THE WHITE CHICK WHO SAID SHE WAS BLACK

boblonsberry.com ^ | 06/16/16 | Bob Lonsberry

[shortstop]

The boobs are fake, too.

I’m talking about Rachel Dolezal, the recently fired Spokane NAACP president who told everybody she was black.

As part of the national discussion about presenting ourselves as who we want to be, as opposed to who our DNA says we are, it’s worth noting that she dyes her hair and has had implants.

And somehow we’ve got to navigate the social minefield of to what degree the world allows our physical and cultural identity to be of our own determination, and to what degree social norms can fence us in.

How much is personal expression and comfort, and how much is dishonest charade?

Rachel Dolezal is probably a bad example.

By pretending to be black, she opened doors of power and money for herself – she got jobs and she became a prominent person. When we lie for financial benefit and personal gain, that’s not self-determination, that’s fraud.

So she could be a crook.

She could also be a nut.

There may be some aspect of personal instability that caused her to completely reform herself, with her identification as black being as much about running away from something as running toward something else. Seeing her parents sit on their Montana couch and tear down the charade of her life makes you wonder about her upbringing and family relations. There aren’t many parents who would seek out reporters in order to humiliate their child and destroy a life she has made for herself, no matter how much they disapproved of that life.

Another problem with Rachel Dolezal is that there is an arrogance to her action. By filling the role she filled, she kept someone else from filling it. By presuming as a white woman to speak for Spokane’s African-Americans, she denied Spokane’s African-Americans an authentic and actual voice. In speaking for oppressed blacks, she oppressed them herself, by putting her voice and face where theirs belonged, by presuming that she was better at being black than a real black person would be.

So Rachel Dolezal might be a bad example.

But she does raise a point: Who are we, really?

And to what degree can we embrace a culture or identity we weren’t born into?

Generally, I think we are very free to migrate culturally across the society.

I have a cousin and a sister, for example, each pushed away from their rural New York upbringing by the bad economy, who have lived now for decades in the South. They both have completely embraced the culture of their respective new states. One speaks like a North Carolinian, and the other speaks like an Alabaman. Their affect, colloquialisms, food and values are all of their new home – and are a repudiation of the place and culture in which they were raised.

They are very much identical to their southern neighbors, and they have been free to make that transition of culture and identification.

Is race different?

And is race only different when the labels involved are “black” and “white?”

Iron Eyes Cody, an iconic Native American actor for decades, was 100 percent Italian. I know a woman who presents herself as Native American, but who is herself of completely European heritage.

In fact, I don’t think it’s uncommon for white people to claim a Native American ancestor. I was myself crushed to get the results of a genetic test and learn that my own family’s stories of Native American heritage were false.

Beyond race, people adopt cultural expressions all the time. There are bikers and goths, hippies and thugs. People see a way of living, they feel comfortable with or drawn to that way of living, and they embrace it – dressing, speaking and living in a new way as they do so.

Are they all posers and fakes, or are they simply engaged in the pursuit of happiness as they define it?

When a Jew becomes a Catholic, or vice versa, we don’t question that new affiliation, do we?

Is falling in love with a culture or identity you weren’t born with wrong?

Clearly not.

Is embracing that culture or identity wrong? Can you claim it for your own?

That’s where it gets dicey.

Especially across the black and white divide, and particularly when it comes to the grievances of a people.

For example, when Rachel Dolezal presented herself as black, and as a spokeswoman for wronged black people, she assumed for herself the litany of wrongs done to black people. She de facto presented herself as the daughter of slavery and a victim of Jim Crow, and as someone who had faced whatever disadvantages a black person in America might face.

She didn’t just claim an identity, she claimed a victimhood. She rode somebody else’s pony. What others had endured at great cost, she claimed freely for herself.

That’s troubling.

It’s akin to someone claiming to be a Holocaust survivor when he’s not.

You can feel sorrow for the Holocaust. You can study it and its survivors. You can respect them and their experience, and advocate for their interests and the lessons their experiences teach.

But when you falsely claim to be one, you’re not an admirer, you’re a liar.

Which gets us back to Rachel Dolezal.

Any person can clearly admire and feel drawn to the various cultures that are black America. A person of any race can embrace the history and the struggle and wrap themselves in the culture. Like most cultures, it will typically embrace back and welcome the newcomer. Blackness – like whiteness or any other identifier – is pretty flexible and fluid, and means different things to different people.

And it is clear that the people of Spokane – black and white – consciously or unconsciously played along with Rachel Dolezal. She is obviously a white woman wearing a friz wig – every TV and newspaper picture of her shows that. If she was pretending she was black, she wasn’t the only one – an entire city pretended along with her.

And that was all right. And it's probably all right most of the time.

So be who you want to be.

But don’t lie.

Especially if your lie gets you a paycheck and social prominence.

[Nevadan]

Another funny and relevant movie I haven't seen anyone mention on the Rachel Dolezal front is “Malibu's Most Wanted”. Jamie Kennedy plays a young privileged white guy from Malibu who is enthralled with black culture and is a wannabe rapper. He and his rich friends all self-identify as black. His father, played by Ryan O’Neal is running for governor and is embarrassed by his son. He hires two black actors, played by Taye Diggs and Anthony Kennedy to kidnap his son, ‘B-Rad’ and take him to the ghetto to scare the black out of him.

[DJ Taylor]

So, it’s now illegal to falsely claim black privilege.

[TexasCajun]

But before she was Black:

NAACP Imposter Sued School Over Race Claims

Rachel Dolezal alleged she was victim of white discrimination

[RikaStrom]

Oh and on that fake painting website, she was stating that she was interesting in going to medical school...

She’s a pathological liar.

[IrishBrigade]

And the left asks the question - why would anyone choose to be black and take on all those “burdens”?

also, the left interminably asks the same question regarding homosexuals...when it is obvious that such an identification is manifestly beneficial, in both cultural and pecuniary matters...

[Sacajaweau]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3125889/Now-race-faker-Rachel-Dolezal-faces-claims-ART-WORK-plagiarized.html

[rktman]

“micro-aggression against flat chested women.” Uh, even NANO in some cases

[cyclotic]

I love 70’s R&B music. I can listen to Stevie Wonder, the Spinners and the Fifth Dimension all day.

I identify with that sound.

But, I can never look back on when I was a little nappy headed boy, when my only worry was for Christmas what would be my toy.

The writers cousins may live in South Carolina and Atlanta, but bless their hearts, they are not accepted by true southerners as true southerners.

[Raycpa]

Histrionic personality disorder is characterized by a long-standing pattern of attention seeking behavior and extreme emotionality. Someone with histrionic personality disorder wants to be the center of attention in any group of people, and feel uncomfortable when they are not. While often lively, interesting and sometimes dramatic, they have difficulty when people aren’t focused exclusively on them. People with this disorder may be perceived as being shallow, and may engage in sexually seductive or provocative behavior to draw attention to themselves.

http://psychcentral.com/disorders/histrionic-personality-disorder-symptoms/

[moovova]

Thank you :-)

[jmaroneps37]

What happens when White start calling themselves Black to get Affirmative Action benefits? Will Whoopie Goldberg say its okay?

[Nevadan]

The parents knew about their daughter's fraudulent existence for some time, but didn't come forth to expose it. But when they were questioned by reporters, they spoke the truth.

Apparently, their relationship has been rocky in recent years. Rachel rejected them. She didn't want any white parents to show up and blow her cover, while she was claiming that her real father was black and that her white stepdad was abusive to her. Meanwhile, she was claiming that they were abusive to her adopted siblings (which the siblings deny). Since she also claimed to have been born in a tee-pee and having to hunt for food, can you imagine having her white-bread parents showing up and people asking them about the experience?

[GeronL]

I think she will end up in a rubber room under 24 hour observation

[MrB]

Today I’m “identifying as” a person that everyone gives stuff too.

Don’t be a “everyonegivestuffto-ophobe”.

[printhead]

booty implants

[traderrob6]

Thats good.

[kiltie65]

I’m Caucasian, so is my niece. We both live in California. She actually got some sort of financial relief on her college fees recently because she claimed an proved she was a minority there...so maybe the pendulum is swinging back. Affirmative action in reverse. Years ago, I remember personally coming in second on the testing for federal employment in our county, just because a black girl had a 10 point preference, and I was miffed at the time. Being 2nd, I had no trouble getting federal employment, but jobs should be given on aptitude, especially government jobs where the citizenry is bearing the finances. And it’s not the top scorers to worry about...it’s the ones who only made 60 on the test, a failing grade, but get bumped up to a scant 70.

[MRadtke]

“She needs to be a victim in order to get the attention she feels she deserves. What better way to become a victim than to pretend you are part of a victimized group. Sad, sad day for her. I hope she gets professional help. The parents did nothing wring...they answered some simple questions that exposed her. But of course, she’s victimized by that too.”

This is true. There are people out there that aren’t happy unless they feel they’re being persecuted.

[I want the USA back]

“Especially if your lie gets you a paycheck and social prominence”

So she went Black to get a paycheck and social prominence. But I thought that there was White Privilege! You mean she willingly left the world of White Privilege to join the world of the oppressed? So she made money off the change? That sounds like Black Privilege to me.

[Rummyfan]

So she could be a crook.

She could also be a nut.

I vote BOTH!