Nobody denies her being Algerian. But is that a race? This is the thing people bump heads over. If I said someone's not white because they're French, it wouldn't make sense, because one doesn't have anything to do with the other. Being a citizen of France makes you French.
Or stating that someone isn't black because they're Brazilian. Again, they aren't connected. There's white & black Brazilians , and I believe it was noted Brazil has one of the largest black populations next to places like Nigeria.
So even though we call Monet black, we're not saying she's not anything else. Except white lol We consider her a black North African.
The other Iman is African, and she has identified as a black woman.
The topic can become controversial due to everyone being different. Iman doesn't have full features & curly hair, but is still a black woman.
But people referring to her as black aren't denying her African & Somali background. It just wouldn't come up when speaking about her race. When talking about her culture / Ethnicity and nationality, it would be brought up.
So, though the terms are a bit simplified, the races are mainly see. Black, White, Asian, and Mixed / Multi. Then to make matters more simple, there's the one-drop rule where you're whatever race seems more prominent in your make-up. Some mixed people look more black, and may identify & be seen as such. Then some mixed people look white, and same thing. Then there's some who are right in the middle and won't be dropped as they evenly look more mixed, rather than leaning more toward one side.
The girl you mentioned, the other Iman. Looking at her pictures, she looks like a light-skinned black woman. But that's just me. Others may see her differently.
And in some pix, she has looked more dark.
But nobody would be denying her as Arabic-African if they called her black. Unless they didn't think you could be both.
Her wiki states she's identified as a woman of the black race rather than middle-Eastern because her heritage is African, not Asian. She then mentions a model she looked up to was Naomi Campbell, who she saw as a powerful black woman. But she is very clear about her Arabic heritage & culture because she mentions it's not prominent and she wants to be someone who represents Arab-African girls & women -someone for those fellow woman to look up to.
She seems like a
perfect example of a real-life Monet. Arabic, Muslim, and Moroccan (I think M has been said to be this). Sadly, I think the French part is missing. But pretty close if not for that. And nobody denies all those things about M. But what is her RACE? Those of us saying black aren't denying other parts. We just don't think she is a Caucasian woman, or that she should be colored with fair skin. Like Weapon X where people complained she was white, instead of being brown with black hair.
Things get confusing because the word "black" means different things to different people. Asians have been refereed to as black in some cases because all it meant was they had darker skin compared to white people. And some Asians do get pretty dark. But they are still Asian. So usually to make things the least confusing as possible, people do like Iman and classify black as having family and ancestors with roots and origination in Africa. But there's also other cases, like Aboriginal Australians, who would be classified as black.
So we are not trying to ERASE Monet's identity. Some black people identify with her the same way you do. She can be a black North African. And represent both sides like Iman does. We just don't see her as Caucasian. Whether you use black as the race, coloring, or both, Monet ought to be in that category. She had brown skin from day one. She was not fair-skinned and they need to stop coloring her as such. Let her stay a beautiful brown woman.