For example, people who are half black but pretending to be 100% black, pretending to have Native American heritage when they have no proof, Indians/South Asians who pretend to be Latino, Americans pretending to be Canadian when abroad, and so on.

32 comments

  1. I don’t have any general thoughts as these all sound like different situations with different motivations.

  2. Is this a real thing?? Or, is this a common thing?

    It seems to be something that has occasionally happened. It’s now gotten some sort social media presence.

  3. I see none of these regularly.

    Well except for the Native one, but usually that is just “grandma siad we were part ‘x’ and we don’t have proof” and to be fair, in Oklahoma there is a possibility it’s true

  4. I think it’s mostly bullshit, but gatekeeping race just perpetuates racism. Like, what’s the point? Anything where you might actually get a tangible benefit is fraud and that’s already a crime.

  6. People can do whatever they want as long as they’re not physically hurting anyone. It’s their matter what and how they want to identify as.

  7. I’ve never encountered most of these scenarios or heard about others experiencing them.

    The Native American part is probably because they have a belief in their family that they have this heritage which is not unique to Native American heritage. People do this with other ethnicities.

    I would think anyone pretending to be Canadian abroad is kind of a loser. Who goes around the world to lie about yourself? If people ask about your background are you going to spin some BS to these people just interested in learning about someone visiting their country? It’s a weird thing to do in my opinion.

  8. There aren’t very many 100% black Americans, blackness is a somewhat complicated identity, made even more complicated by the legacy of the one-drop rule. That’s why mixed race people will often identify with their black heritage more strongly.

  9. I don’t think this is common enough of an occurrence for me to really have any general thoughts on.

  10. Haven’t ever met someone like that. I think it’s pretty rare, and you’re more likely to meet someone who doesn’t correct people’s false assumptions because it’s not worth it in a casual interaction with a stranger.

    I have met one or two people who were of a certain heritage, didn’t look it, and seemed to have some issues coming to terms with the fact that no one either in or outside that group pegged them as belonging to that heritage/ethnicity/race. I don’t have an opinion on that other than I understand why that could be hard.

  13. im bi-racial. i literally switch back and forth depending on who i feel more ashamed of in that given moment.

  14. Someone claiming to be black is generally claiming a cultural identity not an ethnic one. And you can have that identity even if you’re not 100% of African ancestry (and most of the black community in the US isn’t).

    No strong thoughts on any of these as long as it’s not done with personal gain in mind.

  15. I am completely unbothered by what other people choose to do with their lives or how they choose to identify. Like…

    > pretending to have Native American heritage when they have no proof

    …why on earth would I be concerned one way or another?

  17. I’m not biracial, but my son is caucasian/Asian and he is a dual national (American and Japanese citizenship). We never dwell on it; I just sometimes tell him how great it is he has two cultures and I’d like him to be happy about that. He is really the manifestation of our love.

    Ok…mushy but…

    Wrt pretending to be a race, the only time I have seen this is back in the 80s in high school where a few girls -it was always girls- would say things like, “I’m actually 1/8th Cherokee” or something like that. And that was in NJ. It was never a lesser known tribe. Like you didn’t get, “I’m 1/8th Lenni Lenape” even though that would be way more likely in NJ. I didn’t care per se, but I didn’t necessarily believe them either. Sounded a bit like an attention getter.

    Sometimes I feel it’s a little sad when you have famous people that are mixed black and other and they say they identify as black. I don’t know what they’ve been through so I wouldn’t judge, but I guess maybe they had some negative experiences.

  18. People like that person in WA I forget her name that are 100% white but decided they are black should crawl in a hole and just disappear, they are ridiculous. People who are 1/2 whatever race and brought up by people of that race can 100% claim to be that race as they are and I could not careless. I do not need my neighbor who is technically a 1/4 white 1/4 Japanese and 50% Vietnamese to clarify their make up to me or anyone. They are all these thing and can claim each one.

  21. Whenever I am at Ikea I quickly claim my heritage to get an extra meatball. I am 1/8 Swedish.

  22. The people who gatekeep racial and ethnic identity bother me more. It’s extremely frustrating when people accuse me of lying about being Hispanic because I’m pale skinned from the Scandinavian side of my family.

  23. Posers of all varieties weird me out. Racist ones in particular are skeevy af. I saw recently that Rachel Dolezal has been employed ever since. There is a very good reason for that.

  24. “half black but pretending to be 100% black”

    In my life time people 1/2 Black could be jailed for marrying someone White. No one says I’m 100% Black. Most people aren’t because of rapes during slavery.

    Americans pretending to be Canadian just because they don’t wanna talk about American politics.

    “Indians/South Asians who pretend to be Latino”. Is it because they are ashamed or to avoid racist assholes?

  25. Never seen this in real life… Have seen few on TV but those are stories anyway – never heard or seen this in reality.

  26. For your examples:

    -I wouldn’t say someone with partial ancestry is “pretending” by identifying with that ancestry. Nobody really has “pure” ancestry and so if a half-black half-white person considers himself black or white, I don’t see any reason to argue with him.

    -not having proof isn’t the same thing as pretending. A person might be brought up with a belief. There might be some unrecorded ancestry. There might be unregistered adoptions, illegitimate births, “false paternity events” and so on in your family tree.

    -actually knowingly pretending to have ethnicity you don’t have is pretty strange and I don’t know why people would do it. I *can* see why you might not correct someone who mistakenly thought you were a different ethnicity.

    -Americans pretending to be Canadians abroad seem very odd to me. I’ve never pretended to be from a different country, and I’ve never had any problems abroad. If you really think you’d be in danger by being known as an American in a given country, you probably shouldn’t go there even if you do think you could successfully pretend to be Canadian. After all, the only people who would know you’re “Canadian” are people who actually converse with you. People who just hear your accent will probably still assume that you’re American.

  28. What is acting 100% black vs half black? If they’re just saying “I’m black” then I don’t think that’s wrong for them to do. A lot of people who are “pretending” to have Native American ancestry aren’t actually pretending. There’s reasons why families have those stories, but they’re family stories that have been passed down for a long time, so they actually believe it. However, there’s a difference between acknowledging you have a Native American ancestor generations ago and acting like you’re part of that group. I’ve never seen Indians/South Asians acting latino, but I’ve seen people mistaken as latino.

    Americans pretending to be Canadian when abroad only makes sense in sensitive countries that you probably shouldn’t be traveling to anyway, otherwise it’s pretty cringe. If you’re a good tourist and not obnoxious, just say you’re American and improve our reputation abroad.

  29. No one should feel ashamed of their own ethnicity, race, or nationality. It’s a simple accident of birth.

    With respect to those who pretend to be a member of a “protected” or politically advantaged class in order to game the system; it’s wrong, but my beef is more with the racial spoils system that makes it advantageous to do this kind of thing. It shouldn’t exist.

  32. I mean this largely comes down to two groups: people who lean towards one ancestry because its advantageous (largely for affirmative action but there are other reasons) and people blatantly passing off as something they are not.

    The first one has some logic to it, I have a friend who when applying to college put down white even though he was half Asian as his ethnicity. Not a lie but you could see why he did it.

    The second one gets bizarre. The most common is people pretending to be Native American. This should easily be identifiable because Native American ancestry is usually defined by Tribal membership, this is not in dispute like some 5th ancestor. In terms of people lying for affirmative action, I mean if you create a system with incentives people will follow them.

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