How Transracial Will Soon Be Totally Normal
A World Where White Folks Can Freely Identify as 'BIPOC'
When the words that we use to identify people, are reduced to mean essentially nothing-it opens the door for anyone to claim those identities for their own purposes, especially if there is an advantage to be had in doing so.
Several months ago, I was browsing the Queer Women of Color forum on Reddit, when I came across a post that asked, “Is it OK for White-Passing POC to participate in BIPOC Spaces?”
Having had many real-life experiences that contributed to my distaste of the term “BIPOC”, and being firm on gatekeeping, I naturally said Hell Naw!, which turned into a very long back-and-forth with the OP about why I feel the way I do. A lot of other women responded to that thread, too. Most of them were completely okay with this idea of “white-presenting” people in “BIPOC” spaces, and they disagreed with me, to the point of downvoting my long, thoughtful comments into the negatives, without offering any reasoning as to why they didn’t like what I said.
Sound familiar to any of you?
I actually ended up having a civil discussion with the OP, but by the time I walked away from that conversation, I was left feeling pretty disturbed, and I took note that I will need to very clearly define, and draw boundaries around what it means to be “black” in any space I hold for black women in the future.
Recently, this got me thinking about how our society has already laid certain historical and modern foundations in regards to race and gender, such that we can seamlessly ease into a world where white transracials are both socially accepted, and legally recognized, as vulnerable minorities.
So, in this post, I want to break down exactly how and why transracialism is slowly becoming both normalized and politically correct, burgeoning a world in which (only) white people can effectively identify into any race they want, and gain access to spaces, protections, and opportunities that are reserved for black and brown folks, without actually having the lived experience that comes with being a ‘person of color’.