In defense of Rachel Dolezal (race is a social and political concept, not a biological one)

So she lied. She portrayed herself as being something she's not, in order to serve a political cause. Is that really so terrible?

There are gays who hide their sexual orientation in order to get ahead in the Republican Party.

It's even been rumored that some people doctor their own photos on dating sites.

We ought to start by remembering that race is a social and political concept, not a biological one. There is far more genetic variation within racial groups than between them. So breaking down the myths around what constitutes "blackness" or "whiteness" is actually a good thing.

“Race” is kind of an amalgamation of several real phenomena and some socially constructed ones.

What is real and intrinsic that distinguishes people from one another in real, legitimate ways that are “race” related are nationality, native language, family, and ancestry/lineage. Family includes biological parentage as well as legal parentage (which may be non-biological). Ancestry is a broad category related to having ancestors from various continents. This is the closest thing to race.

But here is how race is different from these things: Obama is considered a black man or African American.This is primarily due to physical ethnic (i.e. “racial”) characteristics such as dark skin and broad nose and lips that are larger in comparison with most other ethnicities. (There is nothing intended here as an insult.) The reality is that Obama has very little in common with others who are black / African American.

Obama is foreign in most ways from most Americans whether black, white or other ethnicity. He is multi-national, multi-lingual (he speaks Indonesian), multi-ethnic, and was raised in a way most of us cannot relate to.

But as a racial stereotype, he is simply black.

Forensic investigation of a crime scene will not determine the “race” of a victim or perpetrator. Some racially-related information may be gathered, but racial category is not something that can be specifically identified. Sex can, however.

“to say that biology is not the driving factor in a person’s appearance, what we commonly understand as ‘race’ and that this biology is not passed down from generation to generation does not make a lot of sense.”

Like I said, race is a social construct. Biology does determine the features you mention. And we often ascribe these features to racial categories, but race is not tied to any specific set of genetic markers. Any “race” can be dark or light. Any “race” can have straight or curly hair. Any can be tall or short. Any can be fat or skinny. Any can have long noses or short. Etc.

Identifying people by race really serves little to no purpose.

EOE and race preferences do not distinguish whether someone has ancestors who owned slaves, fought to free slaves, etc. Obama probably has no ancestors who were American slaves. He probably does have ancestors who sold black slaves to Americans. Yet racial biases and quotas do not take into account these factors. So someone like Obama could get an advantage in college entrance or job placement or government contract awards even though his ancestors may have done nothing but cause race-based enslavement of blacks, while a white person whose fore parents never owned slaves and lost lives and property fighting to free slaves might be disadvantaged by the “racial” quotas.

“presupposes a definition of race that I do not think is shared by average people”

“Race” defies definition. There is one human race. There are languages, nationalities, families and lineages. But how much in common do two people need to have in order to be in the same “race”? How little can they have in common? How many “races” are there? When addressing these issues it becomes apparent that “race” is a social construct.

I am missing or misunderstanding some points of your comments. I grew up as a depression ‘poor’ youth in the years before WWII. My brother,who died in the battle for Okinawa, and I played with and were teammates of boys from several ethnic backgrounds. Of special note was our relationship with “black’ people who we came to admire as a neighbor and family friends. Whether you think of such differences as not being of different ‘races’ is your take. Later in life after service in WWII including overseas I had very close relationships with Chinese and other what I called cultural groups. I never despaired about thinking/believing that in my lifetime I have had good friends from what I considered different ‘races’. My life’s experience tells me that denial of ‘race’ is like denying there was ever a Tower of Babel.

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