Remember Rachel Dolezal, who had to resign as president of her local chapter of the NAACP when it turned out that she was white? It seemed a peculiarly American story at the time. But, as so often, the United States turned out to be a trend-setter. Angst about racial self-identification has now crossed the Atlantic.
Last week, it emerged that a British actor and director called Anthony Lennon had won part of a financial grant set aside for “theater directors of color,” despite being, as far as anyone can tell, completely white. Lennon’s parents were part of the post-war wave of Irish immigration to London. His father was from Waterford, his mother from Tralee. He has a dark complexion and curly hair, as some Irish people do, and says he decided some time ago to embrace his identity as “an African born again.” Lennon never sought to deceive anyone: He always admitted that his ancestry was white. He simply wanted to play a different role, being, in fairness, an actor.
