- Question
Can someone be transracial?
With the outrage following Rachel Dolezal's falsified claims of being African American in 2015, the question of racial identity has been raised. Should we have the right to identify as a different race than the one assigned at birth? And is transracial identity legitimate, or another means of cultural appropriation?
Being transracial is a legitimate identity
This position holds that being transracial is a legitimate identity. It argues that, much like being transgender, a person may genuinely identify with a race other than the one they were born into, that the world is multicultural, and that people should be free to claim such identities.
Transracialism should be rejected as invalid and as cultural appropriation
This position holds that transracialism should be rejected as invalid and as cultural appropriation. It argues that claiming a racial identity not one's own enables deception that offends the groups involved, and that it cannot be equated with being transgender.