‘As Black as We Wish to Be’
20th March 2012
The New York Times shows how you, too, can belong to a fashionable oppressed minority.
Mixed-race blacks have an ethical obligation to identify as black — and interracial couples share a similar moral imperative to inculcate certain ideas of black heritage and racial identity in their mixed-race children, regardless of how they look.
That way they won’t have to acknowledge that any part of their heritage comes from Icky White People.
One of the most interesting aspects of modern America is the number of opportunities it presents for people to make money off of the fact that their skin is darker than most, without any need to display any other talent or useful skill.
Ilya Somin responds here.
Williams’ argument in regards to blacks has superficial plausibility because blacks have been victims of major historic injustices in this country. But it is not clear why other blacks – or mixed-race individuals – have a special obligation to combat those injustices that is greater than that of other people. If anything, the duty to combat an injustice falls most heavily on those who inflicted it – who, in this case, were mostly white.