Racial passing

Racial passing- a term defined as “when someone lives as if they were a member of a different racial category than the one they were born into.” This was first seen during times of slavery when lighter skinned African Americans picked up white people tendencies, mannerisms, and appearances in hopes to assimilate into that culture considering African Americans during that time period were considered second class citizens. It was a matter of survival in some cases, desperate to escape the literal and figurative cages that their white counterparts bestowed upon them, but now fast forward to modern day we see white girls, who already have a lofty seat on the society we live, appropriating- or passing- features normally associated with black women because it’s “fashionable”.

 This phenomenon has been a heated topic lately with the increase of social media influencers. These influencers have a large following on websites such as Instagram, twitter, Facebook and others. They use their popularity to not only promote products, but their appearance, how much money they have. Lately, influencers like Kylie and her Jenner family have been under a lot of criticism for appropriating culture.