Posted on 06/14/2015 4:10:14 PM PDT by rickmichaels
The Rachel Dolezal story has got to be the top tale of 2015 so far. It so perfectly exemplifies where North America is at right now culturally.
You’ve probably never heard of Dolezal before. But her story reads like a headline from the fake news site The Onion. Except it’s not fake.
Here’s the Buzzfeed headline: “A Civil Rights Leader Has Disguised Herself As Black For Years, Her Parents Say.”
Dolezal is the president of the Spokane, Wash., chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
She also teaches African-American culture at Eastern Washington University.
Then in an application to be on her city’s ombudsman commission, Dolezal claimed to be African-American.
This controversy all came to light after a local TV station, KHQ, looked into the matter and spoke with her parents.
The station posted pictures of Dolezal today, in which she appears to be a light-skinned black woman, with pictures from a decade ago or more. In the older pictures she’s clearly a Caucasian blonde or ginger.
Interestingly, the NAACP head office is defending her. Or at least not showing shock and not severing ties with her. They’ve issued the following statement: "For 106 years, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has held a long and proud tradition of receiving support from people of all faiths, races, colors and creeds. NAACP Spokane Washington Branch President Rachel Dolezal is enduring a legal issue with her family, and we respect her privacy in this matter. One's racial identity is not a qualifying criteria or disqualifying standard for NAACP leadership."
Naturally they’re just being smart and inclusive by accepting allies of all skin colours. And if a non-black supporter wants to volunteer and work for them and they want to promote that person up the ranks, that’s their prerogative.
But that statement is head office speaking. Surely not all their members are happy with this case? After all, she’s been misrepresenting herself.
Isn’t this a case of someone using a variant of blackface to take opportunities away from an actual person of colour? Doesn’t this qualify for the height of outrage?
It’s also a strange response for the NAACP to have because you don’t want this to be replicated or copied. I think it’s fair to say that at least a sizeable majority of black leaders out there should actually, you know, be black.
It’s like how I’m OK with one girl being Bruce Jenner, but I’d really rather it not get to the point where every girl is Bruce Jenner.
Whatever the legal issue Dolezal is experiencing, it can’t possibly excuse this racial play-acting. There’s obviously something else going on here personally or mentally.
The bigger matter, at least for the public arena, is what makes this story so culturally relevant. And also what makes it not really that much of a surprise this day and age.
Identity politics commands so much power at today’s cultural water cooler that more and more people are clearly afflicted with gender, sexual and racial anxiety. We're told gender is fluid. Will race be the next thing we're all supposed to alter?
In some ways it’s surprising these cases don’t happen more frequently.
Back in the 1980s our insecurities were exemplified by the awkward teenager trope of looking in the mirror and saying “who should I be today?” like they do in John Hughes movies.
These days it seems to have transformed into insecure adults staring at themselves asking “what should I be today?”
They are clearly transracialphobes.
Haters gotta hate.
Identity politics only matters if you serve THE Party. Otherwise you are a “race traitor”.
This is the Democrat view.
Very good!
People have just had a field day with this; I especially liked that one.
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