Transracial (identity)

Transracial people are individuals who assert a racial identity for themselves which differs from their birth race.
Examples.
A well-known example of a self-identified transracial person is Rachel Dolezal, a woman of white ancestry who identifies as black. She successfully passed as black, to the extent that she took over leadership of the Spokane branch of the NAACP in 2014, a year before her "outing" in 2015.
Korla Pandit, an African-American musician who was born John Roland Redd. He posed as an Indian from New Delhi in both his public and private life.
Martina Big, who was featured on "Maury" in September 2017, is another woman of white ancestry who identifies as black. Big has had tanning injections administered by a physician to darken her skin and hair.
Ja Du, a trans woman who was born white but now considers herself Filipina, created a Facebook page and community for others who self-identify as transracial.
Jessica A. Krug, an associate professor of history and Africana Studies at George Washington University, revealed on September 3, 2020 that she, born to white parents, had been passing as a black woman for her entire professional life.
A black teenage girl named Treasure gained national attention when she appeared on Dr. Phil. She claimed that she was white because body parts such as her hair, nose, and lips resembled a white instead of a black person's.
Theoretical approaches.
In April 2017, the feminist philosophy journal "Hypatia" published an academic paper in support of recognizing transracialism and drawing parallels between transracial and transgender identity. Publication of this paper resulted in considerable controversy. The subject was also explored in "", a 2016 book by UCLA sociology professor Rogers Brubaker, who argues that the phenomenon, though offensive to many, is psychologically real to many people, and has many examples throughout history.
Controversy over the term.
Historically, "transracial" has been used to describe parents who adopt a child of a different race. 
The use of the term to describe changing racial identity has been criticized by members of the transracial adoption community. Kevin H. Vollmers, executive director of an adoption non-profit, said the term is being "appropriated and co-opted" and that this is a "slap in the face" to transracial adoptees. In June 2015, about two dozen transracial adoptees, transracial parents and academics published an open letter in which they condemned the new usage as "erroneous, ahistorical, and dangerous."