President of Spokane NAACP outed as white imposter

[Beet]

Both race and gender are social constructs, but gun to my head, race is more of a social construct than gender.

Hence, if one lives in a society as a member of a particular race, then there is no functional difference from being a member of that race except being born into it, and being able to get out of it (minus any complications from surgery)... however the same could be said of transgender people. In a way it's tougher for transgender people since transwomen, for instance, retain greater physical strength, which you could say is an aspect of male privilege.

[Beet]

Both race and gender are social constructs, but gun to my head, race is more of a social construct than gender.

Hence, if one lives in a society as a member of a particular race, then there is no functional difference from being a member of that race except being born into it, and being able to get out of it (minus any complications from surgery)... however the same could be said of transgender people. In a way it's tougher for transgender people since transwomen, for instance, retain greater physical strength, which you could say is an aspect of male privilege.

This post is a good example of why the ability to ponder is vastly overrated.

Yes, as opposed to the ability to hover over a thread making snippy comments...

[Beet]

The thing is, if a white person really passes off as black and people really think they are black and treat them as black, then for all intents and purposes they've lost their white privilege. Since racism is essentially a matter of how you are treated based on the color of your skin, a "white" person that society sees as black is effectively black.

The problem with people of color who try to pass off as white is that it's an endorsement of white privilege. Not all of us have the luxury of passing off as white. It's typically not a matter of literal survival but getting certain social privileges. Rather than representing themselves to people as a person of color and being a part of the visibility of people of color, or confronting and fighting against racism, these people are content for people to think of them as white and benefit from the very system that oppresses them in other ways, and oppresses other people of color.