I think this whitening speaks to the tendency of whiteness to consume and absorb cultures when it seems politically expedient to do so. Historically groups such as the Italian and the Irish have become white, after having been initially racialized, and I suspect that in the white panic over the growing political power of racialized people this trend will increase. It’s how white supremacy pretends to be democracy. In my experience, whiteness also has a lot to do with class. Economically privileged individuals with lighter skin are more likely to be claimed as white, or as “practically white” than others.

Of course in a certain strain of North American thought (not mine, thankfully) there are only two races – white and black, and everyone gets slotted into those, regardless of fit. So to them, if George Zimmerman isn’t black, then he has to be white.