White woman 'pretends' to be black – for several years Mod warning in OP

Fistycuffs · 12-06-2015 01:39PM

I wonder if any settled person has ever rocked up to the travelling community and said "look I feel more like one of you lads so I've brought my caravan and bought a horse and I'm moving in to this site"

Would they say "grand, the more the merrier"?

I could see that being a great reality show actually.

LDN_Irish · 12-06-2015 01:41PM

Fistycuffs wrote: »

I wonder if any settled person has ever rocked up to the travelling community and said "look I feel more like one of you lads so I've brought my caravan and bought a horse and I'm moving in to this site"

Would they say "grand, the more the merrier"?

I could see that being a great reality show actually.

Dunno man. I can't understand them when they do be talking annal.

12-06-2015 01:43PM

humanji wrote: »

MOD: Folks, this thread isn't about transgender people. It's about a woman that's either conning people or has psychological issues. It's nothing to do with biology, so let's stick to the actual topic and leave out the snide comments.

What makes you an authority on that? It's discussion. Nobody's being disrespectful, they're drawing parallels. Isn't it identifying as something other than what you're born as, which is championed by many on here in other walks of life. We're being told by you that it's a con or psychological issue and that's just that? Sorry, again, how is that your call? I remember people saying gays had mental issues or that trans people don't exist i.e. they're conning people. Exact same line of thought as laying down a sentence like that is. FWIW I voted Yes, I have a gay brother, I support transgender rights. If there's a ban/card coming so be it but the only snide remark I saw was the velociraptor one and then this nonchalant 'con or psychological issues' cast off.

beyondbelief67 · 12-06-2015 01:51PM

Am I the only one who thought of the white chicks film when they read this ?

worded · 12-06-2015 02:14PM

Fistycuffs wrote: »

If you're going to identify as a black person and live as one you would have to invent a past for yourself though realistically. I'm sure transgender people who lived as the person they identified as probably didn't tell people they were trans when it was less acceptable, they might have pretended they were always the gender they presented as. That would seem understandable to me.

I wonder why she claimed she was born in a teepee though, wouldn't that American Indian culture?

I hope it's ok to tell a related joke. It is AH after all

Doctor doctor I feel like I'm a double teepee

Doctor says you know your problem?

You are two tents

Fistycuffs · 12-06-2015 02:16PM

Shes a professor of black studies it seems. Can culture be learned and assimilated that way rather than experienced I wonder?

They have a strange relationship with this in America. In the US they have had law called "the one drop rule". It harks back to the 1920s and while it's now mostly ignored, I believe it's still part of their legal structure. It attempts to classify people as black or white, it considers any person as black if they have "one drop of black blood" in them,ie ANY black ancestory, even if they are of completely white skinned appearance.

It's was upheld in the courts as recently as 1885, which is a long time ago but not as long as you'd think

In the United States, the “one-drop rule” — also known as hypodescent — dates to a 1662 Virginia law on the treatment of mixed-race individuals. The legal notion of hypodescent has been upheld as recently as 1985, when a Louisiana court ruled that a white woman with a black great-great-great-great-grandmother could not identify herself as “white” on her passport.

It's very strange and depressing past they have come through when you think about it.

12-06-2015 02:20PM

To lighten it up a bit.... (excuse the pun)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L104LViQeIw

Mesrine65 · 12-06-2015 02:22PM

Greenmachine · 12-06-2015 02:27PM

I think it is kinda offensive to black people, especially if the lady claim to be oppressed because of her "black" heritage. No idea what she was trying to achieve by it. Is it some absurd mean of distancing herself from her parents for reasons unknown.

catallus · 12-06-2015 02:31PM

Philip Roth dealt with this very subject with sensitivity and sympathy in his novel "The Human Stain"

It's a long time since I read it but this kind of thing is more common than we'd think.

Maybe it is a particularly "United States" thing. They be crazy

One eyed Jack · 12-06-2015 02:33PM

beyondbelief67 wrote: »

Am I the only one who thought of the white chicks film when they read this ?

Nope, it's becoming a bit farcical really this whole cultural appropriation nonsense -

One eyed Jack wrote: »

The black guy from "White Chicks" sums up my opinion on this cultural appropriation lark quite eloquently - "The deception!" :eek:

Because Miley Cyrus hasn't been seen twerking in the wild in a while, and Lily Allen is done trying to be controversial these days after she got slammed and all for her inappropriate cultural appropriation.

jobbridge4life · 12-06-2015 02:37PM

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

It would seem hypocritical & inconsistent to take an alternative view of racial identity.

No it wouldn't unless you can demonstrate that they are the same thing, which of course you can't.

12-06-2015 03:41PM

jobbridge4life wrote: »

No it wouldn't unless you can demonstrate that they are the same thing, which of course you can't.

The word identity implies an element of volition.

That's why doctors clearly distinguish between a person's manifest sexual orientation, for example, and their sexual identity. Ditto for gender vs gender identity.

It would be illogical to claim that this distinction applies to some biological traits, and not others.

At the very least, it demands an explanation.

se02orqua5xz9v · 12-06-2015 04:00PM

Jasmine Brave Bonus wrote: »

Does anyone else feel that what this woman has done is unbelievably disrespectful to the black community in America?

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

No. Not at all. Are drag queens unbelievably disrespectful to women?
I cannot understand why this kind of thing causes so much ridiculous drama.

Drag queens don't try and convince other people that they were born women, and are women at all times, even when they are on their own.

Also, they don't claim to be the victims of misogynistic anti-woman hate crimes, or complain about unequal pay for 'women like themselves'.

This woman tried to convince others that she was born black, and was black at all times, and was the victim of racist hate crimes which only a person of colour (which she is not) would face.

That's why it's disrespectful.

padd b1975 · 12-06-2015 04:10PM

She's a dead ringer for Sideshow Bob with that hairstyle.

se02orqua5xz9v · 12-06-2015 04:10PM

jobbridge4life wrote: »

In america they have the 'one drop' rule. So it wouldn't be inconceivable for someone with her complexion to be seen as black.

Her complexion? The woman in these photos? She's whiter than Taylor Swift!

se02orqua5xz9v · 12-06-2015 04:11PM

All I can think of is Gary Oldman in True Romance.

jobbridge4life · 12-06-2015 04:26PM

Jasmine Brave Bonus wrote: »

Her complexion? The woman in these photos? She's whiter than Taylor Swift!

Yeah.. even with that complexion.

http://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/25800000/wenworth-miller-wentworth-miller-25810663-602-900.jpg

Wentworth Miller could be considered black under the same rule. Like I said it is bizarre. I remember having a near screaming match with an american former housemate of mine over it.

FFS can someone tell me how to post images on Boards!!!

DEFTLEFTHAND · 12-06-2015 04:26PM

jobbridge4life wrote: »

In america they have the 'one drop' rule. So it wouldn't be inconceivable for someone with her complexion to be seen as black. Its just an absurd out growth of racialism in America.

That's right White supermascists would see her as 'coloured'. Hair texture and facial features are other indicators they go by, it's not always skin tone. For instance white southern Europeans who some of these stormfronter clowns are descended from will oftentimes have swarthy complexions.

LadyFenghuang · 12-06-2015 04:31PM

kylith wrote: »

She may have 'issues', I'm not saying she doesn't. You know how it is though; someone asks why you're interested in gardening and you make some flippant off-the-cuff remark about being Monty Don's cousin and the next thing you know you've been made head of the Town Beautification scheme and are praying that no-one thinks to invite 'Cousin Monty' to the groundbreaking ceremony.

No I think she did it to be opportunistic. She has given herself a perm and done something to her skin etc.

Comparing her to Jenner is also opportunistic BTW.

LDN_Irish · 12-06-2015 04:43PM

LadyFenghuang wrote: »

No I think she did it to be opportunistic. She has given herself a perm and done something to her skin etc.

Comparing her to Jenner is also opportunistic BTW.

I very much doubt it's as simple as her wanting to rise the ranks of the NAACP and deciding to become a black person go do it!

bnt · 12-06-2015 05:31PM

Jasmine Brave Bonus wrote: »

Her complexion? The woman in these photos? She's whiter than Taylor Swift!

Which means she'll pass the brown paper bag test, then.

Menas · 12-06-2015 05:52PM

This is the most bizarre story I have read in ages. I suppose we will need to hear her side of the story to understand it properly....

frostyjacks · 12-06-2015 06:03PM

She looks like David Luiz in drag.

Don't see what the big deal is, the black community has more important issues to deal with (gang culture, absentee fathers, education etc) than fussing over this eejit.

Wibbs · 12-06-2015 06:09PM

Menas wrote: »

I suppose we will need to hear her side of the story to understand it properly....

"Hi, I'm a White woman who decided one day to be Black because, you know… I'm a bit mad like".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAKG-kbKeIo

That meme was never so germane to a thread.

NormalBob Ubiquitypants · 12-06-2015 06:18PM

For some reason this echoes of the black blue/ white gold dress debate.

Iwasfrozen · 12-06-2015 06:45PM

jobbridge4life wrote: »

Yeah.. even with that complexion.

http://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/25800000/wenworth-miller-wentworth-miller-25810663-602-900.jpg

Wentworth Miller could be considered black under the same rule. Like I said it is bizarre. I remember having a near screaming match with an american former housemate of mine over it.

FFS can someone tell me how to post images on Boards!!!

That guy is whiter than I am.

By that definition Craig Cobb the idiot neo nazi who found out he was 16% black on international television would also be considered black.

ThinkProgress · 12-06-2015 06:45PM

Wibbs wrote: »

Aye, true enough SC, however she's got more issues than Time's back catalogue. Nuttier than squirrel poo. Odd. The media won;t help what recovery she needs mind you.

I've watched that clip again, and this woman doesn't seem delusional or suffering from mental issues. Actually see seems quite sound and rational... if you remove the last part when the interviewer asks the awkward question.

We don't know her exact reasons for assuming this identity, but she does seem genuine in her concerns for the black community and she's also quite well educated too from what I heard.

Labeling her as being crazy might be a bit overzealous. (although it's the first thing that came to my mind too)

I also think it's unfair that certain posters have been punished on this thread for highlighting what seem like quite similar parallels in terms of identity issues.

Obviously I know some people's motives might be questionable, but nonetheless it does seem like a worthwhile discussion was prevented from taking place. Which should be counter to the spirit of this place!

Just because there's a danger of a troll-fest, doesn't mean you should prevent the discussion entirely?

beyondbelief67 · 12-06-2015 06:47PM

The picture I've seen of her now she doesn't look white ? Or as white as first pics suggested ? So I can see from the New pic how she managed to fool people.

folamh · 12-06-2015 06:49PM

Utterly bizarre and racist, and hopefully it will prompt people to think more critically about transgenderism.

White woman 'pretends' to be black – for several years *Mod warning in OP*

Comments

White woman 'pretends' to be black – for several years Mod warning in OP