The topic of this week’s table talk was transracialism and its relation to transgenderism. Specifically, the talk was focused on Rachel Dolezal, a Caucasian woman in Spokane Washington who, a few years back, made the news by declaring that she “identified as black” and altering her appearance in an attempt to solidify this “identity”. The general consensus at the table seemed to be that transracialism was not necessarily a legitimate concept. This was for varying reasons but one of the main ones was that it ignores the culture and hardships endured by a race of people. A constant theme in the talk was identity, and what constitutes a person’s identity and what about it do they have control over. While gender, sexual orientation and other similar aspects are certainly qualities that are ever changing and evolving in us, identifying as and trying to mimic a certain race almost fetishizes and even stereotypes it. But, the world changes quite rapidly so its may be worth keeping an eye on how this too might change.