I am fascinated and repulsed—to equal degrees—by Rachel Dolezal. As the entire world now knows, this 37-year-old European-American woman recently lost her job as leader of the Spokane chapter of the NAACP because of a long charade as a "transracial." The story has been thoroughly covered and debated, but I have my own views and feel compelled to state them.
The basics: Dolezal was born and raised in Montana to a family of Czech, Dutch, German and Swedish origin. Photos of her in her teens show light skin with freckles, blue eyes and long, straight blond hair. She was indisputably European-American. Her parents, God bless them, adopted four black kids and that must have been quite an intercultural experience for all concerned. Dolezal went off to Belhaven University in Mississippi mostly because of its “racial reconciliation” program. This is admirable, as is her decision to seek a master’s degree at Howard University, a fine black institution in Washington, DC. Some of her fellow students begrudged her success, as she focused on black art. What right did she, a European-American, have to appropriate their culture?
From what I can gather, this is when Dolezal began trying to establish “cred” in the eyes of blacks. She dated black guys and then married one of them, having two bi-racial kids. She dyed her hair and made it kinky, and underwent treatment to turn her skin an olive color. If not dark, at least it was darker. Some people aver that Dolezal began faking black speech patterns and lingo. She became involved in civil rights issues and got hired by the Spokane NAACP a year ago. Given that European-Americans had helped start that organization in 1909 and remain part of it even today, Dolezal’s contributions were valued. She did well, boosting membership and donations.
She must have known the truth would emerge, and it did in June 2015 when the New York Times showed up on her doorstep and asked some direct questions. She obfuscated, dodged and weaved, talking about "the challenging construct of race” and asserting that she "identified" as black. Soon after getting the boot from the NAACP, Dolezal appeared on the Today Show. Matt Lauer interviewed her and was, I think, quite gentle in his treatment. A great many people have sounded off on Dolezal’s strange odyssey, and here I am adding my two cents.
I will begin by saying a word about the sitting POTUS (president of the United States), Barack Obama. He is a bi-racial man, having a black father and a European-American mother. His father played a minor role in his life and died in 1979 when Obama was 18 years old. He was raised by his mother, and she alone was responsible for his education and travels in Hawaii and Indonesia. Nevertheless, he has chosen to identify as black, abjuring his European-American background. As a European-American myself, I find this puzzling and a bit offensive.
Dolezal’s life experience hardly compares with that of Obama. Her race and ethnicity are clear, and they preclude any assertions of being black. As stated above, I really do respect her for her interest in and support of justice for black Americans. Her reasons for getting involved seem heart-felt. But I cannot evade the bigger issue—Dolezal's denial of her own background. Is she ashamed of being European-American? While I have wrestled with racial matters since before she was born, I have never for a moment wished to be anything other than who I am. The number of self-hating honks seems to go up all the time.
I mean, why do this? Would a Korean claim to be a Mexican, or a Ukrainian a Sri Lankan, or a South African an Eskimo? Clearly not. They would know their background, be proud of it, embrace it and so on. Respect for other cultures is fine, but being one's self comes first.
I have black friends, and there have been a few black GFs in the past. I have read in depth about black history. I have said before that my non-racist credentials stack up fairly well with those of most European-Americans. But I am who I am. Such an attitude facilitates reconciling the races more than getting my hair processed and my skin darkened, and pretending to be somebody else.
A few years ago, I met a policeman from Oklahoma City who had big tattoos all over his arms. I asked him why. It was to somehow impress the many black people he dealt with on the job. I thought that was pathetic. The guy was letting black people define him. Blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan (d. 1990) often said he would rather be black. I call such individuals "negro wannabes."
I doubt Rachel Dolezal gives a heck about my opinion, but here is what I would tell her: Be yourself, girl! Acknowledge your European-American ancestry. That certainly would not prevent you from doing work on behalf of black people. Your relationship with them would be far more authentic than it has been with this fakery of the past 15 or so years. You are getting barbs from a lot of black people these days, and all of them are well-justified.
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