German-Born White Woman Claims She is Black After Darkening Her Skin

Martina Big before and after her transformationScreengrab from ITV

A 34-year-old white woman who is a glamour model claims she is now a black woman after undergoing multiple procedures and hormone injections to darken her skin. The woman named Martina Big calls herself the Swahili name Malaika Kubwa which means Big Angel, and her husband told reporters now that she is a black woman, she wants to learn more about the culture and the history of her African people.

Martina and her husband, Michael Eurwin, routinely inject themselves with the synthetic hormone Melanotan to keep their dark skin appearance. Still, despite the change, Martina and her husband want to have black children. However, when reporters asked the couple how that would be possible since she and her husband were both born white, Martina simply replied, “ My doctor has told me it is possible as I have changed myself internally."

Naturally, Martina’s claims shocked people, but when asked what she thought about Africans who might be offended by her actions, she doubled down and said,

“I not only look like an African woman, I also feel that I’m now an African woman. I spent time in Kenya last year and I felt so at home. Now I have a lot of invitations from all over Africa.”

I Was Born White, but I Prefer Being Black

While Martina’s actions and claims are shocking, transracialism is rising. People are talking about the issue thanks to Rachel Dolezal, the former NAACP chapter president and a professor of African American Studies at Howard University. Miss Dolezal shocked the world and all those who knew her when it became evident that she was, all along, a white woman who passed herself off as a black woman.

As Martina and Rachel Dolezal struggle to come to terms with their identities, it’s interesting that transracial identity is making headlines when several African countries, including Ghana and Rwanda, ban skin-bleaching products used by African women who want to have a fair skin complexion. The ban comes after it emerged that skin-lightening products contain dangerous and harmful products that can cause serious health problems, including kidney failure. 

Yet, despite the warnings, skin bleaching is very popular in countries like Nigeria, where the world health Organisation reports up to 77% (the highest percentage in the world) of Nigerian women use skin-lightening products.

Nevertheless, as bewildering as Martina’s story is, Martina knows the challenges and the criticisms she faces as a black woman. Most notably, Martina has a problem with Americans who judge her, unlike her new African friends, who understand what she is trying to accomplish. Martina said about her detractors,

“I have seen a few comments saying, ‘you are still white whatever the color of your skin on the surface’ — but they mainly come from places like America.”