There is a student in my school who is clearly from Pakistan, but he has family living in Nigeria and he himself got a citizenship to Nigeria just to say he is black for college applications. This is obviously unethical to say the least, and now he’s applying to summer programs that are limited to black students. Is this technically allowed? Many students want to report him but can’t he technically get away with it since he can say his family practices Nigerian culture?
I think you have grounds to report it because it seems very malicious (what he’s doing). Even if he were white and African, he still could not classify himself as white. He would be a white african, not a black african. His Nigerian citizenship does not make him black, it makes him (technically) African. Not all Africans are black. But all Black people are black. If that makes sense.
Have you seen his applications? My guess is that you have not. He is entitled to put whatever nationality he can legally claim in his applications. There is nothing to “report” here.
Karma
Wait, what?
If he had citizenships from 40+ African countries, it wouldn’t make him any more (or less) black. I’m not sure how a Nigerian passport changes that.
Int’l students aren’t reported in a school’s racial breakdown. They’re all lumped together as “nonresident alien” in section B2 of the Common Data Set.
Unless the kid is a citizen or a permanent resident, his race isn’t considered. I’m sure his GCs will note this gaming once time for college applications come in and it won’t go well for him. Perhaps you should alert the GCs? Perhaps they won’t go along with this charade?
What would you tell them?
@marvin100 oops I meant a white African could not classify himself as black. Since not all Africans are black.
BTW, someone “from Pakistan” could still be of African descent. Does the OP really know the racial composition of all of his classmates’ family trees?
The post makes it clear that the person is outright trying to lie, not that he actually has african orgins. Having Nigerian citizenship does not make you black.
I just got American citizenship, doesn’t mean I’m white.
No it doesn’t. It makes it clear that OP thinks the person is lying. Means nothing about the actual truth of the situation.
No, he is bragging about it jokingly. His intents are very clearly to lie. Also, he is a US Citizen, he just has overseas citizenship to back him up if any institution asks. It is sickening.
Don’t apps say what ethnicity do you identify as? So couldn’t you basically say whatever you want?
Why do you care? Let him lie if he wants to. It’s not your problem; it’s his. And it will catch him some day.
You are confusing the original question of claiming a race, black, with a nationality, Nigerian. Claiming he is black is claiming a race he (presumably) is not, although of course we only have the OP’s word on that. Getting the Nigerian citizenship only makes it seem more plausible, again assuming the OP is correct that this is all a scheme. You are correct that he can claim a nationality that is probably not how he was raised, if they have obtained that citizenship. But nationality is not race.
In the end, others that say the OP probably doesn’t know all the facts about the heritage of this person are also most likely correct. Better to just butt out, unless you are 100% sure. In any case @jake071999, it is weird to say that “practicing Nigerian culture” would make someone black if they are not. I don’t even know what that means since there isn’t a single Nigerian culture. But even if I practiced a particular distinct area of Chinese culture, it would never make me Chinese. To go even further, I am white. Suppose I was brought up since birth by a black family, and this family lived in a poor section of the inner city. It still wouldn’t make me black, since my experience just by being white would never be the same as someone who is black.