You’ve surely heard about Rachel Dolezal, the former NAACP chapter president in Spokane, WA who was recently outed as a white woman trying to pass as African American. It may have started with this local interview in which Dolezal was asked if her father was white, after revealing that her mother was also white. Dolezal has previously asserted that her father was a black man from the south who suffered discrimination and attempts on his life. Both of Dolezal’s white parents, and her adopted brothers, have spoken to the press about the fact that Dolezal has been trying to pass as black since 2007. Dolezal’s family also brings into question her many other claims, including that she had cervical cancer and has been the victim of hate crimes.
Dolezal has since resigned her post at the NAACP in a statement which did not acknowledge her deception or apologize. We can now piece together more of her origin story, as it’s come out that Dolezal both attended Howard University as a white person and sued the college for discrimination. The Smoking Gun uncovered the lawsuit, which was dismissed with Dolezal ordered to pay costs to Howard U.
Rachel Dolezal, 37, who headed the NAACP’s Spokane, Washington chapter, sued Howard for discrimination in 2002, the year she graduated from the historically black college with a Master of Fine Arts degree.
Dolezal, then known as Rachel Moore, named the university and Professor Alfred Smith as defendants in a lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C.’s Superior Court. During the pendency of the civil case, Smith was chairman of Howard’s Department of Art.
According to a Court of Appeals opinion, Dolezal’s lawsuit “claimed discrimination based on race, pregnancy, family responsibilities and gender.” She alleged that Smith and other school officials improperly blocked her appointment to a teaching assistant post, rejected her application for a post-graduate instructorship, and denied her scholarship aid while she was a student.
The court opinion also noted that Dolezal claimed that the university’s decision to remove some of her artworks from a February 2001 student exhibition was “motivated by a discriminatory purpose to favor African-American students over” her.
As detailed in the court opinion, Dolezal’s lawsuit contended that Howard was “permeated with discriminatory intimidation, ridicule, and insult.”
Judge Zoe Bush dismissed Dolezal’s complaint in February 2004, 18 months after the lawsuit was filed and Dolezal was deposed on several occasions. Bush found no evidence that Dolezal was discriminated on the basis of race or other factors. The D.C. Court of Appeals subsequently affirmed Bush’s decision.
Following the dismissal of Dolezal’s lawsuit (and the Court of Appeals decision), she was ordered to reimburse Howard for a “Bill of Costs” totaling $2728.50. During the case, she was also ordered to pay the university nearly $1000 in connection with an “obstructive and vexatious” court filing that sought to improperly delay her examination by an independent doctor.
Dolezal’s art featured African American subjects, and her thesis at Howard, which she “presented from the perspective of a black man,” involved “a three dimensional piece of a man was being consumed by a fire all the way into the ground,” according to a source who attended school with her. Dolezal was a white woman with blonde hair who was “several shades lighter” at the time. Some of her art was plagiarized, or at least highly derivative without acknowledging the source piece.
This lady is a grifter and a clever con artist. She lied about her past, her family and her experiences. This may be opening up a conversation about race, as so many outlets have claimed, but to me it’s more about the unveiling of a sociopath in blackface. When you look at the facts of this case, you have a person who openly faked their identity. If she identified with the African American community, she could have supported the same causes as a white woman. If she wanted to change her hair to be closer to her adopted sister, she could have done that – as a white woman. The NAACP has said as much in response.
Dolezal did an interview with Matt Lauer on The Today Show this morning (video below) where she said “I identify as black“. She portrayed herself as a victim of the media and touted her work with the NAACP. She claimed that she’s felt black since she was five. She also said that she takes exception to the question of whether she deceived people. She has lied about her father’s racial identity and her experiences in interviews and her responses were slippery. I do think she’s very smart, but the fact remains that she’s made up an entire backstory for herself and lied about the details. She said she hasn’t “put on blackface as a performance.” ORLY?
This story fascinates me. And I think her parents are total jerks.
The parents didn’t initially approach the media, they were interviewed by the FBI after she filed a report (and it’s looking more and more like it was false) alleging she was a recipient of hate mail. That is how it came to light she wasn’t who she claimed to be. Why should they be compelled to lie for her?
Her parents are doing the right thing. This woman has intentionally deceived and benefited from her lies at a considerable cost to others.
There isn’t any “good” she did at NAACP that she could not have accomplished as a white woman.
Gah. She lied about her black father (who is white) being a victim of hate crimes. Pretended her adopted black brother was her son and asked him to lie about it.
The list goes on and on……
The ends DO NOT justify the means.
So now telling the truth equals being a jerk. Integrity has no value, huh.
My fascination with this story- and all commentary associated with it- is insatiable right now.
The world is crayzee.
Her parents must have reached their brink. Also I have been reading that if Caitlyn Jenner was supported she should also be supported, we should recognize transracials.
I think the problem with “transracial” is that it only goes one way. She can easily tan, or apply makeup to become a light skinned black lady. A black lady can’t become white.
@ Dewdrop who said “A Black lady can’t become White” I guess you never heard of skin bleaching. Michael Jackson anybody? And yes I know of a Black woman who bleached her skin. She went from Taraji P. Hanson complexion to as light as Mariah Carey. She worked in this beauty supply store and her skin just kept getting lighter. One of her formal coworkers told me it’s because she’s bleaching her skin. I was like that can’t be healthy for your skin.
On a different note how often do you hear about a White person claiming to be Black?
This would be Caitlyn Jenner if she’d never admit to having been Bruce Jenner, and sought sympathy for the miscarriages she had as well as the sexual discrimination she suffered growing up (despite in reality presenting as Bruce at the time of the alleged events). You may still feel the same way about her or you may not.
I read that as transrascals. Thinking, ‘when did Caitlyn become a rascal?’ You can self-identify as black all you want, no reason to lie about being black. There have been white people at Howard and the NAACP.
I think this comes down to money. She felt she wasn’t getting her due at Howard (teaching JOB and exhibition of her WORK) because of her white skin, so she sued for ($$$). She probably figured she wouldn’t get a job teaching African studies or become the head of her local NAACP because of her white skin, so, learning from her failed attempt at Howard, she pretended to be black. She didn’t pretend to be black prior.
In the interview she hasn’t changed her appearance (still in blackface), which she probably thinks will mean even more money. And she’d be right.
I think the problem with seeing ‘transracial’ as similar to transgender is that at birth, based on how chromosomes came together, we could just as easily have been born the opposite gender, it’s entirely possible, still from the same parents…but we cannot just as easily be born a difference race entirely, from the same parents.
Gender determination is standard in every mix of DNA, genes, chromosomes that get swirled together…everyone has equal chance of being either one. Race is different, we don’t all have equal chance of being a different race.
I agree with Jay… I want to support identifying with a social group, but part of that story is honesty. Part of Caitlyn’s story it her journey. The fact that she sued for discrimination experienced because of identifying as white makes me question her desire to be a leader in the NAACP
As far as I know, there is no such thing as transracial.
She lied about her background, who her father was and asking her brother to pass as her son. I am sorry, but she is either a con or has some personality disorder.
I also think her parents are jerks, who outs their child like that? Why destroy what she built for herself, if she identifies as black then by all means let her! Caitlyn Jenner identified as a women lied to her family all their life before coming clean, what is the difference? As a black women I don’t feel offended in any way that she identifies as black, she’s done more for African Americans than I have, why should she be shamed? Yes she went about it the wrong way but don’t discredit her work she’s done so far, this is NOT the something as blackface, the woman that went as her favorite OITNB character on Halloween would be considered blackface, not Rachel.
I wouldn’t care, except that she built what she had by fraud and deceit. When you lie on a resume and your boss finds out, shouldn’t you be fired if the lie is a big one? Does dishonesty carry no penalty now? Lying is wrong.
As a fellow black woman, I don’t understand how some black people can support her. What she has done is such a big example of white privilege, can you, Darling, consider yourself white at whim? Do you think that would actually work out for you?
This lady believes that being black is as simple as wearing a shake and go wig and using cheap tan, it’s highly insulting to me, she is a pathological liar and there is nothing she has achieved as a tan woman that she couldn’t have achieved as a white woman, her lack of integrity is awful and being black is more than using fake tan and wearing a cheap wig.
THANK YOU DANI: Is no better than black Face, The only thing i can even Liken this to is to Having Munchausen, and It not being enough to be “down” to be an ally, to take people to task and be informed and help the cause under HER OWN ACTUAL MERITS AND FROM THE OTHER SIDE!! No , she goes on to take a spot in an HBCU to Marry a B lack Man But NEEDING to get attention and going on about her terrible childhood experiences as a Lighter child and whoopings, to school people about black hair, to say she’s been victimized for being black and targeted for harassment, to GET PAID GIVING EFFING SPEECHES ABOUT HER EXPERIENCE AS A BLACK WOMAN FFS!!! it’s stunning and completely effed up to me.
NVM The f*cking fact that none of my obviously blacks relatives, friends or Myself Can turn up to the dvm, police etc and start b*llsh!tting around about how we “feel” white, Never mind the fact that we all didn’t have to “confront” the “construct” of race until we lived in a world where Chet Haze, Miley Cyrus, Iggy Azalea and this bozo want to play at black, cause, you know, when actual Black People and Indians and so on back in the days had to pass for whites to save their actual lives, to have a crack at owning businesses and a carefree Life It was simply met with distaste, derision and just called Passing, Now we are just gonna add BS and compassion cause NOW race is flexible, Now that some wackadoodle white people feel like they want a piece
At least she’s been great for Black Twitter memes!
Are you serious? She’s a sociopath, she did not have to pretend to be black to do the work she did. How does that even make sense? Now white people can pretend to be black and lie to stand up for black people? This world is crazy.
She was racist against a Hispanic girl because she wasn’t ‘Hispanic enough’. She MADE UP racist attacks and abuse, she INVENTED a new childhood. How is that relevant to ‘identifying as black’?
Oh and she does use blackface, open your eyes. Her parents aren’t the first people to know she’s full of it as others have long suspected she wasn’t black.
To compare this to transgender issues is also wrong. Gender identity and race are both social constructs but race (unlike gender) is hereditary. It’s a crying shame that people don’t understand the basics of these concepts and continue to spread falsities. There is good research on this so no reason for people to not be educated on these topics.
The point is her skin color was never a barrier to her accomplishments. I am not speaking to white privilege here. Howard University accepts white students. Being of a different race is no barrier for acceptance or rising within the hierarchy of the NAACP.
I find it interesting that she chose to live in a place where the black population is around 2% of the total population and no one knew her. The more I read the more I believe she went to live where she could pass herself off as black. That is where I see her playing into her white privilege. There supposedly have are people there who have been saying she is white for a number of years but I have not, as yet, read anything that supports that.
Thank you Artemis, Dani, and QQ.
Darling raise your standards. Rachel didn’t do anything (seriously check her track record at the NAACP) but repeat stories of a pain she do-opted so she could get attention.
Someone patting us on the head and smiling kindly doesn’t rock my world, let’s see if she’s still black when she’s living in a homeless shelter because the govt. and police force are still trying to find a way to blame her 12 yr old son for being shot.
Eternal… Or when the police stops her, or gets extra rough with her for no reason, or when she has to apply for loans …. feel free to add
This is not a woman who acted badly in a particular situation or made a lapse in judgement and tried to cover it up. This is a person who systematically planned to deceive other people about her race to benefit herself.
She can tan. She can get with the tanning bed every week and enjoy her look. But when she claims to be black….? And, she is clever enough to understand the moral and societal construct she’s exploiting. Look for more lies to come out, I say. She’s been working a con for a long time and she STILL is.
Does she have some underlying mental health issues? Possibly, but she understands that she’s been lying, doesn’t she?
BTW, you don’t see any white people owning her and her scam do you? We’re all appalled and WTF? appalled?
Bravo, QQ! This is a truly sickening, disturbing display of white privilege/entitlement.
What she built for herself?!? Seriously! What she built was a lie. She is a fraud, plain and simple. For the love of God people, this broad has told so many lies, she started believing them. I pity her!
@The Eternal Side-Eye
Is “do-opting” akin to “doo-woping”? I really like that. Like, it adds an extra level of racial specificity in the cultural appropriation. (I get it was a typo, but it’s a well-placed one!) C’mon, I’m kidding! Lighten up, people! (Rachel, you especially.)
Artemis, Dani, QQ et al. Thank you, thank you, thank you! My right eye starts to twitch whenever someone uses the transracial bs excuse for this woman’s disturbing behaviour.
Damn, QQ, you wrote it better than anyone else I’ve seen about this whole mess. Preach!
@Pinky
LMAO.
“Rachel lighten up”
Yes Rachel, PLEASE DO.
I agree with @darling. She has not hurt blacks in any way. She actually helped us.
BlackFace is a parody of the slave and servant era. I do not agree with the correlation.
The issue of Rachel Dolezal,to me, should be why a white privileged woman would want to become an underprivileged black woman. Honestly, there are few perks. As a light skinned black woman, I know she wasn’t instantly accepted by Blacks either.
So, the idea that she tricked “us” makes me uncomfortable. Has the NAACP said anything?
QQ, the Munchausen comparison is spot-on. Instead of getting high off the attention from being sick, she gets high off the attention from being a victim of discrimination (case in point, her lawsuit against Howard). She is ill and she needs help, but she does not deserve any credit for her “work” for the NAACP–that was merely the best platform for her illness. Like a woman who makes a false accusation of rape, her “work” will only make it harder for real victims to be heard and believed in the future.
@Fatrock @Dani2 – and she’s not only a liar, she’s a plagiarist! One of her so-called “original artworks” is a virtual paint-by-numbers almost identical copy of The Slave Ship by J.M.W. Turner.
(and in case anyone is wondering, yes, this is THAT Turner. The guy who painted the Fighting Temeraire and who’s considered one of Britain’s most iconic painters. She must think people are REALLY stupid!)
So much for “what she built for herself”, bs.
She shows NO remorse for her deceit. That seems pathological. And make no mistake, she didn’t do this because of some need to right the wrongs done to black people. Hell, she could have done that as a white woman. What’s going on with her is almost sociopathic. Where the ends do justify the means. Where no one else matters except for her and what she wants.
Matter of fact, being a white woman on the front lines probably would have carried more weight, seeing as how the media and country treat white women in general, juxtaposed with how they treat black women. I’m sure they would have stopped what they were doing to hear what this white woman had to say about black issues. Sad but true. Even now, they’re stopping and listening to whatever crap is coming out of her mouth.
Because they’ve probably put up with a lot of crap from her over the years and they are tired of it. Why should they help her perpetuate her lies?
Denisemich: she didn’t want to be an under-privileged black woman. She wanted to be a big fish in a little pond. She wasn’t comfortable being an ally and minority in her favoured culture. She deceived so she could be a leader of black people, allies don’t get the attention she craves.
Thanks for all the sane comments in this thread.
I agree totally. When I first started reading about this I didn’t think she was as pervasively false as she’s turned out to be. I do think she’s got some mental issues, but that in no way excuses what she’s done.
@j.mo, I don’t agree. In college I saw a lot of this. White girls from small towns that wanted to be black and some settled for aspiring to be Puerto Rican. I think they thought it was the in between.
Has the NAACP issued a statement saying they didn’t know she was white?
I can’t find it.
The President of my university was a black man who lived as a white man for much of his life – just google Gregory H. Williams to see what I’m talking about. It can go both ways
You know why Fauxahontas is getting so much sympathy?
Because she’s white.
Simple.
“Fauxahontas”
*dead*
Dani, Artemis, and QQ, THANK you for expressing it so rationally and with so much feeling. This woman is making me crazy with her “trans-racial” claim, but I could never have explained my frustration so well, or summed up the situation with such clarity. This woman portrays herself as a Black victim of white racists, and not so long ago she claimed to be a WHITE victim of black racists. What she is doing seems to me like a racial version of “Get yourself an outfit and you’ll be a cowboy too,” and I find it the most egregious betrayal of the black community that she claims to be a part of. Hair? Skin? C’mon, that doesn’t even approach the truth of Black experience in America! I have a mixed-race family, and that doesn’t give me the right to identify myself as black.
@darling: honesty and integrity are great values to have. I don’t think they are jerks.
@Dani: well said!
Whoever said the closest thing they can compare this to is Munchausen’s is right. this woman isn’t a grifter, she is mentally ill. very mentally ill. she was sending herself hate mail and invented a childhood for herself and is the starring role in her own fictitious drama. thank god she has no children or she would be the type to poison them so she could get attention. the family is totally messed up. her brother is charged with child molestation.
edit to my previous comment because it turns out she DOES have a kid and her husband divorced him because she was ‘poisoning’ her child against him. thank god it was only figuratively because it was only a matter of time before that became literal.
how the F did she get this far being this sick? everyone had their PC blinders on with this one because someone shoulda called her out a LONG TIME AGO for being a total nutter.
She has one child. Not sure where my thoughts are regarding any mental illness. I say this because there is too much existing evidence such as the lawsuit where she claims discrimination BASED on her being white.
A criminal fleeing justice from the law will set up a back story to support a new life and evade detection. No one claims they suffer from mental illness. That is I think a more appropriate comparison. Rachel already possessed an affinity for black culture, received her MA from an historically black institution, she has four black siblings, married a black man with whom she had her child. Two of her brothers have claimed she begged them not to blow her cover. All she did was perm her hair and change her skin color which are not difficult to.
Looks as if we were typing at the same time. Lol. I remember vaguely reading about the police reports regarding the noose and other incidents at the time. In light of recent developments I wonder…if people were already voicing their doubts in her claims of being a black woman did she do those things to deflect those doubts?
But she DOES have kids: two black sons (I don’t know if they’re bio or adopted); they were shown in studio during the Today Show interview this morning. She had also persuaded a Black man to say he was her father.
That child is actually her adopted brother. Her parents adopted several african american children when she was in her teens. She got one of the brothers to go with her when she cut off all ties with her folks. Her brother is now identified as her “son.” This fact has been relayed in the press. This is super weird and yes I think she’s either mentally ill or a liar.
I’m beyond late to this party, so no one will even read this, but I absolutely agree with you. This woman is severely mentally ill. It appears as if she’s completely dissociated herself from herself. Does that make sense? It looks like her center has cracked.
I don’t think her parents are jerks. Her recent behavior is very concerning. Rachel has made claims she has been the target of hate crimes which resulted in an FBI investigation. Rachel also made statements that her brother was abused by her parents. Her mother is concerned for her mental health.
How are her parents jerks? By telling the truth and exposing a liar who was suing people for false reasons? Giving false statements about harassment that didn’t happen? They’re jerks for stepping up and saying, “She shouldn’t be saying these things and she isn’t who she says she is.” They are standing up and doing the right thing: telling the truth.
It fascinates me too, but because if men and women can change their genders, the most basic, innate feature of a human being, then how can anyone be denied their wish to change race? Gender fluid and trans is just fine but whoa hey now, you’d better stick to the skin you were born with? Um, pretty hypocritical to accept Caitlin Jenner and Laverne Cox and anyone else who’d be better suited to another state of being, but when a person identifies as black instead of white, we can judge and deny their wishes?
I realize this lady may be full of it, but if equality is for everyone without shame or judgement, then you can’t say one person is allowed and one isn’t. It’s absolutely discrimination.
…..please stop making these false and empty arguments. There is a biological basis for transgender people ending up feeling like they were born the wrong gender – it has to do with the fetus’ physical features being formed rather early in pregnancy, while the brain – the thing that’s hardwired to have you thinking male or female- develops in the final trimester, and whether you identify as male or female or whichever, depends on the hormones in action at the time.
The point I’m trying to make is, trans people don’t just choose to change genders the way you swap out shoes. For them, coming out and living is their true gender is a way to stop pretending, while for this lying plagiarist sociopath, presenting as black was only the start of her pretenses.
oneshot, yes, thank you. I can’t believe people are trying to compare this woman’s experience to the transgender experience. Apples and oranges, completely.
Thanks, oneshot. Perfectly said.
Oneshot’s point is well made, but in addition to that, another poster has commented that Caitlyn Jenner didn’t tell everyone how traumatic her miscarriages were, or how she suffered sexual discrimination as a young woman. She never laid claim to women’s experiences she hadn’t had. She was honest about herself and her life.
It isn’t Dolezal identifying as black that’s the issue, even with the practical and ethical problems that raises. It’s that she seems to have identified with whatever best served her financial and social interests. No more and no less.
While I think this woman has some deep mental issues and comes across as deeply narcissistic (or just a very good con woman) the biological determination theory of transgenderism is not widely accepted and is way over simplified in most of these discussions. Yes all of us start out as “female” an embryonic abnormality with the change to male *may* account for M-F transgender people but does not make any sense in regard to F-M. Some F-M people are intersex but most are not and it is not required to transition. No-one needs to have any biological testing to transition.
I think it’s dangerous to insist on a biological determination argument to support transgender existence.
My 2 cents is that this woman is a narcissist who could not fathom that she wasn’t lauded and rewarded to the level she thought she should be, therefore it *must* have been because of discrimination based on her race so in order to get what she perceived was due to her she created an entirely false reality. At some point it’s quite possible that false reality became real to her.
Yea…..what kind of terrible people would tell the truth! Her parents are the bad ones here! Not the person who’s been lying and making up stories got the last ten plus years!
I have to thank you all. I thought her parents were schmucks for outing her. Didn’t know they were responding to an FBI inquiry into an accusation by her of racism. In fact, I actually thought people were being a bit hard on her until I read all your comments. Frankly, I have to agree with those who suggest she’s a sociopath.
+1000000
I can’t wait for the book and movie!
I think the parents are fine – the daughter put this entire circus into play and either expected her family to lie on her behalf or didn’t give a damn about them or what they would say.
I am so surprised by the # of people that are supporting her. To me there are 2 issues: (1) she identifies as black and (2) she deceives people about her upbringing and life experiences as a black woman. Issue 1 – if that is how she identifies herself ok, I guess. IMO nothing to get too upset over (yet). Issue 2 – completely different ballgame. She has lied about her experiences, about her father being a black man, about discrimination, etc. Her lies go completely to her credibility so as much as I’d like to say issue 1 is no big deal issue 2 is a very big deal.
Completely agree that her deliberate deceptions and assumption of experiences that never ever happened to her is a big red flag problem but theres something not quite kosher with the parents. That she got formal custody of one of her brothers is not usual. Many people live with their older siblings but few have their legal guardianship changed. There is, sadly, more to this story to come.
She’s the lying sack of shit and you have problems with her parents?
Her family is super messed up. Her brother is facing charges for the molestation of a very young black child. The parents were some type of religious fundies who home-schooled. I think that there are likely complicated emotional issues. My statement isn’t a defense of her actions. I just think that there’s more than meets the eye.
I agree there is a lot more to this story
There may be more to the story but, frankly, I don’t care to know another thing about her. This is not a defense since, initially, what she did really pissed me off. But, now I realize she needs serious mental health care. Still, the media is going to play this story for all it’s worth just like they’ve done other 15 minutes of fame private citizens like the Tanning Mom, who was also mentally disturbed. With her, it was too much of a side-show for the media to let go and too much fun for the public to make fun of her. With Dolezal, there’s a crime element to sensationalize, but there’s no logic or sane rationale for what she’s done. She needs help, not my hit on another click bait article.
Really? I hadn’t heard that. Gross.
I didn’t know that background info but I could have guessed as much. We were talking about this in my book club the other night and “complicated emotional issues” was the only explanation we kept coming back to.
I heard an interview yesterday with a prof on NPR who made a really interesting point about Rachel’s white privilege enabling her to get away with passing as black so easily, and how a light-skinned black person would have a much, much harder time trying to pass as white.
This story reminds me a lot of the woman who became the high profile face of and advocate for 9/11 WTC survivors in NYC. Turns out she wasn’t even in the US on 9/11.
This woman is a con artist who was exposed. If she identifies as Black, then she wouldn’t have sued her college for discrimination (cough) because she’s white. I agree- it’s exactly like that lady who pretended to be a 9/11 survivor. They’re sociopathic con artists who try to argue their way out of reality catching up.
YES! The Woman who wasn’t there – saw that on netflix. I have been thinking the same thing all along.
Sometimes personality disorders are made from early childhood experience +/- genetics. What I said was not an excuse, but grasping at comprehension of this cluster-F.
Do you have links to the info re: her (real) background?
“Complicated emotional issues” is a good way to put it. NOT to excuse or justify it all. I think what she did was sick and disgusting. Exploiting the issues of another race to get attention is just beyond my comprehension. But yeah, I think she’s more than just a big fat liar, though she is obviously that. She has…complicated emotional issues.
Kitten, there was a bunch of articles on Google News.
All I heard of her family was from their statements saying they were all estranged from her.
Yes! There is a lot more beneath the surface here… and I’m actually confused that some people prefer to dismiss or categorize her as a mere grifter or opportunist or scam artist.
Amongst other things, this is a character in her own novel, fashioning herself (and her fictional relatives joined with actual others with whom she identifies) as the hero identifying as victim. It is far more of an Escher black & white than it is merely an issue that is black or white.
I believe I read that one of the brothers is also estranged from the parents and has been living with her since he was 17 or 18. That’s a very troubled family.
That brother now identifies himself as her “son.”
He doesn’t just live with her and identify as her son. He IS her son, she was granted full parental custody of him. Her parents are sus as far as I’m concerned.
As I said up thread Ai think she’s a narcissist who has begun to believe the lies she created out of a disbelief that the rewards/kudos she thought due to her stemmed from anti-white discrimination. But if her parents are fundie freaks (you don’t lose custody just because your son prefers to live with big sis) and there was some childhood trauma it *could* be a more static form of D.I.D.
Her parents *claim* to be concerned for her mental health but talking to journalists isn’t the way to deal with it. The FBI investigation isn’t how it got into the media. Her parents were not required to talk to journalists. If you’re concerned about your adult childs mental health there are private ways to deal with that.
That’s the reason why I’m giving Ms. Dolezal a pass – her parents are awful. She does not want anything to do with her parents so she must’ve created a different persona wherein she is not white. You know, like Michael Jackson erasing his likeness to Joe by bleaching his skin white, having plastic surgeries and all and having white kids.
Also,she’s not slumming like Chet Hanks or Iggy Azalea. Hey, remember the time when everyone were slating Iggy for not giving shiz about Ferguson?. Here we have someone who was sympathetic to black people’s causes ( while doing so in blackface). It’s not right to excuse a lie but I’m willing to listen to why she did this.
She wasn’t sympathetic to black causes, she co-opted black causes to gain sympathy and attention. There’s a difference. Sympathy comes from a place where you wish to help, not a place where you came multiple racial attacks AGAINST YOURSELF.
Not a place where you make other marginalized students feel like less because their skin tone doesn’t fit your perception (the irony).
She used us and many other people.
Michael Jackson had Vitiligo. It was proven during his autopsy. So sick of people claiming he wanted to be white and did that to himself. Vitiligo is a horrible skin disorder. In fact…there is a black model that has been in the news recently for embracing it! Please stop this “But..but..MJ made himself white”… He didn’t. It only takes a few minutes to learn the truth.
How do you know they are awful? Seriously how much of the information against them is coming from an independent source? From what I read most of it is coming from her and no offense but she’s not the most honest source.
Vampi is correct. MJ did have vitiligo. While doing some research for my work, long ago I ran into a forum for people with the disease and they were discussing how they could see the signs long ago in pictures of him as a very young man (patches of skin that had lost their natural pigment). They and other sources said that as the disease progresses, it can get to the point where bleaching the few areas left of naturally colored skin is far easier than using makeup on the depigmented areas, and that was obviously what MJ was doing. MJ was also dealing with serious pain issues in the aftermath of the burning incident while he was filming a commercial, and pain can also be an element of vitiligo. This all led to sleep problems, leaving him exhausted. It is sad that he didn’t use his money to engage a team of real specialists in pain management and sleep disorders rather than just employing incompetents willing to prescribe whatever he had stumbled upon himself to relieve the pain and let him sleep. I don’t think MJ was crazy or trying to be white. He was dealing with difficult medical issues that suck the joy out of life, and it is remarkable that he was able to overcome them to the degree he did. As a performer, the effects on his appearance were an extra burden.
Vitiligo does not cause your nose to become more stereotypically Caucasian. MJ absolutely made conscious efforts to change his appearance. Most probably because he hated looking like the parent that tormented him.
Maybe there’s some element of that working here. Again before anyone screams at me, I think the most likely cause is deep narcissism and if there’s no genuine mental health/trauma background then what Dolezal did is 50 shades of f’d up.
I am fascinated by the psychology behind all of this. Suspected her family had been fundie looking at her childhood photos. Having grown up in a religious fundie family myself, I honestly couldn’t wait to get out of that culture (this is how I view it looking back, didn’t realize that 12 years ago), so I married a European and moved abroad. I haven’t gone to such extremes to fit in here, but believe it has been easier for me than many mostly because I didn’t feel the parental attachment that I think so many others would feel. Am certain her family’s beliefs in childhood had a real part to play in this. I do empathize with her, as for her to go so far, something was really amiss.
Am I hallucinating from being up all night with a sick toddler or was this situation sort of the plot for a movie back in the 80s with C. Thomas Howell? Where he put on blackface to get into college? Anybody remember?
This woman is (was) using whatever race was convenient for advancement/profit at the time. That’s not how it works.
Soul Man.
I bet Mindy Kaling’s brother is feeling outplayed right about now. Poor racist psychopaths.
YES! Soul Man. And I forgot about Mindy’s brother.
I wonder what the university she teaches at will do? Why couldn’t she just have said all along “biologically I’m white but I really identify with my black family members and the black community and feel enormous sympathy for their struggles and want to help however possible and bring attention to these issues.” The long-term deception is where it crosses the line into something unhealthy or unethical or both.
SDM how is your baby? i feel for you. i have 2 under 6.
Thanks @BabyB! He’s not much better. Virus we have to ride out and the only thing that makes him feel better is wrapping himself around me like an alien facehugger which makes it hard to get anything done. Luckily for me I can post on CB one handed.
Yep, she has a personality disorder. The classic signs are the pathological lying, false victim identity and that people (including black people) feel sorry for her. And this is exactly why people with PDs proliferate and destroy lives.
She may seem harmless/deluded, but there will be a whole nest of other issues that will come out of this story which will eventually send her supporters for the hills.
There are several different types of PD, those are not the classic signs of all of them.
You said what I meant.
I’m guessing that it is one of the brothers in her custody. She identifies as a victim and if she too were molested, then this was her way of translating it. I too am not excusing her behavior or supporting this transracial nonsense. I think she is mentally ill.
This is why there’s such a stigma to mental illness; mentally ill people do some really crazy crap sometimes. This lady is sick. She needs help. Digging up more evidence that she’s sick is just a pile on at this point.
It’s just crazy. You literally could not make this stuff up at this point.
@Tessa, I agree. My first thought was “why isn’t she being evaluated for a personality disorder?!”
Yes I mean, I’m a black woman (not american, just african), and I am not really offended, as the first thing I thought was that she is mentally ill, at some level. I don’t think anyone fabricates such a different story out of nowhere, she clearly believes she is black and is in denial. She eliminated her roots. That cannot be normal. I mean only if we find out she went as a white person to do other stuff, to enjoy her “white privilege” but it doesn’t seem like she did!
I also thought her parents are a bit … shady. I don’t know, I have a strange feeling about this and I can’t seem to hate her.
I feel sorry for her. What she did was wrong but I don’t know if se meant any harm. Didn’t she accomplish a lot of great stuff, while holding her position at NAACP? (honest question – I really don’t know)…
I agree with you. I’m black(West-Indian/Canadian) and I thought, this woman and her family have some very serious emotional stuff going on. And yes, according to most reports she did a good job in her position at the NAACP. However, since you don’t have to be black to attend Howard University or work for the NAACP there was no necessity to obliterate her past. There’s something much deeper going on here.
I am not buying into the whole “I identify as black” from a white woman with 2 white parents and I refuse to participate in it. I think its a dangerous thing to start embracing and could potentially do harm to people who actually are discriminated against because of their race. This woman clearly has a personality/mental disorder.
I disagree that she clearly believes she is black. She is fully cognizant of the fact that she is white. There are photos that show her with her current hair style in which both her skin and hair are significantly lighter. Her wedding photo shows exactly what she looked like prior to that.
There is also the lawsuit she brought against Howard University based on discrimination against her being denied teaching positions and such BECAUSE she was white.
I also saw a piece where a TV reporter asked her if she were African American and she very cagily said she preferred to be referred to as black. When asked point blank her response was something along the lines of its not that simple and then she fled (and by fled I do mean RAN) off camera.
Additionally, there exists a YouTube video (I have not yet viewed but intend to) supposedly of a class she taught from earlier this year (possibly) about black woman and black hair care. She supposedly references her own experiences as a black woman.
She knows EXACTLY what she is doing.
I also believe there are deep issues within her own family. One report I read claimed the molestation charges regarding her brother involve her younger sister and that Rachel is supporting the sister and that is part of the reason the parents are speaking out.
I agree, she needs help. But her unrepentant attitude is a real turn off for most people. She seems very much like a sociopath with her blatant disregard for other people’s feeling and emotions of a still very sensitive situation. She’s a difficult woman to feel sympathy for.
A true sociopath can’t just decide to not be a sociopath, so perhaps you should feel sorry for her. Unless you cant feel empathy and are a sociopath yourself?
@Sarah Are you serious with your nonsense? Have you ever had a sociopath in your life/immediate family? Come back to me with your righteous insistence that one feel “empathy” for those who not only self destruct but are hellbent on taking everyone else they know out with them. Hitler was most likely a psycho/sociopath. Poor guy.
Pinky, Viv is entirely right. People do not choose to be sociopaths anymore than they choose to have psychotic episodes or schizophrenia.
And if it really does stem from mental illness, she won’t be “repentant” because it’s unlikely she considers what she did wrong. It makes total sense to her and it’s we who can’t understand.
Like a lot of mental illnesses, it doesn’t make any sense to outsiders and the most common reactions are “why the hell are you doing this?!” and “can’t you just, you know, stop?”
I am agog at a white person passing as black in the NAACP. Nevermind everything else. I’m fascinated by how she changed her hair and skin tone. Especially skin tone. Except for one picture where she looks like she has tanorexia, she really managed to achieve a skin tone that passes for mixed race. I didn’t think that was possible.
Meh.
ETA: they accepted her. Maybe her lawsuit wasn’t easily accessed through a background search. Even very very white looking people can be black. She seemed to separate herself from her family, and what employer interviews family, other than the feds, like the FBI, CIA and DEA? Barring that, it would suck if they started doing DNA tests.
i’m not talking about background checks etc.
I’m talking about her physical transformation.
I do understand that America still operates in a way that a person who to all intents and purposes is white can claim to be black, BUT in this case, she used a physical process to change her skin tone several shades darker such that she looked visibly mixed race.
I understand the hair process because that’s a pretty open process that all races participate in, but skin tone is really, really hard to get right.
So I keep wondering if she used pills or special tanning process.
Further, My comment about the NAACP was about the fact that she passed for black in an organisation that is an expert on all things black, and apparently no one noticed. That is an amazing transformation.
Did she get a perm too?
Yes I think Jezebel said that in their post about her hair.
WOW. That is some serious commitment. Thanks for that link, CB.
I dont think NAACP cared that she was black or not. they hire white people. their statement said they care more about a person’s advocacy efforts rather than their skin color, and i think it’s a pretty progressive statement for the organization. What they did miss was this lady’s clear mental illness and the fact that her racial identification was a product of a mental illness rather than some other psychology.
I’m not sure what is the perfect shade to pass as mixed race and how she does or doesn’t fit the bill? People of mixed race can have skin that’s any shade. A friend of mine has a dark skinned African dad and a very fair skinned/haired Caucasian mother. She has wavy blonde hair and blue eyes and fair skin while her brother has dark skin, brown eyes and brown curly hair.
Exactly skin shades in the black community just like in white and Asian come in all shades. Mariah Carey and Halle Berry both have white mothers and black fathers but they have opposite skin tones.
Esmon: I tend to think that people who can pass for a different race are born that way rather than this lady who manufactured her new racial identity.
Hair can be easily changed, eye colour can be explained away, but skin tone is more problematic.
She looks like a white lady with a tan to me. Her skin has that red, freckly, leathery, just horrid complexion that white girls who spend too much time in the sun get… like Lindsay Lohan.
I don’t know how anyone bought her as black. Honestly I don’t.
Because she said she was and had a plausible back story. People don’t generally lie about these things at that level if deception, so people believed her.
I suggest you question somebody’s stated race and see how that goes for you. Even if some people privately wondered about it, nobody is going to say it out loud. It gets you sued, it gets you a written warning from HR, and it gets you marginalized in whatever organization you belong to. (And it should, most of the time.)
You know what Tessa, i keep hearing Mixed people in jezebel and FB telling me over and Over at one glance they knew she was passing cause she didn’t look mixed to them, that’s sorta Fascinating they said the same thing like about her skin
@QQ
Girl, look at her skin. Mixed race people’s skin doesn’t look blotchy even if it is lighter. She looks like a lady on day 5 of her self-tanner. Like you can see the skin tone beneath the brown and the brown isn’t totally even.
I’m with you, Tessa. There isn’t a physical feature on her that “passes” for black or mixed race. Sorry, folks, but people of mixed race do share certain physical features. Let’s, say, compare her to Rashida Jones, who could pass as white on any given day, but to those of us in the know, is clearly of mixed race. Even with the straightest of straight hair (like Mariah Carey goes for), women of mixed race share certain charactersitics and physical features. Don’t get angry about it. Race is solely a physical descriptor (as it’s not based in anything scientific). That chick ain’t mixed. Just mixed up.
@QQ
Yep. And I think she wouldn’t have gotten caught if she had kept herself the way she was (skin tone wise)…….I’m mixed and I have really pale skin and had freckles when I was younger. The only thing that keeps people from thinking I’m white is my hair……..
I have to completely disagree with people here. That chick does not “look” black or mixed race in any way. She just looks tan with kinky hair. And her hair isn’t even completely right for a mixed-race person. She’s a fail. And that’s why she’s been on people’s radar For. Ever.
I know it probably sounds arrogant to say, “She doesn’t look black” after the fact but honestly as someone who’s never seen this woman before this story broke…she doesn’t look black or mixed race.
Now I 100% understand why she was accepted as black. 1. She lives somewhere where the AA population is at 2%, they barely know what a real black/mixed race person looks like on a good day. 2. No one is going to question her eyes or skin tone since there are many black people who do have blue/green eyes and etc. 3. She WANTED to be black, this wasn’t a “Oops checked the wrong box while filing out the application”. Enough of her phoniness looked authentic that people weren’t going to check her scalp and rub her skin.
Now that being said…that’s a white woman in a wig with badly applied tanner.
I don’t think anyone is saying she was convincing, but in general you don’t accuse people of lying about their race. She “got away” with it because of societal norms and workplace taboos. Which isn’t such a terrible thing. People in 2015 don’t try to “pass.” So no one was looking for that.
@bettyrose and The Eternal Side-Eye
“People in 2015 don’t try to ‘pass.’ So no one was looking for that.”
Fair enough.
Crazies gon cray…
Lmao!!
I am certainly not an expert and am not making excuses, but is it me or does it sound like some kind of personality disorder, an extreme version of delusion, where she got so caught up in her lies that she actually started believing them to be true, or got buried so much under her lies that rather than come clean ( until she got caught ), she just kept adding layers of lies to the original story or that Her childhood was that traumatic that she created a different personality with absolutely no connection to it, kinda like a split personality…the exact opposite of her reality?
I am there with you. I am also wondering the same thing. Someone completely sane CANNOT come up with all of this? and she didn’t even change her name… I am so confused.
She knows she’s white. The lawsuit was based on her allegations of discrimination BECAUSE she is white. If you look at her wedding photo the black people in it are not related to her by biology. The children are her adopted brothers and sister. The only person in her family who is biracial is the child she had with her husband. She’s not confused about her whiteness.
Cran, before their first episode people with D.I.D *know* who they are too. Not saying that is what this is but just that the fact she once knew she was white (or perhaps knew everyone else thought she was) doesn’t *neccesarily* explain it away.
Yeah, there has to be some sort of mental disorder at work here too.
“This may be opening up a conversation about race, as so many outlets have claimed, but to me it’s more about the unveiling of a sociopath in blackface.”
This. Is this considered “blackface” or just too much fake tanner and bottle hair dye?
I agree with others here that she likely has mental issues.
Since the goal was to achieve the imitation of being a black person with our ‘signifiers’ it’s blackface.
Yeah that makes sense. After looking at CB’s link above about how far she went with her hair, I can definitely see how this qualifies as “black face”.
You know, when people go for the mental issues diagnosis based on someone’s wacky behavior, I usually tend to agree because WHO would do this? Something surely must be seriously wrong with them. But sometimes people are just a**holes. It’s hard to tell.
It’s the length she went to to pass as black combined with her lack of remorse that makes me think it could be some form of a mental disorder.
That’s not a pass in any way shape of form. I’m just trying to understand why she would do this…
Oh it’s absolutely possible that she has issues. I just feel like sometimes we go there too quickly because there are actually people out there who are just humongous a**holes. I don’t know much about this woman or why anyone would do this. Personal gain? Psychological problems? Who the hell knows.
“I just feel like sometimes we go there too quickly because there are actually people out there who are just humongous a**holes.”
I could not agree more with you.
And the thing is, I don’t know enough about mental illnesses/disorders to diagnose her, you know? Maybe she’s just a crazy narcissistic, attention-seeking woman.
Bu it’s the level of self-delusion that makes me think it’s a mental disorder. She just seems divorced from reality.
Delusions persist in mentally ill people even if they are confronted about it (unless they adhere to their medication regimen). If she had a fixed delusion that she was black, she’d still insist that she was so even if people were to question it.
In my opinion after working in mental health for several years, she’s a narcissist, just a con artist, not a person with delusions or psychosis.
YES, narcissistic con artist, maybe sociopath. She did what she did to advance her career! Not “delusions of blackness” – she knows her parents are white and she is white, hence the concerted effort to change her appearance and running away from the tough questions. True psychosis = they cannot tell what is reality and what is delusion.
Well I never said anything about psychosis. I said I thought she might have some sort of mental disorder. Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Munchausen’s, Schizophrenia, Manic episodes, Social Anxiety Disorder, etc are all mental disorders.
My unqualified opinion is histrionic personality disorder. She didn’t want to be an ally because allies don’t get the attention she did as a leader of black people.
Yeah my (also unqualified) opinion is that HPD would be a pretty good fit, actually.
@Kitten: speaking of qualifications, what line of work are you in?
Just for the record, psychosis doesn’t necessarily mean anything really dramatic, dangerous or the like. One could be quietly, pleasantly psychotic and just seem a little kooky.
Histrionic personality disorder is not something I’ve ever seen a patient diagnosed with, I think the dx is considered somewhat archaic and has connotations of being sort of anti-women. Taking my best guess at what one of the MDs at work would say about Rachel – not necessarily a total diagnosis – I think she’d be described as having narcissistic traits and possibly anti-social personality disorder. She’s a criminal con artist who likes attention and has an excuse for everything, basically. And seems to think she’s smarter than everyone else, to boot.
When I watch her on TV, I don’t believe she actually believes her lies, I think she’s just quick with excuses to attempt to explain herself.
Yeah, narcissist is a good descriptor. Haha, littlemissnaughty, I have a friend of a friend who’s an interesting head-shrinker, he classifies mental illness much more simply than the DSM-V or whatever the hell version is out there now: “there are crazy people, nervous people, and assh*&^s. “
@Kitten – I know you didn’t suggest she’s psychotic. I generally view things from a legal defense perspective. Not that she’s committed a crime, but the standard is usually whether the defendant can tell the difference between right and wrong. If you’re truly in a psychosis you can’t tell what is real and false and it can be a defense. She knew exactly what she was doing.
Is transracial even a thing? I could see it for people maybe who are adopted by parents of a different race and raised as a part of that culture. I could even see her saying she identifies with black people since she has black siblings, children, former husband and has studied extensively. But that’s totally different from claiming to be black, which she is not.
JC126 (why can’t we reply to all posts on this board?!?)
That statement is simply not correct.
Delusions caused by mental illness do not always persist, even if not treated. I’ve worked in forensic mental health (and PDs which are not actually mental illnesses) for nearly a decade and the amount of false information about the field is quite stunning. Can I ask what you do in MH because I’m really confused as to how you can work in the field for years and believe that?
Neonscream, I work as a nurse in acute psychiatric stabilization. Sorry if I worded my response hastily, I favor short answers here – I didn’t mean delusions persist indefinitely or forever, I meant if she had a fixed delusion that she was black that it wasn’t like if Matt Lauer called her on it, she’d back off and admit she was wrong. And of course personality disorders are on Axis II and are not mental illnesses.
Seeing what her lawsuit was about explains a little bit more why she did what she did. Was it right? No and I’m not excusing her for what she did but can see why she did what she did.
Really? She feels discriminated against because she’s white and decides to impersonate a black woman because of said discrimination? I’m sorry, that’s a HUGE leap.
How does it explain what she did?
She claimed to be a victim of racism when she “identified” as white and did it even more so when she “identified” as black.
Didn’t say it totally explained what she did, but maybe I should explain what I meant. I am thinking (and I could be wrong) that because she felt discriminated against at Howard because she was white (and again, I’m not saying she was discriminated against), she figured she could do more as a black woman in working with the NAACP than as a white woman. I’m not saying what she did was right nor did I say it was totally the reason she did what she did, but it could have been a part of the reason she did it. And it may be a huge leap, but if she is mentally disturbed (as some are saying) then it isn’t a huge leap. I’m also not defending her in anyway because I think it was totally wrong to lie and deceive as she did.
She was living as Black for years before working for the NAACP.She was elected president in January 2015.She started living as Black in 2008.
She still could have been working with the NAACP from 2008 on, we don’t know. Just because she wasn’t president until 2015 doesn’t mean she wasn’t working there. I’m just trying to figure it out and give a possible PARTIAL explanation of why she did this. Guess it’s not the popular opinion to take.
A. Right. Mess.
If I use a red and orange crayon and draw lines on my face can I assume the identity as a Masai Warrior? She will never be black like me or have the black experience. She wishes.
She hasn’t developed past using the brown crayon. Rolling eyes. This is racist.
She needs to back it up and step off. Since she’s black she should know what that means. Trick.
And that budget wig needs to go.
Being Maasai isn’t a racial thing. It’s a cultural one. What this woman did was a racial thing.
I feel the exact same way about Bruce Jenner. He can bolt on tits, he can paint on make-up, but he’ll never know what it’s like to be a woman: going through a school system that encourages boys over girls, peer pressure about one’s looks as a girl, worrying about pregnancy and rape, worrying about going anywhere after dark alone because of the threat of sexual violence. Dealing with things like PCOS, endometriosis, painful periods, etc., etc. Being offered less money for the same work. He doesn’t get any of that, and he never will.
I don’t think he or other trans people make that claim. They identify as transgender, not as women.
Gotta admit, Nymeria, don’t care what he does or why, but you did kinda nail how I felt about the whole Caitlyn Jenner thing. It’s also really weird when people co-opt, not even what you ARE, but their weird perception of what you are.
This is fascinating, I still can’t wrap my head around it.. After this, I’m really curious to the motivation.
BLUE MARIE!
Hey Kiddo!!
I’d like to hear what the African American posters have to say about this. So sick of hearing white people do all the talking about racism.
How do I feel that a woman decided all it took to be a black woman was a cheap wig and some badly applied foundation? Hmmm, not great actually.
I feel worse by the people who defended her because it showed ultimately even the most well-meaning ally is still ignorant. That to them being black is nothing more than a differnce in hair and skin tone that can be slipped on and off like a disturbed game of pretend.
The thing I’m most concerned about is how conservatives will somehow use this issue to justify their continuing racism. I can’t see how, but they will always find some pretzel of logic to turn things against minorities and the oppressed and I’m sure this will be no different.
People try and compare this to Caitlyn Jenner but I think a more apt parallel would be the woman who pretended to be a 9/11 survivor.
Honestly I’m sick of people falling over themselves to excuse her. Because where’s that blind loyalty to actual black women…oh yea nowhere. Even from black men it’s baffling.
What I do know is this woman doesn’t identify with the black race she appropriated it for her own gain. She wasn’t getting where she wanted as a privileged white woman so she changed her identity. And went to great lengths to do it. What disturbs me is the fact that she also taught classses on the black women experience and may have racially profiled actual minorities in her class.
It’s messed up tbh and transracial is not a thing. That term makes me want to scream. Its a term that comes out of…oh yea privilege. It’s not like people don’t appropriate black culture day in and day out but now we have a term to make it okay! *headdesk*
YAS!
I can’t with some black people defending this yet many of them (even here) trip over themselves to claim Beyoncé wants to be a white woman because of a blonde wig. Like, really?
And I don’t believe the mental health issue some people are trying to bring up. Like nah, it’s strange she started to invent a new identity AFTER she got nowhere with her current one. Girl was mad that she was denied full access to black culture in the way SHE wanted and was like ‘let me just pretend to be black’. To call this a mental health issues is denying the manipulative and calculating actions behind her change. There’s too much structure and planning behind it to just be labelled ‘crazy’. She’s a sociopath.
Exactly, to quote and expand on Paul Mooney
“Everyone want to be black but nobody wants to be black, and even if you want to be black you don’t REALLY want to be black”
This woman signed up for the parts that got her money and attention, not the parts that got her discrimination and pain.
Ya’ll have a word Today! Tabernacle says YASSSSS!!
This blackface charade and the people trying to excuse this inexcusable con are on my last good nerve, this whole let’s search into our hearts and now race is something you can feel and this whole other bunch of CRAP is a Courtesy that Black people being black NEVER get
I don’t get that transracial thing either. I’m a black woman whose skin color would once have been referenced as being high yellow. So if I decide one day that, oh, I prefer to be Asian I can do some stuff to my hair and my eyes and say I’m Asian?
For the last time folks being trans or gay is not a choice. It is who you are. Being black is not a choice. It is who you are. These are not temporary tattoos that can be washed off when convenient
To the inevitable naysayers regarding transgender please google stories on children who as soon as they can speak that the genitals they are born with are different from the gender identity they are born with. A three year old knows the difference between boys and girls. These kids are adamant about their gender identity. It’s the older people with the real issues of acceptance not the child.
Well, I have an uncle who’s black and his son, my cousin, who’s bi-racial. My aunt and uncle have both told me about their lives and the horrible discrimination they experienced, including my aunt losing custody of her older three kids (who are white) because she was dating a black man.
I can sympathize, empathize, rail against, stand up against, speak out against and take action against prejudice and injustice that I see against the black community in America. I didn’t grow up in this country, so when I moved here, it was even more obvious to me.
Can I truly understand what it is like to experience it? NO. I can’t. Because I am white. I don’t have to worry quite as much about police brutality (though the way things are going in this country, it won’t be long before we all have to be afraid). I also don’t have to deal with as much discrimination. I’m Jewish too, but that’s something I can hide if I have to or want to. Can’t do that with skin color. Oh, wait. Yes you can… just #AskRachel ! GMAFB.
I am HORRIFIED by what this woman has done, and I really question how much of it is mental illness, and how much of it is just her grandstanding for some ridiculous reason. She sued Howard U for discrimination because she was white. She continued to perm her hair and disguise her skin color. She knew WHAT she was. She feels black?! OK. I sometimes make my nephews to call me “Empress Magnificent of the Entire Universe,” because it makes us laugh. Can I please be royalty now? WHERE’S MY TIARA?!?!
Seriously, she’s that ridiculous. Transracial, my a$$. /rant
Personally I’m sick of people falling over themselves trying to “understand” her. What is there to understand. This bitch thought she was cute running around in blackface for the past eight years actively making up lie after lie. But it’s always something with white people: a mental illness, a bad childhood, anything but maybe, just maybe, she’s a narcissistic privileged a-hole and that’s it.
LMAO. Lord I didn’t mean to laugh…
Word. No sympathy from me.
Yup. When Black people do something wrong, it’s because Black people are bad and need to take responsibility and Chicago and such-and-such. When White people do something wrong, it’s because something happened to them and they need to be nurtured. People are making up phenomena and conditions in order to uphold white supremacy. So many mind-bending excuses going, but all the while so many fail to notice that the acceptance extended by so many to this lady as a ‘Black person’ highlights how White she is. She can command support for whatever because she’s White. Shenanigans. ‘Transracial’ my unambiguously Black hide, there’s no such thing.
Agree with this write-up. A very disturbed person. She allegedly sent anti-black literature TO HERSELF and claimed death threats. One article said she hates white people and turned her (black, adopted) brother into a racist too. But her issues (lying, plagiarizing), etc.) transcend race.
A lot of people are comparing her to Caitlyn Jenner. There is such a thing as transracialism. This confuses me a lot. What if she just identified with black culture but without the black hair and blackface?
“What if she just identified with black culture but without the black hair and blackface?” Yes. I do think many people do just that. Her identification somehow became pathological, it seems.
I can accept transracialism as an issue for biracial children or children adopted into a family of a different race than they are but i can’t seem to do that with Rachel Dolezal. Her situation is absolutely not comparable to Caitlyn for so many reasons. Basically, Caitlyn is living her truth while Rachel is living a lie. She might identify with the black community via her brothers’ experiences but she didn’t have to put on the foundation and perm her hair to do that.
She could have advocated for the black community without the lies and deception but that was the route she chose to go and i honestly think it has done more damage than good to the NAACP and the community. She has tarnished their credibility and how seriously law enforcement takes hate crimes. I also find it really odd that the NAACP are standing by her. They say race is no prerequisite to holding a leadership position with the organization but that’s not really the issue, is it? How can anyone take her or the NAACP seriously when they’re fully backing a fraud? See, more harm than good.
“Basically, Caitlyn is living her truth while Rachel is living a lie.”
I’m neutral here, just exploring this statement. Do you mind expanding on it? It seems this woman believes she is black, that in her heart and mind, she is black. Like a transgendered person, she altered her outside experience to match and pass. In that case, couldn’t it also be stated that she is living her ‘truth’?
@Claire
One issue might be that many doubt Rachel actually fully considers herself black. She found a successful con and is clinging to it. At one point she really believed she had cancer (according to her brother) so does that mean she actually has cancer or understands the struggles of someone with cancer?
No. There’s parts of life we can not say we know merely because we are moved by the reality of them.
Claire, Rachel claimed experiences that weren’t her own. I saw a Facebook post someone had dug up of her talking about Lupita’s character in 12 Years a Slave and how she related to Lupita or something like that because that was how she grew up as well – clearly not true. There were also posts of her posing with an elderly black man where she captioned it as her father and of course, she’s been supposedly filing false hate crime reports with the police. Someone upthread mentioned that in her discrimination lawsuit against Howard, she identified as white. How convenient, no? That’s what i meant by living a lie.
Again, perhaps she does identify with the black community because of her adopted brothers – i don’t know what her motivations are but did she really need to invent an elaborate backstory and put on the makeup and wig to advocate for black issues? No. She could have still worked with the NAACP and maybe even obtain the position she has now without all the lies. Caitlyn never claimed to be a victim of sexism or discrimination when she was still Bruce. The situations are just not the same.
tifzlan, just playing devil’s advocate here because I’m genuinely curious about this angle, as Claire mentioned: you say Rachel’s case is not the same as someone who is transgender, but then the reasons you provide relate solely to her background of conning and grifting. Does this mean that if she had gone about presenting herself as a black woman, but without the lies about discrimination or trying to get others to lie about her history and family, this would be the same? If she genuinely identified as black from childhood, lived her life as a black woman, attempted to appear of black descent, and involved herself in the black community, is this really different from a scenario where “man” and “woman” are swapped in for “white” and “black”? Should she be called a liar for how she presented herself (minus all the con artist stuff, again) if we would accept someone who said “I identify as a woman” without question?
I really like how you explained that, tifzlan. I can totally see identifying with other cultures you might not physically fit into if you essentially grew up with mixed cultures, but she didn’t. This whole thing is very very weird. I feel like I can’t even comment properly on this story. But everyone else on here is making really good observations and points.
She cray cray.
If someone “dressed up” with fake tanner to identify and try to become a status Indian I would be more than furious. Impersonation should be considered the higher form of flattery but we are talking race, not a fashion trend here. Yikes!
Yeah that family has a lot of skeletons in the closet is my guess. Serious dissociative/personality disorder going on.
Discrimination suits? Hate crimes? Sorry I don’t believe her at all. She wanted to be a victim and she enjoyed being a victim. It’s gross actually and an insult to every Black person who fights these things for real.
“This may be opening up a conversation about race, as so many outlets have claimed, but to me it’s more about the unveiling of a sociopath in blackface.”
Thank you. Many people, black and white, who say she’s done good things, let her be, are missing the point. She has mental issues and is out for attention and loves the attention. Take the police report she filed saying she was the victim of hate mail. The police investigated and concluded the mail has no marks on it to show it was mailed to the post office box, that it was placed in the box with someone who had access to the key. In other words, she keeps doing things like this to get more attention as a persecuted black woman.
The same regarding being beaten with a baboon whip, a whip used to beat slaves she claims, by her white stepfather because of the color of her skin. Total fabrication for more attention. She wasn’t mixed face. He was her father, not stepfather. There was no baboon whip. She never hunted for her food with a bow and arrow. She says she was born in a teepee. Never. She has fabricated a whole black father who is not her father.
All i know is that if this had been a WoC trying to pass as white, there wouldn’t be so many think pieces much less speculation as to her mental health–folks would say she was filled with self hate and beyond.
I’m just tired of it all.
There’s always excuses being made for atrociously racist behavior by whites, and no, I’m speaking of CB— I’m referencing society as a whole.
WW always get excuses and passes and sympathy. Even if they beat innocent black children they are still seen as “lily pure” and innocent victims. More and more people (including WM) are getting sick of it and have had it with them and their sex and skin privilege.
They need to be called out for their racism. This woman is a con artist and is guilty of taking a place that was rightfully reserved for ya know, an actual black woman! She also has a history of treating *actual* black women like crap and getting away with it.
Biracial people are NOT black. It takes TWO black parents to make a black child.
Lines need to be drawn or we will see more of these (nut)cases.
This one is NOT mentally ill. She knew exactly what she was doing and knew she could get away with it.
A – so if one of these two black parents it takes to make a black child is only 75% black, is the child not black? 95%? 99.5%? Where is the line drawn. Do the feelings of that child have any thing to do with their identity? And yes, I do think this woman is both criminal and a jerk. Her biological parents don’t have to own her obnoxious behavior, and neither do I.
Exactly.
Poor poor Rachel who figures all she needs to do to hit the checks on “WOC” is to take pictures of tied ropes and call them nooses and give arrogant interviews proclaiming a struggle she doesn’t know.
The sheer ego of the individual who demands to speak for an already struggling minority and the society that says, “Hmm well maybe it’s okay.”
Really? Is being white THAT valuable? To the point where conning individuals while wearing black face for years MIGHT get a social pass?
I keep feeling there is some sociopathy involved, and like CB, I smell con artist and grifter rather than a sincere person. Way too many tales in top of tales. People keep forgetting that a reporter got suspicious, and in pursuit of the truth, talked to the parents. The parents may have their own issues. But this woman is clever and from all these stories now out, is really almost a narcissist.
If I identify as a rich person, does that mean I can just become one? Cool! All joking aside, the issue is that she LIED. Bottom line. No excuses.
Actually, I read a book about a guy who pretended to be a Rockefeller. He invented this backstory and married a wealthy woman, who helped him achieve at least a semi-Rockefeller lifestyle. Until he was exposed, not just for that but a million other lies and also for murder. Dolezal seems cut from the same cloth, as does the fake 9/11 survivor, Alicia Head.
I remember that story, it’s amazing how far some people can get with a story and a bit of false confidence.
To me, this woman has severe mental health issues. She lied constantly about everything: Showing a black man on social media claiming to be her dad, showing her brother claiming to be her son… Sounds like a pathological liar.
You can identify as everything you want in life, but don’t lie to people.
How did she get that hair??? Is she wearing a wig?
Think I read in an article that they are extensions.
Wig.
She claims she’s felt black since she was five. But she had no problem identifying as white when she filed her discrimination suit. Unlike Rachel, we who are actually black don’t have the luxury of choosing not to be black when it suits us. If so, I’d choose not to be black when I go into a luxury store and get followed by the salesperson. I’d choose for my brother not to be black when he’s driving at night.
Her interview with Matt Lauer demonstrated she has no accountability, no apologies, and no shame. Everything about her is complete bullshit.
Yep, all the people who are making excuses for her and bringing up tranracialism (which is utter nonsense) are missing the point. She can stop being black if it no longer suits her. Black people don’t have that privilege. That’s great if she relates to and loves black people. But she could have been just as effective had she presented herself as a white woman. Let’s see how much support a black person would get if they claimed they were white.
Thank you. We do not have the option of using a wet wipe to remove our blackness when it is convenient for us. And it troubles me that an actual black womab with black ancestry would not get the level of support this liar has received, she has plagiarised art, faked threats sent against her, accused a Hispanic student of not being Hispanic enough, published a book titled “how to be black”, she is all round awful.
So I guess imitation isn’t always the highest form of flattery then?
Flattery? This woman picked a struggling group to help feed her victim complex, used them to attain money not meant for her, and created several cons about racial attacks she was facing.
At one point she pretended to have cancer according to her brother.
Such disrespect is flattering to you?
No. I wouldn’t be flattered if was an African American.
I think you misread Mispronounced Name Dropper’s post.
Uh, no. I’m certain that she read Mispronounced Name Dropper’s post correctly.
Looks like sarcasm to me.
Somebody’s sarcasm meter got turned off…
Sociopaths are scary people. She’s textbook: suing, threats, false claims, making others miserable, etc. And she tried to keep it going and throw blame at her parents until there was just no denying it and now she’s claiming it’s because she identifies as Black?? I’m sure that’s why she sued her college for discriminating against a white person. Transracialism, are you JOKING? She faked who she is, got attention and loved it, and got caught. She’s vile.
I’m not sure if Matt was the best to interview her. I think it is far easier for her to brush off questions when asked my and older white man. I would have liked to see an African American Woman interview her!
Yes, ITA
Melissa Harris-Perry is interviewing her tonight on MSNBC at 8:00. I expect it to be to be a much more consequential interview than Matt’s.
Now THAT I will see, Perry is such an intelligent goddess she’ll get to the heart of this.
I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news but MHP is one who said that she thinks it’s possible that this lady could actually be black.
I wanted to post the link but it’s too long and will get turfed. Yesha Callahan did an interesting blog about it on The Root.
I believe MHP already gave her a pass by saying transracial might be a thing. So no this interview will not be that hard hitting. People already went in on MHP for her story on this mess.
Basically RD is interviewing with people she knows won’t go at her hard which is typical. She will get the attention she wants by painting herself as a sympathetic victim
Smh, the world has gone crazy.
Thank you ladies for telling me, I won’t be watching that nonsense. This is just…amazing to the point of being painful.
I haven’t watched MHP since she asked the Attorney General of the United States to quack like a duck. On national television. I have no doubt that she will make excuses for RD; I’ve lost all respect for Melissa.
When I look at her all I see is somebody in an Angelina Jolie MIGHTY HEART Halloween costume.
The pundits who are trying to conflate this with Caitlyn Jenner make me sick. This isn’t about politics, society or race. It’s just an individual who needs help.
LOL Exactly
She looks nothing like either and she is nuts
yes, that’s why I called it a Halloween costume. The wig is totally MIGHTY HEART. And I didn’t say she looks like Caitlyn Jenner.
Exactly!
It is one thing to say you identify as another race in an abstract (for lack of a better word) and quite another to say you actually ARE that race and fabricate a personal backstory to support that lie, which is what this woman has done. She intentionally and willfully lied about her parents, her children and even made up stories about being the target of racial hate crimes in order to support that lie.
She can make up whatever hippy dippy stories she wants about how we’re all ultimately from the continent of Africa and and that racially she is a human being or how she considers a black man as her true father instead of her biological father-it does not make her a black woman. It would have been one thing to simply omit details about her life and let people make their own assumptions, but she actively lied, and continues to lie about who she is. She is a narcissist con artist and that is about it.
she’s a pathological liar
Well said @ GRABBYHANDS
Yes. Very well said.
This! She’s a LIAR, plain and simple. Just another example of how f***ing nuts and off the rails this world has become. The lines are getting more and more blurred everyday. Absolute insanity.
Her logic in the Today show interview is so bad – she has full legal custody of a child who is black so SHE can’t be a white woman. What about all the black children with white mothers!? I’m half-Chinese, so my parents can’ t be white? Or can they not be Chinese? I’ve lost track now. Grifter!
this chick is nuts and her parents are heartless for doing this to her. apple doesnt fall far from the tree here
I agree with that.
Her parents didn’t “do” this to her. She did this to herself. Her parents were contacted about her and asked about her ethnicity as part of an investigation. Were they really supposed to lie to keep up her charade? I don’t think so. Rachel Dolezal created this mess for herself, she deserves the scrutiny and excoriation she’s getting for it now.
I feel sorry for her family and every genuine victim who is not believe because of people who feign victimhood for attention, this woman is a compulsive liar with a severe personality disorder and people continue enabling her by supporting her entitlement to slander others.
She is not black, race is not a costume a black person can take on and off. There’s no evidence she was hurt by her parents, just dozens of proven lies by a sociopathic compulsive liar who will say anything to get attention regardless of the impact on others.
She needs to be held accountable for her lies, if she’s sane she should be imprisoned, if crazy enough she needs to be in a mental hospital where she can get help for her mental illness.
This woman not only lied about her parents, her race etc, she also pretended to be a victim of race hate crimes and faked evidence. This is very serious and very disgusting behaviour. It’s genuinely alarming how many people this is ok and believe that truth is not important. Lies get innocent reputations shattered, innocent people locked up in prison, countries into fake wars… Truth is everything and anyone who thinks otherwise should never be trusted.
This reminds me of Alicia Head, the woman who pretended to be a 9/11 survivor.
The book and Documentary, The Woman Who Wasn’t There are both fascinating.it seems neither of these woman stole any money , they involved themselves into organizations that did an amazing amount of good. Head was once one of the leaders of the Survivor’s Network a group that got access to the Twin Towers site for survivors to help with some healing.
They both seemed to be messed up people who did good works and helped others. I don;t even know what to think. I fell badly for all the people she deceived. It is a shock to the system to find out someone you worked with, care for and it part of your life is a Liar Liar Pants on Fire.
Yes! I just said the same thing above in response to another question. I didn’t know her name but that’s the first thing I thought of when i read about Ms. Dolezal.
Yes, I thought of the same story immediately. Although I think while Alicia really didn’t benefit financially from her deception, I think Dolezal has. For example, her paid position with the NAACP.
I think it’s really interesting how in both cases, people seemed to have suspicions about the women misrepresenting themselves but didn’t say or do anything about it. I feel like it says something about human nature, not sure exactly what though…
That documentary was incredible. How she could bold faced lie about being a 9/11 survivor, with not an ounce of shame, remorse or sympathy for those who were really there and those who were murdered that day. I can’t understand when people can lie like that. I know it’s a mental disorder but it’s astonishing to me.
I know. The stories she wove about her harrowing escape and her lost love…it really was astonishing. And it seems to this day that she really has no remorse about it.
I was thinking of that woman Alicia Head too!
@J.Mo posted this upthread:
“She didn’t want to be an ally because allies don’t get the attention she did as a leader of black people.”
ITA with this and I think it applies to Alicia Head too. Although Rachel Dolezal received some money I don’t think that was the big motivator for her. Both women wanted to be in the middle of the “action” for lack of a better word. Someone else said it was like a Munchhausen by proxy type disorder. I am totally ignorant of psychological disorders. All my knowledge comes from watching too much of the Investigation Discovery Channel (lol) so I apologize to anyone that is a real expert. I’m just trying to figure out what may have motivated Rachel Dolezal’s bizarre choices. I strongly suspect it’s the same thing that motivated Alicia Head.
If men can identify as women, and vise versa, I don’t see why someone couldn’t identify as another ethnicity. I mean really, what is the difference here? Everyone is applauding Caitlin Jenner for her transition, but they are going to crucify this woman for identifying as being black?
Yes, she lied. But so did Bruce Jenner. What is the difference here? When are you lying? When are you telling the truth? When are you mentally ill?
You don’t actually want to know that. Even if you really believed they were the same you don’t actually want to know because clearly you don’t know a thing about this case. You don’t know the multiple other cons she pulled before she became the NAACP president.
So to you this story is just an excuse to complain about transgender rights in America while also ignoring another injured minority.
Not at all. I am a staunch advocate of injured minorities. What has been done to black people in America is a terrible embarrassment to white Americans (or damn well should be!).
But I can’t help drawing the comparison, because it is there so clearly. According to Caitlyn Jenner, she was lying when she won all those Olympic medals. Bruce lied, but Caitlyn Jenner doesn’t. Except she still has a penis. But she identifies as being a woman, so that’s OK. But this woman is white, identifying as black, and led people to believe she was black. Did she misappropriate the NCAAP funds? If so, she should be prosecuted for it. But not for identifying as black, because then we are just being dishonest with ourselves.
Caitlyn identifies as a woman, but has no idea of what being a woman in a male dominated society is really like. Likewise, this woman is identifying with a suppressed minority, with no real idea of what it is like growing up a black woman in America. I hear you there. But the parallels are two strong to not draw attention to them.
She’s not mentally ill. She’s a sociopath who does what she can to get attention and drama. She sued her college, saying they were racist against whites, when she was being white. She is lying and altering her appearance to get a job, receive attention, and cause issues. She claimed to receive hate mail and was proven a liar. Is that part of her “transracial” identity?
She may choose to identify as a black person. OK. But she LIED about her parentage and her actual race while heading a race equity organization and she KNOWS that she lied but won’t admit it.
Let say she really has some sort of racial dysmorphia, OK? Then she could say, “My parents are white, but I feel black ect. ” But she doesn’t she lies about her ancestry and her experiences. She has to acknowledge her lying.
Crumpet, you might get crucified for this statement, but I totally agree. Especially with your last paragraph. I feel the lines between “truly being yourself” (as Jenner is hailed for) and having a mental illness have been blurred.
+1 almond joy and crumpet
Rachel lied about being a victim of hate crimes, about her family, about her upbringing – essentially her entire life – while Caitlyn never claimed to have been a victim of sexism, etc. when she was still Bruce. She might have hid it from the public but as we know, Caitlyn was always upfront about her feelings with her wives. How is this a comparable situation? And if Rachel truly identified as black, why file a discrimination lawsuit as a white person?
It is actually easy to see. For instance, a trans woman is a transgender person who is male at birth and her gender identity is that of a woman who may or may not transition. Transwoman do not deny being assigned male at birth and face harsh problems being expected to live the life of a male..
Rachel Dolezal claims her father is her stepfather and her biological father is black. She claimed to have experienced the life of a black person when most of her life she lived the life of a white woman.
She claimed her ex-husband, a black US man, demanded her to look withe, like straighten her her and bleach her skin. She claimed a life she did not live.
I want to add, Caitlyn Jenner speaks of her own experiences. If she feels she lived a lie that is her.
I thought along these lines as well.
I resolved it by removing Caitlyn as the person who is transgendered and thought only of all the other people who are (because I personally do not feel she is the right role model or representative, but that’s just my opinion).
My conclusion is this: they are in no way the same. I think, if someone who is transgendered lies about who they are, it’s self preservation. Not to deceive, to be cruel and use people to further their lives, but because they simply need to be able to cope each day with the turmoil inside them.
This woman, by my account, did horrible things, lied to so many people, just because she wanted to. She chose this path, opposed to being born to it.
Not everybody is applauding Caitlyn. Bruce Jenner was not an admirable person. Three wives, member of the biggest famewhoring family on the planet, awful father…his appearance may have changed when he became Caitlyn, but no matter how much surgery Jenner has, or how many hormones she takes, or how much makeup she wears, her basic personality hasn’t changed, and her basic personality is not good.
@Crumpet the difference between Bruce transitioning into Caitlyn is very different from Rachel. The Jenner story concerns gender identity vs genitals. Your gender identity does not match the genitals you are born with. I believe Caitlyn has stated she has known she was female since she was five. This is where her lies as Bruce began.
Rachel knows and has always known she is white and she knows it now. She is not a stupid woman. Really look at her word choices. She is extremely sensitive in her selection. Two of her brothers claim she begged them to not discuss their shared family background because it would expose her.
I commented before Rachel’s story is analogous to a criminal on the run. In order to create a new life, in a new place you need a credible back story. She moved far enough away to do so. Only 2% of the population are black. Let’s be frank most white people would not have questioned her story. I don’t believe she has a mental illness though I do believe there serious family issues. I also believe part of her media tour is in part a retaliatory act against her parents because they spoke to the media. So I can see some pathos there pertaining to unresolved parent/child stuff
I’m confused by everyone differentiating what Caitlyn knew and what Rachel knew. Caitlyn knew she felt female inside but she knew biologically she’s male (and still knows that) . Rachel felt black on the inside, and knows she’s white.
For the record I’m not saying they’re the same. I’m saying knowing what you are can’t be the difference.
@voice of reason
The difference is choice. Being a black person is not a choice. It is not a feeling. You are or you aren’t. Being transgender is not a choice. It is not a feeling. You are or you aren’t. Rachel CHOSE to pass herself off as black. she is currently using her white privilege stage. When asked point blank she fidgets, does not hold eye contact and never answers the question. She actually spouts some nonsense about the larger issue being one of humanity and what it means to be human. No the issue is that you have lied. Lied about who she is and the things she has experienced. And her two sons. She has one son. The other man is her adopted brother. She seems to have guardianship over him. Her parents adopted him and three other kids. I have no info on how or why she has guardianship.
This story has exhausted me and frustrated me more than I thought possible.
From the idiots who say, “Hey let her be.” to those using her as an excuse to discuss every other issue.
This woman likely does have mental issues but at this exact moment I don’t have pity for her. She’s like someone pretending to have cancer who fundraises for it and helps the cause (which apparently she did at some point). She didn’t pick black people because she loved them. She picked black people because it was easy.
Because black skin varies and we have plenty of mixed race and biracial Black Americans who do have blue eyes or lighter skin, no one was gonna call out this woman even if she did look suspicious (and for the record, yes, that skin tone is barely passing as mixed, it’s not a convincing illusion at all). When a group and identity is struggling they’re not going to turn someone away at the door who’s willing to work for them or examine their skin and hair. What’s most offensive is Rachel could have worked for the NAACP as a white woman, she chose not to. She chose to make others heritage and culture into her personal game of pretend and then take their moments to speak and be heard and steal them for herself.
Now she is the victim. She can’t see anything past her nose. Ironically for someone claiming to be so moved by the black experience she’s done more to insult us. By refusing to be an ally and help bring the message to those who might listen if it came from who she originally is and instead co-opting our voices and pain to get a newspaper byline and several live interviews.
I’m right there with you in the frustration Eternal Side-eye. A friend of mine on FB posted that he thought this whole Rachel mess is a yet another distraction from the ongoing conversation about race i.e. what it means to be black in America. I’m not an American and I disagreed with him at first but so many people are defending this woman, including plenty of our own skinfolk and now I’m starting to wonder.
Tbh…I think some folks are starved for someone who says “I wanted to be like you. You guys are beautiful.”.
They want the confirmation and acceptance that even though society has made them feel ugly and lesser that they aren’t…and what more pleasing source to get that from then a member of the upper class of skin tone. Someone who was white who’d want to be black.
I also think many people are ignoring the context though because maybe that hurts too much. Maybe they’re truly ignorant, maybe they don’t want to dig too deep. Rachel met and knew many wonderful black people in her life and her way of honoring them…of respecting them was to slap on a wig, darken her skin, and then create false hate crimes against herself.
To take positions to echo lessons and pain she’d never experienced and then act with the gall to make other people feel bad for being GENUINELY lighter skin ethnicities. She wrote papers on the insult that came in passing and gave interviews mocking whites for pretending to understand but not really comprehend the black struggle.
The basic way I can look at Rachel is to say, “Not every man who tells you you’re pretty means it. Sometimes they’re just saying what they need to say to get what they want and once they’re finished they insult you.” To me Rachel said “You guys are pretty”, then she spit in my face and the faces of those who are African American, African, Mixed Race and then with a big smile said “I know what you are”
Then she slapped on a curly wig, rubbed dirt on her face, and then she stole the words right from my mouth to tell the world about the pain she’d experienced.
This lady seems like a professioal con artist and someone with victim complex and narsissitic personality. However trying to change your ethinicity to something you feel you truly are when you are not makes as much sense to me as changing your sex.
I’m completely fascinated by this story. I’m not upset by it, just intrigued and also worried for her. I feel she is mentally ill and hasn’t gotten the help she needs. I also feel that there were some awful things going on in her family that we aren’t aware of.
On a lighter note, her Afro wigs are on point. She clearly paid good money for them. The texture is correct. The Jezebel article that’s linked above is hilarious.
I agree! I went into the rabbit hole of box braids and hair crocheting. Loved it.
You say it doesn’t bother me like I’m black and it doesn’t offend me. Sad. I’m glad you think its hilarious.
For anyone believing that Racehl might actually be ‘transracial’ because of her deep desire to be black. (this was actually a term before this whole thing blew up that had to do with different race adoptions) just know before she became a black woman she was also a woman who grew up in a teepee and hunted with bows and arrows, as well as a woman with cancer.
This isn’t about the desire to be black folks. When she couldn’t be Native American, when she couldn’t have cancer, she became Black.
Ironically we were her 3rd choice.
And that is what really offends you about all this?
I think she wants to be as far from who she really is, as she possibly can be. That is all. Is it a mental illness? Is not wanting to be a man when you have a Y chromosome a mental illness?
Not to speak for Side-Eye but from how I understand her comments here, I think the offense comes into play when you take into consideration the fact that this woman built a successful career appropriating a culture and assuming an identity that presumably, wasn’t even her original choice.
I’m sure you can see how that would be gross and insulting.
No Crumpet.
What offends me is the people who won’t educate themselves on this topic and simply say, from their comfortable positions, that maybe it’s okay if she lied. Maybe it’s okay if she reduced other groups to their most stereotyped qualities to pretend to be them. Maybe she really wants to be black…except she doesn’t, but people won’t say that because to them this topic is only as important as a way to rail against issues they actually care about.
So please…I’m giving you the floor crumpet. Let’s talk about Bruce and Transgender issues and whether men can really be wen and forget all about poor Rachel and her black-face.
Eternal Side-Eye – How is it that you KNOW this woman doesn’t want to be black? Doesn’t identify as such?
People have their opinions as to her motives (obviously). I am speaking from a position of ‘she really identifies as being a black person’ and you are coming from a position of ‘she is lying about everything’.
This is the crux of our disagreement. If you have insider knowledge as to her motives, please do share. Otherwise, let’s just accept that our opinions are different and move on.
Because Crumpet the same woman identified herself as three different struggling groups before she identified as black.
Now I understand that the perception of Rachel’s actions has a lot to do with how authentic we perceive her motivations to be. What I am telling you is that Rachel wasn’t black until black was the only option left. She tried her hand at having cancer, do you really believe she wanted cancer…or did she want the attention and support for having cancer? She tried her hand at being Native American. She invented a childhood history of abuse in which she was beaten for her skin. She was a white woman who actually sued on the basis she was white and being discriminated against. Where was the supposed black woman in all of this?
I do not believe you can really love or want something if you so throughly pervert and insult it, but I do believe you can find weaknesses in society that you can use to gain wealth, power, and attention. I just think its excuses, in a year she’ll really identify as Latina and play salsa music on her cellphone.
Side-Eye: This has been a very interesting discussion, and I have seen compelling points on both sides of the argument. I was watching MSNBC news and they were interviewing a black psychologist who says that to him, her stories speak of a severe past trauma, and her identifying as different races is a way to escape it. I don’t know about the timing of her bi-racial sibling’s adoption, but she may have hit upon black when seeing treatment that child was receiving that meant an escape route for her.
I understand the outrage better after reading some of the posts here. But it still comes to this: we are telling one group of people it is OK to identify as something they biologically are not, yet then turning around and telling another group it is not OK to identify as something they biologically are not. Setting aside motives, past behaviors, etc. that still remains the crux.
@Crumpet if you are interested checkout gendermom.blogspot.com. It is the blog of the mother of an 8 year old transgender girl. Personally I don’t find the comparisons to Caitlyn Jenner to be helpful here.
Anyway I found it today in reading a story about Laverne Cox giving a speech. Going back to read more.
No. Don’t try to make transracialism a thing. There are no brain differences between blacks and whites, nothing at all that could affect “feeling” black when you’re really white. There ARE biological differences in the brains of transsexual and cissexual individuals. Don’t try to create marginalization where none exists in order to make yourself feel important. It cheapens the struggles of those with legitimate issues.
If we can pick and choose who we are on the basis of how we relate to a group then from now on I will only identify as a bad ass Bitch.
As you shall be referred to from here on out. 🙂
I am going to print this and hang it on my wall!
Then I am Cranky Honkey backatcha
Come on, folks. She obviously has some kind of mental illness. Mentally ill people can look quite normal and accomplish many things, but then there are other things they do that manifest their illness. Her lawsuit against her university was a major clue that something was wrong long ago. Real con artists and grifters just take the money and run. Money didn’t seem to be her motivation. The media should not be interviewing her. She is ill.
I think you can acknowledge the fact that she’s likely mentally ill and still discuss the impact of her actions, which I’m learning from the comments here, are wide-reaching and insulting to the very community she claimed to be a part of.
She feels black? What does that even mean? What does feeling black entail? We are just people, only with dark skin (for the most part) This woman is a liar and a con and there is so much evidence of her lies and deception, but of course people have all types of excuses for her and her behaviour.
Word!!!! Everybody thinks being black is so easy. Let a black people say they wanted to be white, totally different reaction from all.
Here’s the thing:
I am black. I wake up black, I go to sleep black. I don’t get to wash off my costume at the end of the day and revert to being another race that is extremely privileged. My blackness is not a costume. This woman treated it as though it were. Everyone is saying that she had mental health issues. Well, so does everyone. But sometimes bad behavior is just bad behavior.
People are commenting that she didn’t harm anyone. Oh really? She mentored young men and women and presented herself as something she wasn’t in order to gain their trust. Do people not think that they were not damaged or hurt when they found out the truth?? Plus, she said that she was the victim of hate crimes. I read yesterday that the police are now suspending their investigation into the cases. Do you know how hard it is to get people to take racism seriously?? Especially at a time when the U.S. is so divided over issues, when black women and men are being gunned down by the police and people persist in saying that theses murders are not racially motivated??? What are the repercussions for those of us who face racism on a daily basis??
I think that her actions were deliberate and vindictive. From the beginning I suspected that her motivations were fueled by a sense of entitlement and false sense of persecution. I am the victim of reverse racism. I deserve this. I know better than people who were born as racialized people how to perform as a person of color. Apparently she told someone who was white and Latino that he didn’t know what it was like to be a person of color because he didn’t look “colored” enough. For real?? Her sense of superiority, and entitlement comes through in all of her actions. There is no humility. No embarrassment. No sense that she has done something that warrants forgiveness or reflection. Just deflection. She asked people to lie for her, to cover up her actions.
I think that people can be allies. All of us can be. But there is a point where all of us need to sit down and listen. There are certain lines that shouldn’t be crossed, because when we begin to speak for others we are silencing their voices. There is also a long history of black culture being appropriated to the point where black historians and cultural producers are not seen as having any authority or knowledge over the histories that they are affiliated with. It is offensive. It is dangerous. If we Rachel Dolezal is given a pass then we are complicit in this, in her blackface, in her “cooning” in her deception. I won’t be.
Amen.
This same woman told a lighter-skinned Latina member of her student body that she didn’t think she could participate in a class study because she didn’t look the part.
Rachel is Privelage given flesh. She slipped on another identity to give herself power and credibility and then used that falsehood to create even more racial discord and ignorance.
Amen.
So perfectly said.
*claps*
Yes to all of this. YES
Wow. Amazing comment. I hadn’t though of it from some of the angles you mentioned. Thanks for opening my eyes.
Really? You needed to be that enlightened?
I’m sitting at my desk applauding loudly not giving an eff at some of the looks my co-workers are giving me.
WORD.
Get to steppin’ trick.
Well freaking said.
I don’t understand how she got so far up in her job without a background check. I’m not saying she had to be African American to get the job, but the part about plagiarizing her work at university and also trying to sue Howard University should have been brought up in a background check. I have heard of people faking their entire education and getting far ahead in life. Do companies not do background checks? I don’t get it.
Regarding her personally, yes she is a fraud. She obviously darkened her skin and permed her hair to “look the part”. She even did lectures about how she was discriminated against and how hard she had it as a “black woman”. This spits in the face of actual people who have been discriminated against. All the good work she did for the NAACP means nothing now as she has tarnished it all.
No one would have done a background check to see if she was black.
Like I said, in my post, “I’m not saying she had to be African American to get the job”. I’m talking about how she committed plagiarism to get her degree. That degree helped her get that job didn’t it?
I guess the sad answer is that many organizations don’t do the checks they need to, I Will say this woman went to great lengths with this charade so who knows how she padded her background and made it seem authentic.
I haven’t read the posts yet, but I wanted to comment before I get to it- has she had surgery to slim down her nose? Look at the picture of her when she is her real blonde hair color and than look at her posing as African American. She needs to go sit in the corner with Brian Williams. Crazy crazy crazy.
I don’t know, could be contouring?
She used her married name for lawsuit, Rachel Moore.
Well I guess I will identify as White when I apply for my mortgage loan maybe I will get lower interest rate.
I grew up around White people, I dated a White guy, I watched Seinfield.
I am about the same complexion as Gabrielle Union but starting June 20th I am White.I have to celebrate Juneteenth first with my Black family before I start “passing”
If you put on the application that you watched not only Seinfeld but also Friends you can just have the money. No need to pay it back. Lol.
LMAO.
Just saying “I loved ‘Friends’ ” will open so many doors for you.
Is it wrong of me to say that your post made me laugh out loud? Even in the midst of all the crazy about this story?
i seem to remember seeing a skit about how white people were with each other behind closed doors. Was it The Dave Chappelle show?
I don’t know, but I remember an old Eddie Murphy skit on SNL… hilarious.
I am surprised she has not being investigated by the Federal Gov’t for impersonating a Black Woman, because this type of Impersonation, IMO is so often accompanied by fraud.
The Fraud Act 2006 makes it an offence to dishonestly make a false representation with the intention of making a gain or causing a loss. This kind of impersonation, no matter how odd is, must have caused some damage, whether it is financial or the reputation of Howard University, the NAACP where she worked and in general Black community where she lived.
And I thought I read that she also wrote a hateful, threatening letter and then pretended to MAIL it to herself for publicity?
I’m just a middle aged white woman in Canada, but what is REALLY sad is that this con is going to take up all the space where so many REAL and PRESSING issues of racial friction need to be addressed, acknowledged and aired. Her perm is going to be a better talking point than how many minority kids are routinely rousted, arrested and worse for little reason. THAT’s the real issue.
Yeah there are way bigger issues that the media and American society in general overlooks when it comes to racism, but this story has a sensationalistic aspect to it that will make people click. FTR, I think this story is worth talking about, but I hope the bigger conversation doesn’t get diverted or shut down completely, which seems to be happening a lot these days.
On that note, this is one of the better/more interesting threads that I’ve read around here.
I feel like I’ve learned a lot and in that respect, there’s a positive conversation that can be generated from this crazy-ass lady’s awful behavior.
Kitten, I’m with you. Since yesterday I have been returning to read this thread the way I return to whatever book I’m reading on any given day. It’s rich with lessons in sociology, psychology, cultural identity, family dynamics, and ethics. And the participants are smart, articulate, often very funny, and bring a huge amount of clarity and real-life experience to our discussion of this story.
As far as I’m concerned (and like her, I’m a white woman with a mixed-race family), Dolezal has used her white privilege to appropriate black culture. She is a liar and a thief of a much more serious kind than if she had merely stolen somebody’s property, because she has stolen the history, the struggle, the pain, and the very identity of black Americans and used them to advance herself. She has stolen the physical style and appearance of black women without ever having experienced firsthand what it means and how it feels to grow up black in white America.
I think the reason people are mistakenly (IMO) conflating the trans-sexual issue with this Dolezal woman’s opportunistic and superficial claim of being *transracial* is that Bruce Jenner is such a flawed example of transsexual humanity. I have two transsexual male-to-female friends, so please believe me when I say I have compassion for people struggling with this profoundly difficult life experience…but for me, Bruce/Caitlin is a very different story from the stories of my two friends, and in a very essential way Caitlin’s approach to transitioning as a woman differs from their approach. Jenner has come directly from the life of a privileged white male who neglected his children to an almost criminal extent, and has now transitioned into a woman as superficial, vain, narcissistic, and materialistic as the females he was observing in his former KUWTK household for over twenty years. Jenner has never had to struggle for equal pay, never walked down a dark street at night afraid of being raped and wondering what he would do if he became pregnant by a rapist and was then faced with giving birth to or aborting a child of rape. He has transitioned only partially (he has breasts now AND a penis) and only to outward appearances, which I guess is a lot like Dolezal’s “blackness,” if you think about it.
To women who have struggled all their lives to be equal, there can be a sense of having their gender trivialized by Bruce Jenner’s superficial representation of femaleness, his flashy photo-spreads in scanty get-ups, his focus on make-up, facial surgery, hairstyles, and fashions. I think people are erroneously conflating the two issues at least in part because Dolezal’s transition to black identity is very similarly superficial. But the similarity ends there, because Dolezal’s “blackness” is a disguise that seems to have been motivated by opportunism and is characterized by lies and calculated misrepresentation, while Jenner has endured the genuine and lifelong struggle of having been born into the wrong body. I don’t much like Jenner as a person, and I feel insulted by Caitlin’s representation of womanhood, but I respect her courage in making the transition.
Jenner is becoming her true self, a self as flawed as when she was a he. Rachel is in disguise. One of them is becoming more real and authentic; the other is perpetrating a fraud. Just my opinion, of course.
Well she knows she did something wrong or why else did she leave her job? This is such a crazy story. With social media, etc. how did no one blow her cover much earlier? People she went to school with, other distant relatives? LOL it just had to be her parents (estranged). She said in that interview that she identifies as being African American but when that local news reporter confronted her initially she was very hesitant to say anything. I’ve heard she’s done a lot of good work with the NAACP…I just don’t understand why she didn’t just do the SAME work as a White woman instead? I mean damn, she made herself 3 times darker and everything.
She grew up in a mixed race family, even though she herself was not of mixed race (though she probably is somewhere in her lineage, as all of us are). She could easily have said she identified as mixed race on that basis and pursued a profession in Africana studies. The deception is what makes her mental state questionable.
from the DailyMail:
Was race-faker Rachel Dolezal also passing herself off as a great romanticist painter? She faces claims that her ‘award-winning’ art is plagiarized from 19th-century master?
story here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3125889/Now-race-faker-Rachel-Dolezal-faces-claims-ART-WORK-plagiarized.html
That is amazing. She copied a TURNER and thought no one in the fine arts department would know?
I KNOW! I’ve seen ‘The Slave Ship’ in person. It was hugely controversial in its day, John Ruskin owned it (and called it the best painting of the 19th century), Simon Schama did a documentary on it. It is one of his best-known works and it is always included in consideration in discourses on THE paintings of that century. It’s famous enough for Simon Schama to have done a freaking documentary on it and no one noticed what she had done? I wasn’t an art major. Everyone falling down, wherever I go.
My goodness. To me that speaks to pathology, because we know objectively that she is an intelligent woman and should know she would never get away with it.
Straight up this woman is insane. A true sociopath/pathological liar. I am just stunned at what this person has done. I am barfing at her claims of “feeling black” and this “trans-race”‘ thing. WTF?! If she wanted to fight for racial equality(which she is LYING about, because you can’t fight for others if you are lying to them) she could have done it as a white person. She sounds like she has had mental issues all her life. She needs help-NOW.
Had no clue about this story … just when you thought you had seen it all ….
Like others mentioned, I also think that she has mental issues. I think that the sensitivity around race is giving her undue attention and ’empowering’ her to defend her actions. I saw a few minutes of her interview this morning-please, give me a break. She painted herself as a victim and nothing was her responsibility or fault…media called her biracial in Oregon or where ever she was and she didn’t correct them so that is how OTHER PEOPLE chose to identify her-they did it to her. She said she has racially identified as black since age 5…ok, so choose to do that, but you LIED and MISREPRESENTED herself to get a job and attention. She filed the lawsuit against the university for discrimination for being white and pregnant yet you ‘identify’ as black? Anyone can choose to be offended by anything and she seems to thrive on this and gets away with it. Race is such a sensitive, emotionally charged topic that she has gotten away with it because no one has called her on it. She should not be validated or supported for ‘furthering’ racial equity or fairness. She is ridiculous, sick, and a liar.
Right? It’s not her interest in black culture or her adoption of certain hairstyles that is the issue. It’s the lying. She lied and lied on purpose and she isn’t sorry for it. And, she can’t see how lying about race while in the employ of a racial equity organization is a problem?
She could’ve continued her charade if she left the FBI out of it, but like a true psychopath, she wanted to get caught so she could be revealed as a criminal genius with a Tom Cruise/Ethan Hunt like ability to conceal her true identity as a little white, part-German girl. Because she is a woman, she is portrayed as a victim of circumstance – fundamentalist upbringing, below-par homeschooling, and then to Howard University where she sadly didn’t fit in and produced bad art, but I choose to see her as the hero of her own story. She is the Don Draper of the NAACP. Or the Walt Whitman. Her phone must be blowing up with offers from publishers and producers.
Do you mean Dick Whitman?
Her self belief and arrogance is staggering, she honestly expected people like her parents and family to lie on her behalf whilst shutting them out of her life in case people found her out on all her lies? She is a fantastic con artist, but is obsessed with all things Rachel not all things black. Her race is not a complex issue, the only complexity is her tissue full of lies. I veer between laughing my legs off and shaking my head in despair as someone who belongs to an ethnic group, who has been discriminated against in REAL Life. I’m not hating on her but she is a grifter and a fraud. Sadly there will be a book and a tv programme. She is delighted at the attention she is receiving because she is a true narcissist.
Her Howard professors didn’t think much of her crappy, derivative art, so she sued them and tried to make it about race. Entitled, status-seeking jack***.
Yeah that part really bothers me. Criticism hurts and we all try to cope, often by telling ourselves so-and-so hates us/is jealous of us, etc, but playing the race/discrimination card frivolously is going too far.
I am going to go ahead and proudly declare myself a transracist. Yup, there it is. I’m transracist. I think “transracial” is dumb and stupid and made-up and has no biological science and actually QUITE racist in its own way. Call me a bigot all you want. Maybe I’m prejudiced and ignorant and privileged according to you. But I am happy and proud to be a transracist! Where my other transracists at?
she’s nothing but an opportunist.
mentally ill? it must be nice to pick and choose when the illness has an impact, positive or negative.
when she can’t manipulate things to her benefit she moves on to the next con. 100% grifter.
This is black face. There’s more to being a black woman than skin tone and hair texture. She’s a liar. She’s offensive. One can identify with black culture but that doesn’t make one black or have African heritage.
Iggy Azalea and this woman share the same delusional view of what it is to be a black woman. They fail to acknowledge the essence or spirit of being black and instead focus on exaggerated exterior aspects of some black woman.
This is not identification but mockery. Rachel is a caricature of a black woman and it’s very offensive.
Rachel Dolezal didn’t really want to be black or an ally of black people. She wanted to be black only if it was in a leadership position. She wasn’t comfortable being a minority in her favoured culture because what she really craves is attention. By pretending to be black and going to great lengths to do so, she got to be a big fish in a little pond. She wouldn’t do great work for black people if it didn’t mean personal attention for herself. My unqualified opinion is histrionic personality disorder.
Exactly, someone said it below and it’s absolutely accurate. Rachel doesn’t want to be black, she wants to be a victim.
When you are a pathological liar, you are indignant people call you out on your bullshit and don’t believe you and question the absurd stories you weave. I have a feeling a lot more made-up hate mail that she sent herself type stories for attention are going to emerge. Yes, I agree with others, that her arrogance is astounding.
This lady sounds like she have a severily personality disorder
I don’t care one way or the other about this, but I can’t see how this woman’s getting so much criticism when Caitlin Jenner is doing to same thing.
I totally agree.
It’s not even remotely the same thing.
This is crap. The pendulum is going too far. Sexual identity is one thing, and it even has a biological basis. We’re fostering delusion if we go too far with this, like this story though. You can’t just make up fairytales, like those “Otherkins” and expect to be taken seriously. “Transracial” is made up. So like, what, make-believe that you do when you’re five is going to be something that we do now as a society? “I’m a unicorn and you have to accept me.” No, no I don’t.
Complete idiot!
I think everyone arguing about this story all seem to fall to one of two sides .Either she lied because she wanted to gain in various ways or she is some new form of victim called transracial. First of all, if you notice throughout her entire life thus far documented, this woman has lied about a great many things and usually has to do with some form of injustice against her. Second, her entire fake persona is more about victimhood than about race. Her version of an African American could be a story of a middle class black family or even a well-to do black family. It could be about a loving family. A strong family with a strong mother figure. Her fabricated persona could have been about any version of a woman who just happens to be African American. But her version is very specific: she is a victim. It is not that she just fabricated being black. She fabricated hate crimes. She fabricated a father who was a victim of hate crimes and discrimination. Even before she had appropriated a black backstory, she was already claiming to be a victim as a white person.
This is not simply lying for financial or personal gain. This is compulsive and deliberate lying for sympathy. It is quite obvious that regardless of her lying and the arguments of transracialism, this woman clearly has a fictitious disorder, like Munchausen. Normally, such a disorder presents with claims (even if self induced) of medical problems, in this case, it appears to be the use of a victim persona to gain sympathy and standing.
I decided to write my comment before reading anyone else’s, so I wouldn’t be unduly influenced. This women pisses me off. On the one hand, I can understand her deep caring about the African American community and culture and her desire to promote their interests. I can even understand her identifying more comfortably with the black community give that she has two adopted black siblings (neither or whom seem to care much for her). What I do NOT get is going to such extraordinary lengths to not only to change your appearance in order to deceive people into thinking you’re something that you’re not, but to have some black guy “pose” as your father and try to pass off your black adopted brother as your own son! Clearly, she has deep psychological problems; NOT because she identifies with black culture more than white culture (many people identify with other cultures and races more comfortably than their own) but they don’t go to the lengths of trying to mimic their appearance and pathologically lie about it for years.
I like what Time Wise says about it:
There is a lesson here for us, for we who are white and care deeply about racial equity, justice and liberation, and the lesson is this: authentic antiracist white identity is what we must cultivate. We cannot shed our skin, nor our privileges like an outdated overcoat. They are not accessories to be donned or not as one pleases, but rather, persistent reminders of the society that is not yet real, which is why we must work with people of color to overturn the system that bestows those privileges. But the key word here is with people of color, not as them. We must be willing to do the difficult work of finding a different way to live in this skin.
That is the crucible of whiteness for us, and trust me when I say, it is more than enough for us to bear, and exactly as much as we must. We need not pretend to the burdens of others in order to get busy making our whiteness, though still visible, no longer relevant to our place in the world.
http://www.timwise.org/2015/06/mimicry-is-not-solidarity-of-allies-rachel-dolezal-and-the-creation-of-antiracist-white-identity/
On a more snarky note, she’s only 37? Just the simple fact that she looks so old would’ve been a dead giveaway that she’s not black, because even light-skinned black people age really well compared to whites. Unless she’s lying about her age too…
In regard to your last paragraph, I wasn’t gonna say, but you know what I’m saying. 🙂
Sociopaths know that they are lying. They are master manipulators who lie to get what they want. Many of them are excellent at adapting to different roles to get what they want. They are also aware of what society deems as “right and wrong”, however they feel that they are the exception.
Dolezal may have a cluster of personality disorders (or one dominant with traits of others) working in concert, which helped to create this mess. In fact it’s quite common for personality disorders to present in clusters.
If she has psychopathic traits as well then there’s a good chance she will continue with the lie because she honestly believes that she is above society’s norms and expectations. And she would also be incapable of remorse.
I don’t see anything wrong with people feeling that they identify with one culture or another, but it became wrong when she set about deceiving everyone and even enlisting others to aid her in doing so.
She doesn’t seem to accept consequences for deceit.
She’s lost the trust of her community, and she did it all on her own.
Too bad, so sad.
I agree with SideEye who said, “This woman signed up for the parts that got her money and attention, not the parts that got her discrimination and pain.”
Here’s one example: it’s much harder to become a self-confident adult if you have in fact experienced a lifetime of racism, including the kind of microagressions that wear away at your soul. She became a ‘mentor’ to black people and especially back women who saw her as a role model of black pride. She faked her victimization so she could enjoy the admiration of those who really have been victimized. She had no experience of racism. She never had to process it, decide how to deal with it or find a way to give her life meaning in the context of being a minority. All gain, no pain.
My eyes nearly rolled out of my head when I saw the interview on NBC News tonight – she says she’s not sure her parents are her biological parents, she’s just been told that they are. Good grief, when will this end?
Most of what she did is the sort of thing that will get you fired and good luck getting another job. She lied extensively about her background, far beyond what many people apparently do often enough on resumes (I guess they assume nobody checks). She lied in great detail and taught classes and gave talks based on a totally fabricated personal history. Very weird, very uncomfortable for those who hired her, but she’s not the first person to do this either. Other people have claimed professional credentials, for example, that they don’t have and obtained work based on the lies- even in areas like medicine, including surgery.
But she also did some things that could get her hauled into court, namely filing false police reports. She’s wasted a lot of police time on investigating stuff that never happened.
This isn’t fundamentally about racism or white privilege. She chose to reinvent herself as African-American partly because of her family history (her brothers) and partly because the option was simply there in our culture. In a different culture, someone with the same disorders would simply choose something else to pathologically lie about. The peculiarities of American culture and the widely varying appearances of people grouped as black (a sociological oddity, we really are weird about genetically mixed people here if the mix contains African) made it a possible choice here. Her lies do hit all the buttons for discussion of American racism, but I think her choice was just an accident of culture.
A person can be mentally ill or disordered but still quite functional and quite aware they are lying, if they feel they must. It’s the feeling that they must where the disorder appears. Normal people wouldn’t feel that compulsion. There’s just something deeply wrong with her. This doesn’t mean that she is incapable of knowing when she is lying or that she can’t also knowingly commit criminal acts. But something is driving her that is baffling to people who are emotionally and mentally healthy. This is definitely not like “passing for white”, which was done for very understandable reasons to break loose of the restrictions of American racism (it tragically separated families, but gave their children better chances, more reminiscent of immigrants leaving their homeland forever, never to return and never to see their families again than “self-hate”). She also didn’t need to be black for financial gain – there doesn’t seem to be evidence that money was a motivation. She could have done the work she did without being black.
I’m probably in the minority but I don’t see a problem here.
Here’s why:
– she doesn’t identify herself as black “part-time” to get some benefits and then turn back to being white which has its benefits as well. she lives as a black person always
– she is probably delusional b/c to convince oneself that your father is black when he’s not is right up there with Ann Hatch’s trip through space BUT she didn’t kill anyone, nor stole anything
– finally, Toni Morrison said “there is no race, just racism.” I believe that. People arguing about who’s white and who’s black cause more damage than someone who chooses to be what they want to be and live it
The whole world has gone MAD!!! plain and simple she has told many lies she knows she’s white I really don’t care what she claims to identify with Im so sick and tired of ppl with the nonsense she’s no more black then Bruce is a women I don’t support that lie either so whatever what next ppl are going to say their part animal it won’t surprise me at all. No amount of tanning or plastic surgery will all of a sudden make you black its no difference that black face and the same goes for Bruce he’s still a man to be exact!!!!!!
I agree with the initial post, she is a con artist–scammer.
she sued Howard University, when she wanted to be white but now she is black, all of a sudden.
typical con artist, that is full of herself. I do not support her tom foolery.
not once did she ever apoligize to the NAACP for causing such a circus.
She is a low-down dirty stinkin’ liar.
“Liar, liar, pants on fire.”