to recognise the suffering that they cause in doing so.

 

Now, of course, it may be that there are indeed people who genuinely do find difficulty living in the world with the racial identity they acquired at birth. It's a lot more difficult to determine this, though, because race is far more a social construct than a biological one - our own racial identities dramatically affect the racial characteristics we see in others - but perhaps such a condition exists, you never know. If it does, there's no particular reason to treat Ms Dolezal as a poster child for it. She's more of a calculating liar, albeit probably also a highly disturbed individual.

[determindator]

There is a big business in skin bleaching, It has become more common over the last 30-40 years. Skin whitening has a long history in Asia, stemming back to ancient China and Japan. We are also aware of the claims Michael Jackson succumed to this. It is not new.

[antone]

There is a big business in skin bleaching, It has become more common over the last 30-40 years. Skin whitening has a long history in Asia, stemming back to ancient China and Japan. We are also aware of the claims Michael Jackson succumed to this. It is not new.

 

Correct, to an extent. But to a large degree this is in response to social pressure - feeling that having lighter skin would be to one's advantage (or simply preference) is not the same thing as feeling that one is intrinsically a different race. My Brazilian friends tell me, for example, that although western-style racism is rare in that country, there is a definite feeling that people with lighter skin are more successful and seen as more attractive.

 

I believe Michael Jackson actually had vitiligo, although with him it's pretty hard to tell.

[determindator]

We also have the street talk which is a different take on this particular lady, the youngsters who say lake instead of like. bruv, blood, etc etc to fit into a particular race culture, which is now mainstream. You could say a Patwa vibe. I hope it is cohesion and not derision.