AIBU to think a white man should not be able to self identify as black

[probablynotrelevant]

AIBU in thinking that you can't self identify as a different race? Where will this all end? Being able to self identify as a different gender is inevitably going to open the floodgates for all kinds of other 'self identifying' - WTF is going on?!

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/anthony-ekundayo-lennon-black-white-theatre-director-job-people-of-colour-actor-artist-tawala-a8617011.html

Or am I missing something here and essentially humanity is better off as identifying as whatever the hell they like, no matter actual reality, where men are women, black is white, cats are dogs etc etc

To me he doesn't look 100% white.

Where does being white stop and being black begin though?

I'm a little conflicted on this one.

A man who experiences discrimination throughout his life for appearing to be black should be eligible for the support granted to black actors. He is not actually black, but since he's treated as such, he qualifies for support.

Now any man who says he's a woman may have experienced discrimination for appearing effeminate, but he's certainly never been discriminated against in terms of 'might get pregnant and leave workplace in the lurch', getting given all the menial tasks such as tea/cleaning etc. Therefore he doesn't qualify for support offered to women to overcome the same obstacles. He also isn't a woman, at all.

His features arent very typically white. He would stand out in Ireland. People are used to different races here now but I have googled him and I do not think he looks white. He looks mixed race. and he needs to talk to his parents

If a 'white' man is brought up in 'black' culture I dont see any problem with them identifying as black. I think it is discriminatory to just say being black is only about how dark your skin is.

If this man is having a bit of an identity crisis Im not surprised.

He does actually look black to me.

Yes well I could put a picture up of me (I’m mixed Asian/Caucasian) and from personal experience I know most people would say I was 100% Asian, my kids look 100% Caucasian, doesn’t change biological fact that we are not, as well as other factors like our familial background and traditions. Goes way beyond just looks.

Yet another trans bashing thread. A thread that has absolutely nothing to do with gender.

Anthony Ekundayo Lennon got the traineeship. Get over it.

Walkingdead he wasn’t brought up in a black culture.

He doesn't look 'white' to me either. His features aren't typically European.
It could easily be a case of recessive genes, genes don't always act as expected. Most likely one of his ancestors was black and it could be much further back than either of his parents.
I wonder if he's done a DNA test?

In the article he says there's a strong family resemblence, his brothers all look similar to him, so I doubt his parentage is dodgy. He's just at one end of the Irish bell curve, there have always been a minority of quite dark Irish people ( and western islanders) leading to all those dubious explanations involving sailors washed ashore from the Spanish Armada etc.

For those questioning his parentage, he mentioned that his siblings looked like him. I don't think he looks black when you see him next to black and mixed race people. But who knows? I'm Irish and grew up at a time when it was pretty homogenous. You still had people with very dark colouring sometimes, especially from the west coast (the idea was that they were more likely to be descended from the Celts or their mysterious predecessors than people in the east who had the Vikings, Normans and British mixing in).

Oh thanks amazingtimes that’s us told, I forgot the #Nodebate/ifyoudontagreewithusthendiaf rules

I think he shouldn’t have been given the job if it was for black people, no.

However, I do think there are instances when white people can identify as black. He isn’t one of them.
I grew up in the West Indies/Caribbean and there were some white people born in the local (not expat) communities. Some were from generations of mixed race and had very white skin. They would grow up around black children, have all black friends and later colleagues. These people completely identified as black and were much more comfortable around people from their black community than around the whites who moved there.

He looks white to me. My Dad was swarthy, with black curly hair, a wide nose and strong cheekbones, like a rougher version of Dominic West. All his siblings were similar. He was Welsh, not a drop of black blood.

I think this guy is totally out of order.

Ah crossposted with wigglybeezer, we said something similar. The Spanish Armada story has been sadly debunked, but there are an awful lot of dark handsome Galwegians around!

To paraphrase Meredith Talusan:
'His decision to identify as black was an active choice, whereas transgender people’s decision to transition is almost always involuntary. Transitioning is the product of a fundamental aspect of our humanity – gender – being foisted upon people over and over again from the time of their birth in a manner inconsistent with their own experience of their genders. Doctors don’t announce our race or color when we are born; they announce our gender. People who are alienated from their presumed gender and define themselves according to another gender have existed since earliest recorded history; race is a medieval European invention'

Looks completely different to the pic used in the artical.

As a black woman, this feels like a slap in the face.

How dare he.

@noviceoftheweek, do you think his parents are white Irish though? Do you not think he might have been lied to? I think rachel dolzeal is definitely white although her parents also have a lot to answer for (I watched the netflix documentary on her, she is Amish looking in her school photos) but this guy? Come on. I'm not surprised people assumed he wasn't white.

I think he's an attractive, striking man. @fissionchips, he looks black in those photos you post!

spannablue I know it’s not your quote but...
Doctors ‘announce’ (record) sex not gender identity.
Gender identity is cultural, sex is biological.

Well my eyes are seeing different to yours then jungster!
I’ve seen hundreds of white men with the same look and features as him, even in old pics. I don’t think his features are unusual for a white british man.

of course you are right but as we allow women to identify as man and vice versa its hard to make a logical argument we cant change race as someones race is a lot less clear as its just skin pigmentation and means nothing.

I find this a really interesting story.
Both of my parents are white but I have black hair & dark olive skin. From a very young age people have asked about my heritage and on a number of occasions I have had racial abuse (usually f ing P**i, go back to your own country,that type of thing)
Despite both the questioning & abuse I can’t imagine a situation where I would ever ever claim to be anything other than white British.