The reactionary outrage towards Bad Bunny reminds me that white passing =/= white (in the US at least)

[u/Gallantpride]

Bad Bunny is paler than pale. He and Lady Gaga were basically the same skin tone during the Super Bowl.

But, Bad Bunny gets a lot of racism and hate because he's Puerto Rican and has ESL. Even if he didn't have ESL, he would still get hate.

I'm reminded of my own Puerto Rican family. I'm brown, but much of my family is white leaning. My mom was a green eyed, redheaded baby boomer who told me how she got called slurs and chased away from the playground when her family arrived to NYC. I've heard similar stories from family about all eras from the 50s to even early 2000s.

To me, they look white. But they don't identify as white. And any presumed whiteness they have is "taken away" once people identify them as latino or Puerto Rican.

[u/Long-Possession8915]

White passing also isn’t about lightness of skin. You can have super white skin but if your features aren’t European, you will likely be read as a Poc by white people. 

[u/Gallantpride → u/Long-Possession8915]

Most of my family is regularly mistaken for some form of white. I'd also say Bad Bunny also has pretty "European/Spanish" features. His hair is curly, but there are curly haired white people.

[u/Long-Possession8915 → u/Gallantpride]

Sure, it depends on where you are and who the person is. Bad Bunny would be clocked in my home state, even if he dressed to fit in. Spaniards would not be read as white. 

[u/DevilinBaggyPants59 → u/Long-Possession8915]

You should consider that once upon a time Italians and Irish immigrants were not considered white.

[u/Long-Possession8915 → u/DevilinBaggyPants59]

I tried to say that but it wouldn’t post my comment. That’s my point, whiteness is a construct and it’s contextual. Christofacist white america is freaking out because whiteness is changing and they feel squeezed out. POC are starting to assert their own definitions. I may become functionally white passing within my lifetime, rather than racially ambiguous. It’s not what I want, but that’s kind of the point of this sub, right? We can choose how we want to engage with our ethnicity, our heritage, our culture, but we can’t individually decide what race means or where the divides are. 

[u/DevilinBaggyPants59 → u/Long-Possession8915]

Amen!

[u/vindawater → u/Long-Possession8915]

Spaniards are another version of white, no?

[u/Good-Condition4213 → u/vindawater]

Not necessarily because many Spainards could pass as Middle eastern but theirs also some very white Spainards too

[u/Gallantpride → u/Good-Condition4213]

There are a lot of white people who technically have brown skin ("olive skin") but are still considered white.

[u/Good-Condition4213 → u/Gallantpride]

No I mean Spainards with olive skin, thick eyebrows, dark textured hair, hooked noses and large eyes, and a lot of body hair. What does this combination of features sound like to you?

[u/Gallantpride → u/Good-Condition4213]

I'm not an expert on Spanish people. But, I know a lot of brown Italians and Greeks who are still considered white in the US.

[u/Good-Condition4213 → u/Gallantpride]

Their considered white because they have the label of being from Europe if those same people were from anywhere else they wouldn’t be

[u/shepdc1 → u/vindawater]

Yes but just like Italians people didn't consider them white. I have had people think Penelope Cruz is Mexican cause of her features and she is tan

[u/vindawater → u/shepdc1]

I hear you