Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex. Before she started calling herself black, she would have passed easily as a tanned white woman in almost every predominantly black city, town or country in the world.

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-most-misunderstood-thing-about-black-people/answer/Shabba-De-Leon.

Mariah Carey, a diva, a famous singer and songwriter. Is she white or black?

Jennifer Lopez, one of the most famous Latin Americans of recent times. Popular singer and actress. Now, quite a few Latinos and Latinas have African ancestry, so the question becomes…are they black? (This is the same question for Mariah Carey above, except her African ancestry is far more recent.)

The man and woman on the left of the composite picture, they’re as dark as me. Yet, they aren’t considered to be African, of African descent, or black. Why?

This is a gorgeous pic…of an Indian woman. But, again, why is she considered Indian but not black?

And if Nyakim Gatwech is considered black, then

how the hell do I compare to her? One can safely call her ashen black. Me? My skin colour is brown.

Speaking of me, as my surname suggests, I’m partially of Spanish descent, with my maternal side of the family coming from Venezuela (and they weren’t black, in case you’re wondering)

. I have never seen any part of Africa unlike

Elon Musk and Charlize Theron, who are so-called white people, but have more right to call themselves African than every black person not born in Africa.

The most misunderstood thing about black people, more than any stereotype you can think of with regards to black people, is that “black” label. What, exactly, makes a person “black” is not clearly defined and not understood. Anywhere you go, the criteria seem to change according to some unwritten and unknown rules. In the USA, if you have any African descent, or if your skin colour is of some unstated shade of brown or black, you’re black; in the United Kingdom, you’re a British citizen, but if you appear to be of African descent and are of some unstipulated shade of brown or black, you may be subjected to racism; other parts of the world judge you based on different criteria. And, of course, you can be the darkest shade of black, and still get rejected by a black community, because they don’t consider you to be black (or, because you’re too black, as Nyakim Gatwech knows all too well…but that’s a different story about how black people are racist to black people).

Once you understand this, you understand that the next most misunderstood thing about black people is that they have any shared cultural trait. There is simply no label that you can arbitrarily slap on to black people that fits even the majority of them (except, maybe, African descent. But seeing that almost all of modern man are descended from Africans…).

That’s one reason why racism is stupid.

Fun fact, none of the people on this picture is ‘black'


They're Malaysian,

Same skintones and darker are very common in south east Asia and Oceania

Most of the people on this picture, were they walking around in the us , would be assumed to be black, but because they're ‘asians' they're not

But if any of them would have an african great great great grand parent ( still looking exactly the same ) they would suddenly be considered black

This is why I believe that race is more of a social construct than something that genuinely exists.

Ethnicity/region doesn’t really dictate a person’s skin color or the way they look. All people of different ethnicities, regardless of the regions they come from, tend to look diverse, which dispels the notion of certain features/traits being found in specific regions of the world. The definitions of who belongs to a specific race differs from culture to culture and has evolved over time.

For example…

These are definitely European people.

.

C

Or so you thought, when actually that wasn’t the case.

Sofi Tsedaka (Samaritan Israeli singer)

Ahed Tamimi (Palestinian activist)

Alona Tal (Ashkenazi-Sephardi Jewish Israeli actress)

Princess Lalla Shalma of Morocco

Hana El-Zahed (Egyptian actress)

A Palestinian boy

John Abizaid (Lebanese-American general)

Protesters in Tunisia

Indigenous Ainu man of Hokkaido, Japan

Bar Refaeli (Ashkenazi-Sephardi Jewish Israeli model)

Nadia Lotdi (Egyptian actress)

Nancy Ajram (Lebanese pop singer)

What about these Africans?

C

Also nope.

Keith Jarrett (German-Slovenian American Jazz musician)

Melissa Gorga (Italian-American television personality)

Dolores Catania (Italian-Irish American television personality)

Neal Shusterman (Ashkenazi Jewish American author)

South Asian girl

Man of indigenous Agta people of Philippines

Sri Lankan woman

Phoebe Snow (Ashkenazi Jewish American roots singer)

Edgar J. Hoover (Anglo-American, first director of FBI)

Arlene Gottfried (Ashkenazi Jewish American photographer)

Boy of indigenous Tagbanua people of Philippines

Man of indigenous Agta people of Philippines