White NAACP Leader Says She Identifies as Black

[MadVillainy]

The racial identity of one of the most prominent faces in Spokane, Washington's black community is under question after her parents produced a birth certificate that showed she is white.

Rachel Dolezal, 37, is the head of the local chapter of the NAACP and has identified herself as African-American. But her Montana birth certificate says she was born to two Caucasian parents, according to CNN affiliate KXLY, which also showed an old family photo in its report.

CNN tried to reach Dolezal for comment by emailing and calling her late Thursday night, but was unsuccessful. Likewise, CNN was also unable to reach Dolezal's parents.

Dolezal has represented herself as at least part African-American in an application for the police ombudsman commission.
And she has presented the public with a different family photograph posted to the local NAACP chapter's Facebook page. When she announced her father was coming to town for a visit, she showed herself standing next to an older African-American man.

Dolezal's public racial identity came under scrutiny on Thursday, when a reporter from KXLY held up that photo asked her a simple question.
This is how the conversation went:
"Is that your dad?"
"Yeah, that's...that's my dad."
"This man right here's your father? Right there?"
"You have a question about that?"
"Yes ma'am, I was wondering if your dad really is an African-American man."
"That's a very -- I mean, I don't know what you're implying."
"Are you African-American?"
"I don't understand the question of -- I did tell you that, yes, that's my dad. And he was unable to come in January."
"Are your parents...are they white?"
Dolezal walked away from the microphone, leaving her purse and keys, and took refuge in a nearby clothing boutique.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/12/us/washington-spokane-naacp-rachel-dolezal-identity/

Is transracial a thing

It's cool to speak up for Black rights, no matter what race you are. But identifying as black is just weird to me

 

[C. Lee]

I saw this on the TODAY show this morning....bizarre.

 

[Teelie]

It does bring up a lot of questions on what it means to be something/one. You can't change who you are but you can change who you identify as. But then you run into this problem.

The new frontier beyond being born one gender and feeling you are the opposite. Now you are born one race but feel you are another. People are still struggling with transgender now we have transrace. We've barely even got homosexuality acceptable to the majority of the population (slim majority that maybe).

 

[MadVillainy]

It does bring up a lot of questions on what it means to be something/one. You can't change who you are but you can change who you identify as. But then you run into this problem.

The new frontier beyond being born one gender and feeling you are the opposite. Now you are born one race but feel you are another. People are still struggling with transgender now we have transrace.

Yeah a lot of people are bringing Caitlyn Jenner up. If she can identify as a women why can't someone identify as a different race.

I don't know. It just doesn't feeml the same to me.

 

[C. Lee]

The difference is to me....Caitlyn/Bruce isn't denying they were once a man....this woman is denying she was really caucasian.

 

[Schlosser85]

Yeah a lot of people are bringing Caitlyn Jenner up. If she can identify as a women why can't someone identify as a different race.

I don't know. It just doesn't feeml the same to me.

Because she has sexually transitioned physically from a man into a woman.

Bruce didn't just declare himself a woman and deny he was ever a man in the first place.

 

[GENERAL RAAM582]

I identify myself as a dog. Ruff ruff.

 

[Teelie]

Yeah a lot of people are bringing Caitlyn Jenner up. If she can identify as a women why can't someone identify as a different race.

I don't know. It just doesn't feeml the same to me.

The difference is to me....Caitlyn/Bruce isn't denying they were once a man....this woman is denying she was really caucasian.

Because she has sexually transitioned physically from a man into a woman.

Bruce didn't just declare himself a woman and deny he was ever a man in the first place.

One example is not representative though. This woman is no more representative of people who call themselves transracial than Caityln Jenner is of all transgender people.

For example, I knew a transgender woman who did not initially identify as such. She kept this a secret and only later revealed her past once she felt comfortable telling me. This does not mean all transgender people are liars any more than it is they all tell you first thing they used to be the opposite sex. Coming out as something other than what you used to be can be a dangerous thing.

With this woman there might be underlying circumstances behind it. Completely arm-chairing it here, I would say she really does believe herself to be black but has a cognative dissonance to know it is not true at the same time.

This isn't the first time someone has identified as another race (even excepting cases of light-skinned people passing for caucasian) although it is probably the most extreme recent one to come up all the more so with social media and everyone throwing their two-cents into it about whether it's appropriate or not.

 

[Kar]

I've been laughing at this since yesterday. The deception.

 

[GENERAL RAAM582]

I think the difference is... hasn't there been examples of transexuals throughout all of history. I mean, they couldn't do anything about it, but I am sure that there are examples of it for years. This "I identify as black man" is horse****. Has this ever happened before?

 

[Teelie]

I don't know specifically as "a black man" but yes, transracial is nothing new and has not been new for a very long time but it is also something very rarely acknowledged. Usually you could only openly identify as some other race or ethnicity if you closely enough resembled them.

Transgender (and to show the pedantry of identification, transexual is something else) is also as old as there have been males and females but identifying as such openly was a fast way to being killed.

 

[Lily Adler]

Okay the way some of you are talking is making me think there's a possible transracial surgery I'm not fully aware of...

 

[Teelie]

Tropic Thunder.

Not as yet but it does seriously bring the question to when (as opposed to if) such a surgery can happen.

 

[Greens]

Okay the way some of you are talking is making me think there's a possible transracial surgery I'm not fully aware of...

Kyle pulled it off

 

[Lily Adler]

The scene where he plays basketball still hurts to watch.

 

[MadVillainy]

That whole episode hurts to watch

Bu it was funny

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

I don't see the big deal.

She wants to identify with black people for whatever reason, why publicly shame her for it?

Is it really that different from a brunette who pretends to be blonde?

I'm all for being proud of how mother nature made you but if that's the real issue then they're alot of people who have much to answer for, not just whites who pretend to be black.

 

[C. Lee]

I don't see the big deal.

She wants to identify with black people for whatever reason, why publicly shame her for it?

Is it really that different from a brunette who pretends to be blonde?

I'm all for being proud of how mother nature made you but if that's the real issue then they're alot of people who have much to answer for, not just whites who pretend to be black.

Not quite the same as a brunette pretending to be blonde......

1) Makes a post on internet announcing her father is coming to town, and posts a pic of her and an older black man standing together implying he is her father.

2)Filled out official forms where she checks off race as African American.

The first thing is family problem, the second thing could bring legal problems for falsifying official forms.

 

[Evelisse]

every recreational use of the N word she may have been using in and among her black friends...oh boy.

 

[MadVillainy]

I don't see the big deal.

She wants to identify with black people for whatever reason, why publicly shame her for it?

Is it really that different from a brunette who pretends to be blonde?

I'm all for being proud of how mother nature made you but if that's the real issue then they're alot of people who have much to answer for, not just whites who pretend to be black.

But here's the thing

Saying youre black when your not to the point of marking on a government form is different than just having an affinity for "black culture" or whatever culture.

And with the blonde/brunette argument. I don't there are many people who are seriously discriminated because their hair color.
I mean I don't think that "Im not going to rent an apartment to them because he/she is a blonde" is a major issue American society today. I could be wrong.
Does she worry if she wont get a job, loan, whatever because she's black? Or does she worry that she will be profiled by the police because she's black. No those negative things aren't all that being black is about but idk I just feel identifying as black but going through none of the hardships that many blacks have gone through is a little iffy

Paul Mooney said this once: "Everybody wants to be a [n-word] but don't nobody wanna be [n-word]" Everone wants to be black until they realize "Wow this aspect of being black sucks"

And I also think C Lee and Schossler raised a good point that another huge thing is that she's denying that she ever was "white"

But also at the end of the day, she's doing good things in the black community. She's not hurting anybody by doing what she's doing and she seems to want to make positive impact and I don't think she should be criticized for that

 

[Schlosser85]

But also at the end of the day, she's doing good things in the black community. She's not hurting anybody by doing what she's doing and she seems to want to make positive impact and I don't think she should be criticized for that

She can do that without lying about her own ethnicity though.

 

[Kar]

That's the issue. Apparently she's been falsifying reports of hate crimes against her to the NAACP as well. Lemme find the link...

 

[MadVillainy]

She can do that without lying about her own ethnicity though.

I agree

I never said she should lie and I never condoned it, but IM just saying at least she is doing some good. Ive seen people on other sites criticizing her for even leading a chapter of the NAACP.

 

[C. Lee]

Did she get a job at the NAACP that would have normally gone to a "real" black person by impersonating one?

 

[MadVillainy]

Did she get a job at the NAACP that would have normally gone to a "real" black person by impersonating one?

idk. Im sure she's not the first or only non black to lead a NAACP chapter.

This whole thing is just beyond bizarre