Rachel Dolezal stumps me with her explanation

/ June 16, 2015

My mind and heart are open to those who don’t identify with the crowd with which they are born.

Simply put, you bet expectations put upon you by others can be the wrongful weight of ten thousand mornings past and future.

Gender. Sexual orientation.

When people in our world raise their fists, shake at the sky, and proudly shout about who they really are and will forever more be, I say yay.

I watched Matt Lauer interview Rachel Dolezal this morning on Today, and as she explained her indignance behind her resignation as a leader of the NAACP, I wasn’t as quick to agree with her.

Explaining her stance all these years.

Explaining her stance all these years. (From today.com)

Dolezal was angry at her parents for outing her to the NAACP for being something other than she’d been claiming, on her resume and in public life. Her Caucasian parents thought it was time to step forward and tell people that her daughter was not black.

Lauer had a photo of Dolezal, when she was 16 she said, behind her on the screen. She admitted that at this point in her life, she considered herself a Caucasian.

After that, she attended Howard University, a predominantly black and considerably prestigious institution of higher learning in Washington, D.C. She began to identify herself as a black person.

That’s why she showed people a photo of a black man she considered her father.

I’ve agreed that you cannot identify with the gender of which you were born, and change it. And that you can love whomever you wish, changing expectations and norms that stood for generations.

Can you change your race because you feel different from the rest of your tribe?

What do you think about the case of Rachel Dolezal and the bigger issue of race identification?

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58 thoughts on “Rachel Dolezal stumps me with her explanation”

  2. I really didn’t think she should have been made to resign, because I don’t know why it mattered what color she really was. I don’t think it’s a big deal, UNLESS or EXCEPT if she got free scholarship money or some other preferential treatment by lying about her race. But I do think it’s a little odd.

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  3. It’s the goofiest thing I’ve ever heard of, and I would know. Many years ago there was a woman I worked with who claimed she was white because her last name was Irish. You could look at her all day, listen to her talk, and no matter what she did she just wasn’t going to be white. And she wouldn’t have been accepted as white by whites either.

    Which is what made this story even odder. Her husband and family knew (leaving the parents out of it for the moment), her former school knew, and I’m betting at least a few people on the NAACP there had to know. That she was allowed to pass, lie on her application, and squeeze out another qualified person who truly was black (although if she’d gotten the position while saying she was white I wouldn’t have cared) was insulting.

    I’m sure she won’t be going away any time soon, but I wonder what message this sends to her kids…

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    • The deception was terrible, Mitch. And you’re right. Who cares what color she is if she did a great job for the people she was representing — if the controversy hadn’t of happened because she was caught deceiving folks?

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  4. Yea. Not a big fan. It’s okay if she wants to live her life identifying with a black woman but the lies and deception shows the lack of integrity. She needs help with her identity crisis and the life of lies. Sad.

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  5. i am a little astounded by it, and i feel a bit sorry for her. to me, it seems she has some character issues and is looking to be someone who she’s not. she could have still done a world of good and supported social justice without all the lies. it seems a bit like a compulsive liar situation –

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  6. I did not get to see what she was saying yet so I don’t know about the interview or the ‘whole’ story. But I am bothered that ‘after’ the firestorm hit she says she “identifies” as black. For some reason her using that term bothers me. It bothers me that she wanted people to lie. Did she use this phrase five years ago with her parents and friends who have known her all her life and say “I identify as black”, or in some other form say she believes inside she is black. Or did she adapt for the job. I just get the feeling she is grasping at and taking advantage of a “phrase” to make her story more emotionally charged. I mean, if we accept others who “identify” as something other than what they were born to, why can’t we accept her. I feel it’s part of a defense for her actions. But….it’s just my gut reaction to what I’ve heard so far.

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  7. I don’t get it Mark – If a man wants to be a women and we are ok with it then we have to be ok with this too – the problem is not that she identified as black, the problem is that she deceived everyone about her heritage. If she worked in the same office and got to her position of leadership with all knowing where she came from – no problem.

    And on a further note: if my dog wants to be a cat – I may not understand it but will fully support her and change out her bone for a ball of string.

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    • I get what you are saying, Wayne. I agree that the deceit is at the crux of her problem more than her decision to identify with a different race. Thanks for pitching in. It took me awhile to get my mind around this new piece of information about our world. But yes, it’s her choice to “identify anything” she wishes.

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  8. We live in a crazy, mixed up world bro Mark. Bruce decided to be Caitlin, white wants to be black, black wants to be white, poor wants to be rich, rich wants to be richer. No one is satisfied with what God made them to be. Now we are dealing with never ending war, school shootings, young people taking their own lives, that one hitting home, corruption all over the world, destruction of the earth by careless people. I have decided I’ll be from Venus now, so I’m no longer an Earthling. Still a Kentucky person, but now located in Kentucky, Venus.

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  10. Hi Mark! I have heard just a mention about this in the news & then I watched the video interview you were talking about. I think she lied and she knew she was lying. I think the fact that her race had anything to do with her job at the NAACP is racist. I also know people need to work and there’s that old saying, “fake it until you make it.” Especially sad if she was really good at her job, because everyone loses. It’s a complex situation. Having said all that, I am not judging her because quite frankly it’s none of my business 🙂 Again, I think often the media has us paying attention to the wrong things . . . and the world is watching . . .

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  12. Who knows what science will enable us to do in the future Mark! Perhaps we’ll be able to alter our DNA to be another race and perhaps in those days we will be able to say I’m really black or I’m really white or whatever. I have never claimed to have any heritage besides the one I have, but as a child I wished I was aboriginal. I felt they were free-spirited and proud warriors with a great respect for all life. ❤
    Diana xo

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  13. Didn’t see the Today interview, but on CNN, the parents seemed very cautious, even tight-lipped. What came through to me is that she is in need of some serious help. I honestly don’t know how to feel about this one; but taking a leadership role in the NAACP ? What was she thinking ? We may never really know.

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  14. And apart from whether her actions are offensive or not, which it is largely up to the Black community to decide,
    A) If she thinks she’s just “human,” and that’s what’s important, then identifying as a specific race shouldn’t be so important to her.
    B) She blatantly lied about a lot of things and she can’t really get around that

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  15. Oh thank goodness she’s finally opened her mouth. But I can’t say I appreciate anything she says very much… I don’t think she is correct or justified in what she’s done, but aside from that I dislike the way she handled the interview and I think she said “complex” a few too many times when it’s really not as complex as she reckons.

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  16. Since race isn’t a scientifically valid distinction, only a cultural construct, I think people ought to be able to identify as any “race” they wish. Ms. Dolezal made a mistake being dishonest about her origins, but aside from that I don’t see what the big deal is. Her biological family is dysfunctional and fighting each other in court. Perhaps she’s ashamed of them.

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  20. I think she has a lot more issues other than her declaration that she was black. She denied her family and identified another man as her father. In the venacular of the kids; she is cray cray.

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  21. Interesting question Mark. To be quite honest I don’t give much thought to my race.Many would say that is because I am Caucasian and don’t have to think about it. Personally I think it is a bit deeper than that. I don’t care – when I look at people I look at their hearts (that sounds mushy but I mean I look at their words and behaviour as an indicator of who they are) not their skin color. To switch race is a clear indicator that race is important to you – making you racist. I don’t like associating with folks of that inclination. 😀

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