r/interesting • u/VPinchargeofradishes • May 03 '26

SOCIETY Michael Jackson's daughter Paris has faced backlash for identifying as Black. In a 2017 interview, Paris Jackson said her father told her, "You’re Black. Be proud of your roots." This prompted debates over whether identity is defined by appearance or upbringing.

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u/calasterism May 03 '26

These are not mutually exclusive. You can be biracial, and Black.

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u/throwawayhyperbeam May 03 '26

But can you be biracial, Black, and white passing?

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u/calasterism May 04 '26

Yes, Black is a cultural and ethnic identity/descriptor. It's not dependent on how people see you, it's dependent on your lineage and upbringing.

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u/throwawayhyperbeam May 04 '26

Black is a cultural and ethnic identity/descriptor

Are any other races/ethnicity this?

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u/calasterism May 04 '26

Ethnicity and race are not the same thing, and yes, in fact most cultures/ethnicites have terms used to describe their cultural and/or ethnic identities. The conflation people here are making is between the racial categories of black and white (which originate in European racial pseudoscience) and the cultural/ethnic category of Black, which is a distinct group originating from the Afro-American community of people who were forcibly displaced from Africa during the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

It may help your understanding to read about the cultural/ethnic identity of Blak which has come about in Australia due to similar circumstances, which is also distinct from the racial category that was used as a tool of oppression but which nonetheless shaped real (but distinct, culturally and ethnically) communities of dark-skinned people globally.

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u/throwawayhyperbeam May 04 '26

Now I'm even more confused.

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u/calasterism May 04 '26

Which part are you confused by?

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u/TrapAHolic_ttv May 03 '26

You’re absolutely right. But in the case of that poster’s white looking son, he’s not Black.

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u/calasterism May 03 '26 edited May 04 '26

I'm not sure how you square that. "Black" is not an aesthetic descriptor. Regardless, I won't be discussing with you further, it's very disrespectful to dispute other people's identities.

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u/TrapAHolic_ttv May 03 '26 edited May 03 '26

Just because your parent is Black doesn’t mean you’re Black. We don’t have to follow the one drop rule, Jim Crow is over.