A lot of people on my Instagram wanted a thread on Blackfishing. I’ve briefly talked about it in the past but I want to take the time to really explain blackfishing and make a post that will educate instead of just making people (rightfully) upset about it.

So let’s start with the definition of blackfishing. Blackfishing is a term to describe a person, most commonly non-black women, who attempts to make themselves appear black or portray a black person usually by darkening their skin and obtaining black features.

Who can Blackfish? Anyone who is non-black is able to blackfish. Before I continue, Blackfishing is not the same thing and does not have the same meaning as Blackface. Blackface is used specifically to mock black people and is done by exaggerating black features and stereotypes.

What’s the goal behind Blackfishing? The goal is to fit emulate black people by making themselves appear as a black person. Blackfishers seek to imitate or even even excel over black people. They do this to enter a space only occupied by black people (the black community).

A common misconception of Blackfishing is that it is often assumed that people who Blackfish seek to appear racially ambiguous, not black. That is true to a degree. But this assumption does not explain the entire concept of blackfishing.

Blackfishers can’t excel with without occupying a space with actual black people as a standard. They can’t simply imitate black people. That won’t get them anywhere. They have to be “better” than an actual black person to reach their goal. Colorism plays a big role in this.

Blackfishers don’t want to look “black” black. They want to look like they have black in them. They take the “favorable” parts of black people like light eyes and light skin. They realize that looking like a regular black girl like you and me, doesn’t get them what they want.

Lastly, yes, blackfishing is cultural appropriation. A brief definition of cultural appropriation is taking aspects of a culture that doesn’t belong to you and using it as a prop/costume, taking/ receiving praise and credit or profiting off of a culture that you don’t belong to.

This includes a certain look, cultural clothing or hairstyles, or anything that belongs specifically to a particular culture. In most cases, blackfishing falls under all of this examples.

I hope this thread helps y’all!!