Transrace

This term refers to a person who identifies with a race they’re not part of biologically. It happens, for example, when white people identify as black.

Some people say others claim to be transrace so they can get away with misappropriating culture (even claiming to be transrace itself is misappropriation).

Others say this denial of identity is gatekeeping, just as much as denying transwomen are women.

 

This has six sections: Concept of Race; Claiming to be Black is Problematic; Being ‘Transcultural’ Already (kind of) Exists; Being ‘Transethnic’ is Impossible; Comparing Transrace to Transgender; and Claiming to be ‘Transracial’ to Misappropriate Culture.

 

 

Concept of Race

 

Race is a complex concept. It ties together the idea of ethnicity (something biological) with the idea of culture (something social).

So, to be transrace, someone would need to change their culture and biology. They’d need to be both transethnic and transcultural. Yet when someone says they’re transblack, it’s only the culture they’re claiming as their own (because clearly changing ethnicity is impossible).

Hence, as only culture can change and not biology, the term ‘transrace’ isn’t actually describing what’s going on.

 

 

Claiming to be Black is Problematic

 

White people claiming to be black is itself problematic.

There are more black cultures than there are white/Asian/Aboriginal/Native American/Pacific cultures combined. Saying ‘black culture’ thus reduces all black cultures into one, a massive misidentification that can’t be anything but racist. Yes, many people in this situation use ‘black’ as shorthand for ‘African American’ (which is appropriate). But I’ve seen more people claiming to be ‘transblack’ by identifying with Africa as a whole.

 ‘Transblack’ is thus not an appropriate thought, identity or term to start with in regards to Africa. If a white person is claiming to be black, surely they’d know the term they’re using is inappropriate?

 

 

Being ‘Transcultural’ Already (kind of) Exists

 

Liking, admiring, and being fascinated by other cultures is a good thing. It allows for better understanding, communication and co-operation. But admiring something doesn’t mean you are it.

There are plenty of ways to be part of a culture. Live where a culture is prevalent (i.e. moving abroad) and people can adopt the food, language, activities and attitudes of that culture (all countries want their immigrants to integrate, after all). People often adopt and marry into another race. They’ll live, and be treated like, anyone else in that community.

So there are already ways to be part of another culture without having to use something as controversial as ‘transrace’. Notice all these methods require an invitation, whereas people claiming to be transrace is self-imposed.

 

Let’s look at a white child being adopted by an African American family.

This child goes to a black school and consumes black media. That white child is without doubt part of the black community on a cultural level. If black culture is the only thing that white child has ever known, it wouldn’t be fair to exclude them.

But this doesn’t make that white child black. Instead, they’ve been adopted by a culture with the permission of that culture. As it’s given rather than taken, it’s not misappropriation.

As it’s an adoption of culture without changing ethnicity, it’s not a change of race. So ‘transrace’ is incorrect.

 

 

Being ‘Transethnic’ is Impossible

 

Changing culture is one thing. However, there’s no way to change ethnicity, the biological side of race.

The genetic differences between different ethnicities are huge. It can’t be changed with hormones alone. It would require re-writing someone’s entire genome in every single cell in their body. Different ethnicities have big differences in biology: colour, texture, shape, proportions, sizes, biological processes… Such a big transformation would be dangerous to a living organism.

Therefore, changing someone’s ethnicity is simply impossible. If someone can’t be transethnic, and transethnic is a requirement of being transracial, then being transrace is likewise impossible.

 

 

Comparing Transrace to Transgender

 

Both come with social and biological aspects. Transgender people change their biosex (biological) to fit their gender (social). Likewise, transracial people identify with another culture (social) and hence would need to change their ethnicity (biological).

            However, as previously demonstrated, people can’t biologically change their ethnicity to align with their race. Crucially, transgender people can biologically change their biosex to align with their gender.

            This gender-biosex divergence is most easily seen in transgender people. However, it is more prevalent in people who have genetic conditions where they are genetically one biosex but physically another; the gender identity is based off of the physical aspect, not the genetics. Most of these individuals now, and in history, never know about this divergence.

Gatekeeping is practiced on transwomen, saying they aren’t real women because they aren’t genetically women. But most gender-biosex divergence is based on gender being the person’s physical body, not their genetics. So why would identifying transpeople be the opposite way around?

            There is no equivalence between changing biosex and changing ethnicity, so comparing transrace with transgender isn’t feasible. So claims of gatekeeping transracial people is ludicrous.

 

 

Claiming to be ‘Transracial’ to Misappropriate Culture

 

The concept of transrace has another complication.

We’re seeing a rising number of white people claiming to be trans-black as just another way to take black culture without permission. (But it’s not misappropriation if I’m black.) So this claiming to be transblack is just a transparent workaround to take what hasn’t been freely given.

Being transrace is thus not an identity to have but a tool to use. That is not okay.

(This isn’t a dig at white people. Rather, it’s a dig at a few individuals who are doing something wrong. Anyone of any race claiming to be trans-race would be just as guilty.)

 

 

Conclusion

 

To be transracial, one must be transcultural and transethnic. One can be transcultural in real life if it’s given to them. One simply cannot be transethnic. Thus, as transrace requires both cultural and ethnic elements, if one element is impossible, then transrace itself is impossible. Not only is it a controversial term but it is a nonsense term, too!