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

Isn’t it fake tan or tanning agents you apply to the skin that make people orange, not sunbeds?

You have to have self identification for race. How else would you decide what race someone is?

There are obvious case of people being black and being white but unlike sex, which is largely binary, genetically there is a whole continuum of people.

Race is more clearly a social construct and any scientific test would be arbitrary.

Sunbeds do not make people orange, only fake tan does.

This man is a disgrace and clearly without a conscience.

A Jamaican friend's grandson is blue eyed, fair skinned and blonde. He has more 'white' genes than black. His mixed race dad identifies as black. Its likely he will as well. If he does he will be in a similar position to this guy. So, what is he?

The guy does not seem to be a fan of natural lighting in pics or videos. Hmm... .

Race is more clearly a social construct and any scientific test would be arbitrary.
THIS

Chances are, somewhere in his family line is an African person - and by genetic fluke, he and his brothers were born not looking like their parents.
Is that his fault?

He does not say that he is BAME
he says that he lives as BAME

The Arts Council made the error not him
and why should all of the BAME people in the theatre company be penalised for employing an Irish chap?

A Jamaican friend's grandson is blue eyed, fair skinned and blonde. He has more 'white' genes than black. His mixed race dad identifies as black. Its likely he will as well. If he does he will be in a similar position to this guy. So, what is he?

The born again 'African' is white.

My grandchild looks 'white'. But he will more than likely identify as non-white.

Tbh, that he is Irish is good enough for me. The Irish did not have a blissful historical past.

The lines between races have always been blurred, sometimes (in family tree building) find the same individual listed separately as white, black or mulatto, or white and Indian at different points in history on different documents.

Tbh, that he is Irish is good enough for me. The Irish did not have a blissful historical past. Agreed. But does that mean, as a black person, that I can identify as a (white) Irish because of historical atrocities? Or would people think I was insane.

For the record, I do (kind of) get where's he's coming from (certainly not Africa, though) but it just all seems a bit 'try-hard' for want of a better word.

He doesn't know what it's like to be black, any more than I would know what it's like to be male.

He does not say that he is BAME
he says that he lives as BAME

But surely to live as BAME, you have to be BAME?

It's completely different. I know that Irish history is complicated and the Irish had it tough, but I completely reject any residual ''victimhood'' if that's the right word, or I have the capacity as a white person to disassociate myself completely from the 'inferior' status that the british and Americans gave to the Irish. I reject other nations' history perception of my people. And I can do that. That's a white privilege I think..

Cool with it but not the hypocrisy of women who complain about men Self-IDing as a woman being wrong but somehow 'get it' when someone wants to appropriate a race

This man has just been given a large grant aimed at black actors. Arts Council England have defended the decision to give him a grant. No surprise, given the makeup of that organization.

Never mind African actors/actresses, in the face of white male privilege deciding what it wants to be and commanding everybody else sees it as the same, they don't matter.

there's always something in it for white people who identify as part of a race who are never on an equal playing field in this world. It's normally money or career advancement, craving to be seen as different and special, standing out from the rest, can be lucrative and afford attention.

Even the self ID crew love to talk about the oppression they face being the same as that experienced by black women.

Ridiculous people, one and all.

I wonder if I can identify as a white woman, or even a white man, and bag myself a grant or 2

Jungster, I think you've nailed it.

MistressDeeCee - great post. And how come this chap is getting such an easy time of it whereas Rachel Dolezal remains a laughing stock?

I think he is getting an easy time of it because he is coming from the position of this is the identity casting agents gave me. Whereas Rachel D is so delusional that it creates a fascination. A mystery; ie, how can any person be so deluded.

This is no more acceptable, to me, than “trans women are women”.

I had a boyfriend when I was a teenager who had two white Irish parents; he looked not unlike this man - curly very dark hair, dark drown eyes.

I don't think this man should have applied for the traineeship though, no matter what he looks like or how he's been treated, he knows he's not Black.

And quite agree there are parallels with men expecting everyone to believe they are women.

You can feel more in line with a different culture to your own upbringing I suppose, but you can't change your chromosomes.

You can't change your race, age, sex etc.

You can dye your hair, but your true colours will still come through at the roots.

The statement from the theatre company is interesting: www.talawa.com/articles/statement-from-michael-buffong/ - it suggests he didn’t lie about his heritage and that they already knew his identity was complex...

It's all utter bollocks tits up nonsense. You don't get bloody giraffes trying to identify as polar bears. As a race we seem to be evolving into some sort of 'other' species of not wanting to be who/what we actually are!