With wars, prison breaks, the
NHL/NBA Finals, World Cup Soccer, a newly minted acronym (JEB = John Ellis
Bush) presidential candidate, Democrats abandoning the President on the Trade
bill, and a shark biting off an arm of two different teens off the North
Carolina coast, the Rachel Dolezal saga hardly warrants a mention. That, however, is the beauty of having one’s
own blog. Unlike LeBron, I don’t have to
proclaim myself the best in the world to write about what I choose, and today,
I choose Rachel; Ms. Dolezal, if you’re nasty.
(That’s a cultural literacy/pop culture reference that you either get,
or you don’t). Conduct a web engine
search of Janet Jackson’s “Nasty,” if it escapes you. And yeah, I know the rule: The joke didn’t
work, if you have to explain it. My
blog; my rules.
In my view, there really
isn’t a lot to say. To immediately frame
this in a different, and sobering, if you will, light, simply imagine if,
beginning today, I decide to “Identify as white.” OK, once you quit laughing, assuming you know
me, really what if I did that? If,
because I attended an historically white high school, matriculated and earned a
graduate degree at a PWI (OK, another cultural literacy reference/Predominantly
White Institution), spent a career working in majority white organizations,
lived what some people would consider a middle class existence, and reside in
suburbia, can I successfully commit cultural appropriation and declare, once
and for all, I’m white; end of discussion?
Can I? Really?
Before you spit out your
coffee, or whatever your morning beverage of choice is, let me make it
perfectly clear, I have no plans to either shed my locks, or begin any sort of
bleaching treatment. I’m black; Ms.
Dolezal is not. End of story!
Now, many folks smarter than
me, and of much greater acclaim, have weighed in on this story. Frankly, I think it has taken up more time
and space than is warranted. But we are
a nation of excesses, so it is not unusual to immerse ourselves in flights of fancy
while real issues go unaddressed.
Be that as is may, there are
multiple issues at play here with the Montana-born, former Spokane, Washington
NAACP President. They include, among
others:
Is
Ms. Dolezal black?
Did
she misrepresent her race on various job applications?
Did
she lie about whom her parents are?
Did
she lie about whom her father is?
Did
she lie about whom her child is?
Did
she lie yesterday by saying she began identifying as black at age 5?
Has
she done good work in her roles, while identifying as black?
The bottom line here is, not
that hard to decipher. Moreover, I’m not
writing any of this to persecute the woman.
There is a lot to like about black culture and the African American
experience. A number of people have been
appropriating it for many years for that very reason. To that end, despite the fact Ms. Dolezal is
not black, misrepresented her race on job apps, lied about who her parents are,
lied when identifying someone who purportedly was her father, lied by saying
one of her adopted brothers was her son, and lied yesterday when she said she
began identifying as black at age 5 (according to her parents), she has
apparently done significant and good work in roles afforded to her as a result
of her various deceptions, misrepresentations, and lies. To that, I must say, she may have been able to
do all those things by asserting that as the white woman she is, she was
committed to advancing society in the same ways she did, in those same
positions.
I applaud Ms. Dolezal…for
her goals and the aims that she achieved while pursuing those goals. Her tactics and methods; those leave
something to be desired. And I would
add, those tactics and methods proved to be the instruments of her undoing.
There has been a lot of
airtime and web space devoted to how much black folks disdain Rachel
Dolezal. That may be true; but I am not
one of them. I think she made a number
of questionable judgments, employed a series of deceptive practices, and she
may be, as her parents have contended, delusional. In fact, as I make mention of her parents, it
is essential to note, it was they who exposed her canard. And while it seems to me, they are really the
people most angered by all this, they only responded to questions posed by the
media after the media sought out them.
Ultimately, if an accusatory
finger points at anyone, sadly, it must be pointed at Rachel, herself. I’ll say this, her journey already has the
makings for a book, movie, or TV deal…”Black Like Me: The Rachel Dolezal Story!”
I’m done; holla back!
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my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com or http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com. Find
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