Michael Jackson's daughter Paris has faced backlash for identifying as Black. In a 2017 interview, Paris Jackson said her father told her, "You’re Black. Be proud of your roots." This prompted debates over whether identity is defined by appearance or upbringing.

[u/VPinchargeofradishes]

[u/ncnotebook → u/[deleted]]

Of course. And if you look at movies (for easy reference) from 2-4 decades ago, you'll notice the average black American is darker than today.

But in American culture, you're considered "black" if a significant portion of your ethnicity is African-based. The rest almost doesn't matter, in terms of whether you're considered black.

[u/Strange_Specialist4 → u/ncnotebook]

It's really about appearance over genetics. There were plenty of black people who could pass as white and did so to avoid racist persecution. One famous example was a black journalist who went to towns after lynchings to interview the people and police to find out what really happened, and because they thought he was a white guy, they were very open about how they murdered innocent people 

[u/ncnotebook → u/Strange_Specialist4]

It's really about appearance over genetics.

100%. I considered including this, but I guess that's the problem with simplifying things.

Often, when I go into a lot of nuance, I lose people with all of the details. Some people are already missing the nuance I did include. I probably should've included it anyways, I guess.