One of my Great Grandparents were Spanish (or Portuguese)

Much of my lineage is Irish. Or, more specifically, from Ireland. As DNA sites better their data, it actually shows that some of my “Irish” is more likely to be English and French people who went to Ireland as oppressive forces. At some point, they became Irish. But not for long, because they went to America.

One of my ancestors was Spanish. Or should I say, Portuguese. His name is Portuguese but he seems to have come from Spain and seemingly spoke Spanish. So he’s either Spanish or Portuguese. Maybe he was both. Maybe he was ethnically Portuguese (if there is such a thing) and culturally Spanish. This name didn’t carry very far down our family tree because he seemed to only have daughters that of course married local Irish/British men.

Just because someone has dark skin, eyes and hair, it doesn’t mean that they have mixed ethnicities in their heritage

Some of him may have indeed carried on in us, though. Some of my family have quite a dark complexion, and/or we tan in a way that makes it appear as if our tanned skin is our normal hue. A few of us also have thick, dark, generous body hair. All us brothers would need to shave daily to stay clean shaven. Our day 2 stubble looks like day 5 or 7 on others. One of my brothers has been screened more than once for his “Middle Eastern” appearance.

Or maybe it didn’t. The spectrum of skin color within people of the same ethnic background is really quite astounding. It’s just that white people don’t seem very clued up that humans can vary so much. Just because someone from a European background has dark skin, eyes and hair, it doesn’t mean that they have mixed ethnicities in their heritage. We could have this tendency towards dark hair and skin from a relative that hailed from Northern Europe.

Of course there is a long history of white people having interracial relationships, and covering up the existence of the resulting offspring in various ways. Many of us likely have a non-white ancestor that may not be recorded as a relation due to the impact of colonization, and the exploitation and oppression that occurred with it. But that doesn’t eradicate the whiteness of a white person who has a non-white great-grandparent. Particularly where that white person has been raised as white and has no cultural connection to the ethnic background of the ancestor in question.

The fact that I have a Spanish (or Portuguese) great grandparent makes me no more Spanish (or Portuguese) than it does a sailor, or a smuggler.

Ignorance about how skin color manifests and the popularity of at home DNA tests has resulted in people assuming dark skin or a percentage of “African” DNA means that a white person is of a mixed background. They think it means that person can then navigate the world as if they are a person of color, or a person from that ethno-cultural background.

This is weaponized by white people who want to be able to talk about race without being a white person speaking about racial issues. This might be because they are against racial equality, or for it; either way, they want the platform that should be (but often isn’t) rightfully reserved to people of color to speak about racial inequality.

Sometimes, it’s about getting back at a (more) racist family of origin who would be horrified at their relative speaking of themselves (and therefore their relatives) as non-white. It’s an insidious white trait regardless of your wider sociopolitical views.

The fact that I have a Spanish (or Portuguese) great grandparent makes me no more Spanish (or Portuguese) than it does a sailor, or a smuggler. Because he would have been either of those things too.

It’s an interesting thing, perhaps, but that’s it. It has no bearing on the fact I’ve consistently navigated the world as a cis white man and benefited from all the privileges that come with that accurate identity.

I am a cis white man. I can commit to anti-racism despite my white identity. I don’t need to make up a story that my great great great grandfather was an oppressed indigenous person from that area of the world for my points about racial equality to make sense. He may well have been, but it’s had no influence on my identity or upbringing whatsoever. I’m white, and I always have been.

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This post was previously published on medium.com.

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