As I said, I feel rather ambivalent about it.

But don't you agree that too often it is society at large that labels people based on their appearance, and not the individual who embraces a certain identity simply based on their contingent appearance?

A friend of mine's father was black and his mother is white.  He said he did not choose to "be black".  But that is how white America chose to view -- and treat -- him.  So he embraced this black identity which in a very big way was forced upon him by society at large.  In other words, if I understood him correctly, it was very hard for him to try to pretend not to be a person "of color".

Truth unfolds in time through a communal process.