Transracial

Back in the beginning of the 20th century, many of the United State's Southern countries adopted some kind or another of the 'one drop' rule, determining that any person with any kind of African ancestry - 'one drop of black blood' - is black. I guess that made sense for those who tried to keep the white race 'pure'. But surprisingly enough, the same rule - although long abolished from the law - is still used as a determining test by those today who try to define what 'black' is, even (and perhaps most prominently) by those who consider themselves to be black.
It's interesting, because 'black' is a completely socially invented classification. I mean, if 'black' would have referred to dissent, as does 'African American', I'd assume that in a non-racist world one would have been referred to as what one is, or at least as what one is more. That is, a person with one African American grate-grandparent and seven European grate-grandparents should be referred to as 'bi-racial', since that person is of 'mixed dissent'. And indeed the term 'bi-racial' does exists, but no one really uses it, nor does society refer to such a person as 'white' either. Bi-racial people are 'black' even when they have more 'white blood' running through their veins. (and watch Wanda sykes's comments on President Obama's race at the 2009 White House Correspondents' Dinner.)
So 'black' isn't really about genes or ancestry. It's really much more about life experience, social background, and self-identification. If taking President Obama as an example once again, he writes in his book, Dreams from My Father, that he adopted the African American identity (meaning, the 'black' identity) only as a young adult, after encountering racism and deepening his knowledge of the story of slavery and emancipation in the United States. Thinking about it, Obama isn't 'black' at all in the regular sense of the word. His mother is 'white' and his father was an African student living in the United States. None of his ancestors were brought to America by slave owners, or lived through decades of discrimination. He is partly of African dissent; and he's American; but he chose to adopt the 'black' identity.
So can anyone adopt a 'black' identity? Of course, this is a question about all kinds of racial identities., and not just the 'black' one. Can someone opt-out of his or her race? The first answer that comes to mind might connect racial identity with the color of your skin. Well, Michael Jackson took care of that, didn't he? Did that make him 'white'? Is it just a matter of a simple operation and, much like transexuals, the question of racial identification can be solved on the slab?
Honestly, I think the answer is no, but only because I don't think it should be left to medicine to determine who and what we are. A few years back, legal and social discourse made the clear distinction between 'sex' and 'gender'. Sex is what reproduction organs you have; gender is who you feel that you are. Maybe the same distinction should be made with regards to 'dissent' and 'race'. My dissent is determined by my parents dissent, and their parents' before them. Nothing can change that. But my race? Completely up to me, to the social story I identify with, and to my choices in life. Personally, this is why I never tick the box next to 'caucasian' when asked for my race. I feel much more like an 'other'.