Rachel Dolezal is not black in popular opinion and the fact that her chosen ethnicity is still under so much scrutiny is only testimony to how alive and real racism is in this country. If anything, this conversation we are having about this woman in a racially conscious and charged era is proof that we live in a time that is dominated by racial identity. Rachel has said that she has always identified more with being black than being white, but does that make someone a member of a different race? Rachel Dolezal was raised with black brothers. In her mind, she is black. So why should she be punished for feeling a certain way about herself? Actually, she is being punished for being deceptive and using benefits that she did not deserve. It is sad when nonblack people benefit more from being Black than actual Black people who are actually oppressed.
If she really believed she was black, would that be such a crime? Actually, it would. And not only would it be cultural appropriation, but it would also be negligible. Rachel was not born Black. She never faced racial discrimination and even when she infiltrated as a Black woman, she could easily take off her costume at will. She had no right to pretend to be Black.
Speaking of being born black, aren’t we all black anyway? Just different shades of it? Yes. But some of us have to actually live it and not just claim it when it is convenient.
Rachel Dolezal has been assisting a victim who has accused Dolezal’s biological older brother of child.
Rachel Dolezal, head of the NAACP’s Spokane chapter, has lied about her ethnicity.
