What is your race?
White, African American, Hispanic, Indian, Native American, Haitian American, Chinese, Korean or a combination of a few?
OK, so that seems like an easy question. Let’s try another one.
What’s your racial identity?
See, we have a more complicated question here. Do you even know what that means?
This question has come to the forefront of a media debate in the last few days and is centered around one woman.
Rachel Dolezal grew up with parents, Lawrence and Ruthanne Dolezal, of Czech, German and other European descent.
According to the Washington Post, her parents adopted four children, two of which were black. Her parents say that living with minorities, and her parents’ association with people of different backgrounds, aided in their daughter’s interest in the affairs of people of color.
On “The Today show,” the audience saw a picture that Dolezal said was of her 16-years-old self. She had long blonde hair, blue eyes, freckles on her cheeks and pale skin.
Via: nypost
At 37 years of age, her skin is tanner. Her hair is a golden brown hue and styled in tight curls. Her biological son is a young black man, and she recently gained custody of her adopted brother, who she now refers to as her son. She was also the president of the Spokane NAACP.
Dolezal isn’t just a woman who embraces black culture — she has been living as a black woman for the last five years.
Here are the quick summary highlights for those not intently following the story:
•“I identify as black,” Dolezal said to Matt Lauer on the Today Show.
•She resigned from the NAACP presidency.
•She told Lauer she grew up drawing herself with the “brown crayon and not the peach one.”
•She didn’t “stay out of the sun” and certainly wasn’t putting on blackface.
•The word “transracial” has been thrown around, describing her ethnicity.
•After alleged abuse in her family household, her brother Izaiah is now in her custody. Her two other brothers, Zach and Ezra, believe she perpetuates racism and do not speak with her, along with their parents.
•She attended Howard University, a historically black institution, as a grad student, where her father said they took her for a black woman and gave her a full scholarship.
•She is suing Howard for stripping her of a teaching position on the grounds that she was a white, pregnant woman.
•Several investigations are underway, determining if Dolezal violated any city policies by filling out papers with her race as black.
And those are just the highlights.
At best, Rachel is confused. She says this is less a question of race and more a discussion on what it means to be human.
To her the issue is more complex than the media has made it out to be.
Via: Flickr
To be honest, as a young African American woman, I don’t have a problem with Rachel being more comfortable around black people and black culture. DNA and personal preferences can be completely distinct entities within one person.
Even with regards to the “Ask Rachel” hashtag that went viral on Twitter, I’m sure Dolezal may actually know the answers to some of the questions. She is living the “black life” and this is when she feels most beautiful.
However, I still have a problem with the whole deal.
First off, you can’t change your race. And second, the comparisons to the transgender population are insulting.
You don’t have the ability, at least in this century, to reach into your DNA and pull out the Italian, the German, the African, or the Czech the way you can alter hormones or genitalia.
Yet Dolezal says she is a black woman. She wears her hair curly and darkens her skin and all of the sudden she is black. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works. Being black is more than just a color, or a style or a lifestyle. It’s a heritage.
#AskRachel started as a joke on social media, teasing that these everyday culture and pop culture references couldn’t possibly be things that Dolezal experienced.
Via: onlineathens
Sure, Dolezal may have known some of those answers, but she never really grew up with them.
The picture of a hot comb on the stove should make any young black girl cover their ears in memory of lost skin. Could Dolezal ever relate to that?
She also never had to sit and wonder whether her mom was braiding her hair so tightly because of a particularly fuzzy hair day or because of a room left messy and a bed left unmade.
Dolezal mentored young African Americans, implying the added bonus that she understood their experience. Sorry, you couldn’t have.
With recent events in the news dealing with the killing of young African Americans, both men and women (who get significantly less coverage), it seems insulting that Dolezal could be stopped by the police, wipe off some bronzer, take off her wig and live a white lifestyle again if she chooses.
My family doesn’t have that option.
I have no problem with Dolezal feeling more at home in black culture.
It’s not often you hear of people trying to pretend to be black, so maybe in some ways, it’s the highest form of flattery. She can be as immersed in black culture as she wants.
But she can’t be black when she hasn’t had to carry the baggage that comes with it.
Rachel, how could you ever understand?
Featured photo courtesy of: theday
