The Rachel Dolezal story is just fascinating to me. Honestly, I don't even know where to begin. I have so many mixed opinions re what most people are saying is her deception for the past ten years. Not only does it amaze me that she has gotten away with this for so many years, I'm also interested to know what her home life was like growing up for her to want to create basically another life that doesn't include her birth parents. Funny enough those same parents were the ones who dropped this bomb on the world. They aren't racist that's not why they outed her. ( I wonder why they decided to now blow her cover).
Social media has blown up with a whole lot of different opinions even celebrities have chimed in. It's hard for me to choose which side to approach this from, so I'm going to reason from all the angles that I've been looking at this situation from.
The We Are All Africans Perspective.
Afro centric individuals like myself have always said that the black race marked the beginning of mankind. We quote scientist as saying that Africans were the first people on earth thus the human race is an extension of the black race making everyone black. So if that's the case and we have quoted scientists
saying all of that, then wouldn't Rachel be black? Wouldn't she have a right to claim "blackness" or the black DNA that is within her even though she was born to white parents. I don't know if that makes sense to you but if it doesn't go check out African roots of the human family tree by Errol Barnett (CNN,2013).
The Sexual Identity vs Ethnicity Perspective.
So many people are trying now to make sense of this by comparing Rachel's situation to Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner's story. I'm thinking, seriously still thinking about this. I'm not even sure how to express my thoughts on this matter......At the end of the day both can be looked at as how one sees themself.
Transgender individuals at times are deceptive, some don't right off the bat say "hey!!! I was born male or I was born female." often because of fear of how that news will be received by many who just don't get it. Caitlyn Jenner lived a life for years not truly being who she wanted to be and not being completely honest with family and friends. I think that is why some people compare what Rachel has been doing for the past years to what Caitlyn as Bruce was doing. Many who are supporters of Caitlyn's transition cannot support Rachel's choice because they don't see it has her being what her soul, heart and mind tells her she is (I'm still not sure that's the case either). People especially black people feel like we have gone through so much our ancestors have gone through so much by the white man's hand and here you have a white woman (Rachel) taking from us ahhhgain.
Sidebar
Let me also add that for years the LGBT community have come out trying to compare their fight to marry or adopt etc to racism. So can we now finally say that there is really no comparison. As it relates to identity though, many black individuals who bleach their skins and straighten their hair, wear wigs, weaves and colored contacts all in an effort to be white are ridiculed and many are told that it's because they don't love themselves and they are not proud of their race. It's never really said that it's because they "identify" as white and not necessarily because they hate being black. So why are so many people making those excuses for Rachel Dolezal?
So Many Questions.
Some people say that she did do some good work for the black community and the NAACP (Let me be honest, I can't list anything that she has done.) But she could have done all of that "good work" as a white woman. Though she has resigned due to this controversy, hopefully whatever good she has done will not go unnoticed. Black, White, Asian, Hispanic it shouldn't matter as long as you are not racist and you are about the advancement of all people you should be allowed to represent a movement such as the NAACP and have your work speak. NAACP history had white people at the helm of the organization. From what I know the NAACP does not discriminate. Even if she feels black she has built a life misrepresenting her ethnicity thus it brings into questions her morals, her integrity and maybe even her state of mind. A good leader must be a honest and trustworthy one.
You can see from my writing these are just all the thoughts running through my mind. They are all over the place..... I'm a Jamaican black woman a descendant of women and men who were slaves, so I understand why many of my people feel the way they do about Miss Dolezal. I really want to know why she did it. I'm not going to pretend like most of these writers that I have the answers. Becuase I don't.
The questions are not few at all. I want to know why have you gone through so much to be black, why did it take your parents outing you for you to confess? Do you take off the blackness when you go home? How can you truly say that you identify with the black struggle? Does your husband and children know that you were born white? Was it a game? Are you black?
Do you feel black? Why be black?
In the end, though I have so many conflicting views I'm left with one conclusion. Race does matter as much as it shouldn't it does. It doesn't matter IF I say again if she did it with good intentions Rachel Dolezal lied. I can't support or trust a liar.
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