Transracial

Transracial describes people who are uncomfortable with their birth race and adopt a different race more to their liking. As with sex change theory, which holds that a person uncomfortable with a birth gender can adopt a different gender, the theory is grounded in the recognition that gender and race are social constructs. As the United States collects data for the 2020 census, each person is asked to self-identify a racial identity, and the federal government accepts those responses without question.

Under critical race theory, the racial identity of both individuals and groups are significant. This theory defines "equity" as achieving equal outcomes, so if the racial composition of the Chemistry department of a university does not match the nation as a whole, society demands that affirmative action be taken to bring them into alignment. In contrast, under liberalism, racial identity is not relevant because society provides equal opportunity and does not guarantee outcomes.

There have been many noteworthy examples over time. Homer Plessy, an "octoroon" (person of seven-eighths white and one-eighth black ancestry) resident of New Orleans, deliberately violated Louisiana's Separate Car Act of 1890, which required "equal, but separate" train car accommodations for white and non-white passengers. Plessy boarded the white only car, and the resulting United States Supreme Court case upheld the doctrine that "separate but equal" met the equal protection standard of the Constitution.

White journalist John Howard Griffin took drugs to artificially darken his skin while touring in the Southern United States to produce the 1961 book Black Like Me that presented the impact of racial segregation.

Senator Elizabeth Warren claimed to be an American Indian for the purpose of affirmative action in faculty hiring.

Gerald Riviera was the son of a Puerto Rican Catholic father and a mother of Russian Jewish descent. He was raised "mostly Jewish" and had a Bar Mitzvah ceremony. He took on the Hispanic identity of "Geraldo Rivera" when he entered television journalism.

Rachel Dolezal was the daughter of two white parents who also adopted black children, so she grew up identifying as black. She lived as a black women, received a Masters Degree from Howard University and was elected President of the Spokane Washington Chapter of the NAACP. Her family outed her birth race during a family dispute and she was removed as President. Dolezal was charged by the State of Washington with felony theft by welfare fraud and second degree perjury in May 2018. The matter was settled in a diversion agreement; Dolezal agreed to repay the welfare funds and to perform community service.

Jessica A. Krug is the daughter of two white Jewish parents who grew up in Kansas City. She later claimed "North African Blackness, then US rooted Blackness, then Caribbean rooted Bronx Blackness." She serves as a History Professor at George Washington University where she describes her role as "a historian of politics, ideas, and cultural practices in Africa and the African Diaspora, with a particular interest in West Central Africa and maroon societies in the early modern period and Black transnational cultural studies." The GWU Provost announced that following her confession, Krug will not be teaching classes in the Fall 2020 semester.

Kamala Harris is the daughter of a Hindu Tamil mother who immigrated from India and a black father who immigrated from Jamaca. Harris claims that mother raised her to be "a proud black woman," but some progressives question her racial status.

Critical race theory is used to advocate for reparations for the past suffering by African-Americans. If a broad-based reparations plan is adopted that provides financial compensation to those who self-identify as black, the tension between the woke viewpoint that accepts self-identification of gender and race as well as compensation for past wrongs suffered by identity groups will become significant.