Is Lewis hamilton black british

Answer 1

You need to be more specific as to whether you mean Lewis' ethnicity or his appearance. In terms of his appearance - as with all those with afro type hair and brown coloured skin with all its shades are perceived - I would say yes, he's 'black' (he indicated this at the 2011 Monaco Grand Prix during an interview following an unnecessary incident with another driver).

As for his ethnicity, according to the recent 2011 census, I would say based on his parents - his British born father Anthony of Grenadian, Caribbean decent and his mother white Anglo saxon decent - that he is of White and Black Caribbean decent. Since that census form has a section to declare your place of birth he would have indicated that he was born in England, United Kingdom and so that would define him as British.

Regarding Monaco, I could have elaborated on Lewis' experiences suffering from racial taunts in Spain while testing a McLaren F1 car also possibly in lesser formulas. Similarly bullying at school primarily because of his minority appearance (I believe jealousy also was a factor), but I'm sure those are documented elsewhere. Nonetheless, when you take the time to reflect on those matters it seems natural that such negative experiences would encourage a youngster to lean more toward a culture where one feels most accepted and comfortable. If that happens to be collectively 'black and proud' however you maybe superficially perceived, then so be it.