Again, I think it depends. It’s a cultural term at the end of the day, not a scientific one. I have a Nicaraguan friend who is of upper class Spanish ancestry. In terms of complexion she is whiter than I am (I’m 100% Northern European ancestry). Yet she insists she is not “white” because to her mind “white”, at least in the English language, implies a European / North American cultural paradigm.
On the other hand my Dominican wife, who’s skin most North Americans would probably describe as “brown” identifies as “basically white” (her term), which as far as I can figure is more related to legacy cultural conceptions of class than race.
Biologically, scientifically, the terms we use to describe “race” are arbitrary… it’s cultural. There is no right or wrong answer. Race is in the eye of the beholder. Genetically various African tribes are more distinct from one another than say Brits and the Chinese are… yet we declare all Africans to belong to the “black” race and distinguish the British and Chinese from one another. Purely cultural. Completely arbitrary. It’s not genetic.
