NEW: The People Who Think They Were Born Into the Wrong Race You may have seen Donna Briggs on social media: the platinum blonde “manifestation” influencer in head-to-toe Lilly Pulitzer. On its face, there’s nothing particularly unique about Donna: #LiveinAbundance, the universe provides — all the usual affirmations. Except... something about her felt off. And so, the internet “did its thing,” and people started digging. Someone found old videos: Briggs interviewing Mary J. Blige and Tyler Perry on the radio. Same name, almost the same face... but with one major difference. Briggs was a different race. The influencer wasn’t a white woman in these videos. She was black. Briggs says she just stopped tanning, but the receipts say otherwise — photos spanning years, former colleagues and family confused, a long, and rather successful life. These types of performances have deep roots. “Grey Owl” packed 1930s lecture halls as a Native conservationist (in reality, he was Archibald Belaney, a man from England). Rachel Dolezal still goes by Nkechi Diallo. Like most things on the internet, these are no longer isolated incidents: people who shift race in this way have now formed a community known as “transracialists.” They document each injection, each surgery. They share tips in Discords. Some people make videos promising to “manifest Korean DNA.” They’re not performing race; they’re “finding their true selves.” Briggs is American reinvention perfected for personal branding. Believe hard enough, edit consistently, tell the right story and you become someone new. Reality, after all, is what you can get away with. Fascinating piece from @default_friend about the people who believe race is a “feeling” threaded below 👇