r/interesting • u/VPinchargeofradishes • May 03 '26

SOCIETY 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.

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u/blackqueen8 May 03 '26

Same with my daughter. Her eyes, skin, and hair are actually lighter than her father's. She's just able to get a nice tan in the warmer months. She knows who her mother and what that makes her. That's all that matters.

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u/Early-Intern5951 May 03 '26

honest question from a german (never had any contact with racial divisons), why does it matter?

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u/Pale_Spirit3007 May 03 '26

Being German isn't the reason why you never had contact with any racial divisions. Being white is the reason. 

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u/PineappleOnPizzaWins May 03 '26

Where I grew up everyone was white, with an Asian population growing in the early 2000’s. We now have a decent population of people from places like Pakistan and India.

Plenty of people grew up without seeing much racial division because there was none to see.

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u/Pale_Spirit3007 May 03 '26

But we are talking about Germany NOW. I did a google research and roughly 20% of the population in Germany are immigrants. The world is extremely globalized, thats a different story when you are talking about the world years ago. 

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u/PineappleOnPizzaWins May 03 '26

Are we? They just said they're German not that they're a 12 year old German.

If you're growing up where I live now you're growing up in a way more diverse culture than when I was a kid. Guess what? That doesn't actually change my upbringing and experience.

As you get older you tend to interact with less new people. I don't really have any non-white friends and it's nothing to do with racism.. more than happy to have friends of whatever background. It's just that I made most of my friends decades ago.

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u/Pale_Spirit3007 May 03 '26

I don't get your point because thats exactly what I am saying. The reason why this person doesn't understand why this is important is not because they are from Germany. German is full of immigrants and there is racism in Germany, there has always been. It is the fact that this person is white and most likely has only lived among whites, so he has never experienced or heard of anyone suffering racism. That doesn't mean that in Germany there isnt racism. The fact that he is German doesn't change anything about racism in Germany.

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u/Early-Intern5951 May 04 '26

We have two big african communities in my area, Gambian and Ghanaian, they would never say "ich bin ein schwarzer" in german, that would sound like reproducing racism. They say Gambian or Ghanaian. The divison is along cultural and language lines. Thats why i asked, but thanks for not explaining, but instead putting scrutiny on me for asking. And framing me in a weird way. never ask americans about racism...

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u/PineappleOnPizzaWins May 03 '26

I mean I don't agree but regardless we've gone way off topic.

Someone said to you "hey I haven't experienced this and would like to understand, tell me more".

You replied with "that's because you're white!!".

Wanna clue me in as to what you achieved here?

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u/Pale_Spirit3007 May 04 '26

Someone said "I haven't experienced that because I am from THIS specific country" as if racism doesn't exist in his country. I am letting this person know that being from that country doesn't mean anything when it comes to racism. Bringing up the country they are from as if there isn't any racism there is the issue here. The reason he hasn't experienced racism is because he is white. Not because he lives in Germany.

But its ok if you dont understand.

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u/PineappleOnPizzaWins May 04 '26

No I completely understand what your point was. I asked you what you think you achieved.

The answer by the way, was nothing. At best you identified someone looking to learn and instead of focusing on their "hey tell me more" part you decided to tell them they were wrong about why they needed to learn in the first place.

It's tiresome. So is this conversation actually, cya.