White NAACP Leader Who Passed As Black

[Pea-n-Me]

Here's what they're saying at essence.com

11 Questions We Have About the Rachel Dolezal Race Scandal

Photo Credit: Tyler Tjomsland/The Spokesman-Review via AP

The news of Washington state civil rights activist Rachel Dolezal lying about her ethnicity has everyone talking.

Dolezal, the president of the Spokane NAACP chapter, first came under scrutiny when she applied to serve as the city’s police ombudsman. According to local TV station, KXLY, the City of Spokane then began investigating her claims of receiving death threats. Furthermore, she claimed she was an African-American woman on her application for ombudsman, despite public records and a birth certificate showing that she was born to Caucasian parents.

For years, Dolezal has been passing herself as a Black woman. She received a Masters degree from Howard University and is a professor of Africana studies at Eastern Washington University. She has marched on the frontlines of protests and has generally been an outspoken civil rights activist, all the while sporting bronzed skin and Black hairstyles such as box braids or natural weaves.

As the story continues to develop, we have questions that we need answered to help us understand the thinking behind—and implications of—a racial deceit.

1. Why is this secret just coming out now?
For friends and family who knew the history of Rachel Dolezal’s upbringing all these years and watched her work in the public eye, why speak out now? Is there something more to the timing of this reveal? Is the motivation more than family drama?

2. What did she do to her hair?
Self-tanner is one thing, but faking a Black woman’s curl pattern and texture (and getting box braids) is another. We’re curious what steps were taken on her part to deliberately appear to be a woman of color.

3. If she had been honest about being a White woman all along, would we care that she dressed/styled herself like a Black woman?
We might've been a little peeved at her adoption of our culture, but we still would have commended her for being an ally.

4. What will her tarnished public image do to the legacy of her work?
Dolezal has been fighting on the front lines of major moments in the #blacklivesmatter campaign. That’s still important. It’s not a joke.

5. Does this make an argument for what it means to be Black?
If she isn’t someone who wears black face at work and returns home to enjoy a life of white privilege, can we really discredit how she views herself?

6. Is it possible to embrace her as she is (Howard education, laid edges, box braids and all), or is her experience null and void simply because she wasn’t born in a Black skin?
Now that she is exposed, it's likely that her existence will be seen as a joke. But does that mean that we should discredit her work?

7. Who is the victim here?
After being outed by her parents, should we sympathize with her for having her cover blown and possibly being outcasted by those whom we assume she identifies with? Or should we feel betrayed by her “#Transracial“ ways?

8. Why not be honest about your heritage and still commit as passionately to the civil rights cause?
In our fight for civil rights, we need allies that transcend colorlines. She might have had an even larger effect on the cause if she pursued her work as a White woman.

9. What on earth possessed her to do something like this?
In the age of Google and social media, why does anyone think they can get away with lying about anything? We’ve learned that nothing is secret, and this lie was nothing more than a ticking timebomb.

10. What is her definition of race and ethnicity?
She made a comment previously that she didn't want to explain anything "to a community that I, frankly, don't think understands the definitions of race and ethnicity." So if that's how she feels, how would she define the words?

11. Where does this leave her?
She has made international news for being a fraud. Although the NAACP has issued a statement standing beside her, will she continue to pursue her civil rights activism, or lay low from here on out?

http://www.essence.com/2015/06/12/11-questions-we-have-about-rachel-dolezal-race-scandal

 

[Disneychick75]

Here's what they're saying at essence.com

11 Questions We Have About the Rachel Dolezal Race Scandal

Photo Credit: Tyler Tjomsland/The Spokesman-Review via AP

The news of Washington state civil rights activist Rachel Dolezal lying about her ethnicity has everyone talking.

Dolezal, the president of the Spokane NAACP chapter, first came under scrutiny when she applied to serve as the city’s police ombudsman. According to local TV station, KXLY, the City of Spokane then began investigating her claims of receiving death threats. Furthermore, she claimed she was an African-American woman on her application for ombudsman, despite public records and a birth certificate showing that she was born to Caucasian parents.

For years, Dolezal has been passing herself as a Black woman. She received a Masters degree from Howard University and is a professor of Africana studies at Eastern Washington University. She has marched on the frontlines of protests and has generally been an outspoken civil rights activist, all the while sporting bronzed skin and Black hairstyles such as box braids or natural weaves.

As the story continues to develop, we have questions that we need answered to help us understand the thinking behind—and implications of—a racial deceit.

1. Why is this secret just coming out now?
For friends and family who knew the history of Rachel Dolezal’s upbringing all these years and watched her work in the public eye, why speak out now? Is there something more to the timing of this reveal? Is the motivation more than family drama?



http://www.essence.com/2015/06/12/11-questions-we-have-about-rachel-dolezal-race-scandal

A reporter from Washington approached her parents for an interview and they answered the questions honestly. Many reports make it sound like the parents actively sought to expose Dolezal’s lies.

I have a feeling that the NAACP may quietly terminate her when the ruckus settles.

Is wearing black face ok now? The practice is derogatory towards Black people. It's either right or wrong and can't be ok for one person but not for others. On the one hand I admire Dolezal’s work. The problem is she lied and not only did she lie but amongst other things, Dolezal tried to turn her brothers against the parents who adopted them. I agree with posts that she has possible mental issues.

 

[mnrose]

I'm not sure what the rules are exactly. When does it become legal for a person born one gender but identifies as another to be considered legally that gender? Post op? We know that transgendered people can be legally considered the gender they identify with at some point because even before gay marriage was legal post op transgender people were legally able to marry a person of their birth gender. So we know there must be a legal definition of male and female. If there were a legal definition of race you could compare race to gender but as far as I am aware the is no such definition. For that reason it is not possible to compare people who identify with another gender to people who self identify as another race.

It is a complicated legal process to get a birth certificate changed and thereafter to change the gender on driver's licenses and that sort of thing. You apply, hearings are held, etc. You can't just "decide" that you want to change your sex and get governmental authorities to agree that this is ok! LOL. I've never heard the term "transracial." If there is such a thing, I would imagine the process would be the same. This woman, unfortunately, has lied through her teeth numerous times and made no effort to go about her identification as black in any formal way. That's what makes her wrong, and why there is no comparison to Caitlyn Jenner or any other transsexual person.

 

[Goofy_Disney_Dad]

Right. Hey, I'm really a woman inside, will you be my wife? I doubt she was told that.

But you really don't know whether she was told that or not. Neither do I, so I try not to use it to start strange arguments on a message board about the subject matter.

 

[kimblebee]

Why would you say this?

Baiting. That whole post you quoted were things said about Caitlyn Jenner. The OP is itching for a fight and just isn't getting one.

 

[Goofy_Disney_Dad]

Baiting. That whole post you quoted were things said about Caitlyn Jenner. The OP is itching for a fight and just isn't getting one.

It certainly appears that way. Must be a boring Sunday afternoon or something.

 

[superme80]

I think she is a liar. So since she wants to be black can I be white??? I mean I am half white and I was adopted and raised in a white family. My husband is white and so are a lot of my friends. Does this mean I am white? Actually no it doesn't. I am half black and I would be denying a very important part of myself by saying I was white. I am not impressed with what she did. I think it is fine to identify with a culture, but you cannot change your race. You are what you are. You cannot change it. Embrace who you are.

 

[AddictedtoDoleWhip]

Baiting. That whole post you quoted were things said about Caitlyn Jenner. The OP is itching for a fight and just isn't getting one.

I agree, and I felt like there was a little pot stirring going on.

 

[EMom]

I am convinced everything she did to pass as Black was self-serving. She could have worked for the NAACP as a White woman. Plenty of people have. But she chose to con people. I really don't see it as that different from blackface and people get skewered for that all the time. She shouldn't get a pass. She chose to fool people, to lie repeatedly, to make others complicit in her multilevel lie and it was all to advance HER. Plenty of White people have worked for emancipation, voting rights, integration, civil rights, the NAACP, you name it, over the decades. They didn't pretend to be Black. She knew good and well she was White. She went to great lengths to deceive people.

She's not brave. She's a liar. A con. As such, you cannot believe a word out of her mouth. She could have done good, but instead chose an underhanded life of deception. She bronzed/tanned her skin, dyed and curled her hair, adopted a persona and a fake family and put on a show. It shows a lack of character, at a minimum.

I just keep picturing that Robert Downey character in Tropic Thunder.

 

[mom2rtk]

She's a lying liar who lies.

 

[Allison]

She's a lying liar who lies.

That sums it up pretty well.

 

[Dizlvr]

She's no different than a person claiming they have cancer so they can somehow benefit from that. She's a fraud.

 

[Hrhpd]

Plus how does one "feel" black when one isn't? I can see sexual confusion but I don't get racial confusion. You aren't really different IMO except for your skin tone and often sadly your experiences.

I agree.

Her own adopted brother (21), who is black, has said that her wanting to be black only started in 2011 when she moved to Seattle to get the NAACP job. He likened it black face. He said she is claiming to know the struggles of how it feels to be raised black and that she doesn't because she wasn't raised black. He claims she is only black when she wants to be. She warned him to not blow her cover about the fake black dad and to not mention Montana or her real parents.

I think the advocacy she has done for Black rights speaks for itself and she should be admired for it.

But why did she lie?

And what bothers me are the 9 claims of racial hate crimes to further her cause, the last one at least is now proving to be a fake claim. To me, there has to be some mental illness in there to fake hate crimes like that.

 

[AnAmericanInDisney]

It's not baiting. There are similarities between the two issues. What can you "declare" or "define" about yourself, and what can't you? Everyone on here obviously thinks it's okay to define your gender but not your race, and I can't understand why, to be honest. What's the difference?

 

[Hrhpd]

I'm thinking about going fishing later today. Does anyone know where I can find some bait?

 

[Hrhpd]

Right. Hey, I'm really a woman inside, will you be my wife? I doubt she was told that.

The fact that she was taking hormones at the time and was a solid b cup might have given her some suspicion. Caitlyn says Kris knew. Kris claims she did not. While it is a close call, I actually believer Caitlyn on this one.

 

[Hrhpd]

He's calling himself a woman now. If he has a Driver's License that says he is a woman, is that okay? He's lucky enough to not need scholarships, and is too old. If you can declare yourself a woman based on feelings, why can't you declare yourself black?

Did she lie about being a man in the beginning? Did she try to fake a parent who would tell anybody concerned that she was born a woman? No.

But the woman in question did try to pass off a person who was black which would give the appearance that she was born black and never was white. That is lying and deceptive and completely different.

There is no problem with her identifying she with the black culture and race. She can feel and look as black as she wants to.

But recreating her own childhood and history is flat out deception. She even said she lived in a tipi at one time. Claiming she knows by experience what it is like to be black is a complete lie and an insult to the black community.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

People have been stating the differences throughout the thread.

 

[LisaR]

So, transgender boy-to-girl people can apply for girls' scholarships and play girls' sports, etc.

For the record, people were overwhelmingly supportive of Caitlyn Jenner choosing a different identity. He said he felt like a woman for years and years. He married Chris Jenner anyway. Isn't that deception? How is that ok?

I think identifying with a different race is probably common. I used to work with a lady who asked us to a block party. She said one weekend as black and we would never go back. Sounded like fun.

BUT SHE ISN'T BLACK!!! Yes, a transgender boy who is now a girl can apply for a scholarship specifically for transgender people. What a girl can't do is SAY they are transgender, tell everyone who will listen that they have had surgery to become a female, receive a scholarship based on these "facts" only to find out it is absolutely not true. It turns out they were born female, have always been female, never had surgery, and aren't even remotely transgender. That is exactly what this woman did.

 

[Hrhpd]

It's not baiting. There are similarities between the two issues. What can you "declare" or "define" about yourself, and what can't you? Everyone on here obviously thinks it's okay to define your gender but not your race, and I can't understand why, to be honest. What's the difference?

Nobody has said that it is not ok to define your race.

What people are saying is that it is not ok to purposely lie and deceive about your race.

You are purposely twisting things.