[pessimizer]

> It's disheartening to see the number of replies expressing dismay at race being an interesting and notable part of this story.

If only. Far worse is the number of replies saying that he isn't black enough. It's so weird when you get racially policed by white people if you don't conform to a media stereotype, or if you're not dark enough.

How about "of sub-Saharan African descent?"

Also, it shouldn't be confusing that the descendants of northern Europeans and Sub-Saharan Africans look Mediterranean. It really makes a lot of obvious sense.

[makomk]

All those comments about whether someone is black are a pretty much inevitable result of turning race - which is something that, when it comes down to it, is basically made-up nonsense anyway - into the most important defining characteristic of someone. Doesn't matter if you're doing it for progressive or discriminatory reasons, either way the whole charade ends up running headlong into the reality that people don't actually fit all that well into those neat little racial categories.