The newest controversy to hit the internet is that of Rachel Dolezal. She was head of the Spokane Wash. chapter of the NAACP. The reason....she claimed she was black, however she is, in fact white (with some Native American mixed in). She grew up with a family that welcomed African American children into the home in the form of her parents adopting children into their home. She studied at Howard University, and teaches African American Studies at Eastern Washington University.
For the past eight years, Ms. Dolezal has been perming her hair, doing a full body spray tan and filling out applications as someone who has African American in their background. As I've seen stories about her I've heard a new term "TransEthnic", as someone who believes they are born into the wrong ethnicity.
Now I'm all for someone who dedicates their life to making changes in society. Whatever your cause and your fight, if you dedicate your life to your beliefs and the advancement of those beliefs, then I say go for it. My problem with Rachel Dolezal is that she lied. She tried to pass her adopted brothers off as her children, she lied on applications and she lied to NAACP. If she had just been straight forward and put her cause out there to fight the good fight, then I think she would have made a difference. Instead she's publicly shamed and humiliated, has had to resign and has come across as a liar.
I'm not sure I understand Transethnic. I'm ok being in this lout Italian body (although the birthing hips are something I can live without). I'm not sure her motivations, I'm not sure if she feels trapped in a white body or if she even knows what to believe about herself. I will be curious to see what happens to her in the future.
Crabbie Chris
Share your thoughts....do you think it's possible to feel trapped in the wrong ethnicity? Comment below.
Hi Crabbie Chris
ReplyDeleteGreat post and you bring up many good points.
I am totally supportive and understanding of most things TRANS. But Transethnic? Ummmm. . . that just does not cut it with me. Wanting to be black/mexican/asian/white does not make you so. You can be empathetic to an ethnicity, I get that. It seems to me that Ms Dolezal really just wanted to gain acceptance somewhere. She just chose a completely weird and unETHICAL way to do so.
On another note - her being the head of the NCAAP chapter in Seattle and being accepted as biracial speaks volumes about the black community. You certainly are not seeing the same acceptance from many white communities for our biracial president.
Katherine
I agree, but it does speak volumes about her and her happiness in her looks/body/mind. She has to be insecure? Mentally unstable? Lies so much she doesn't know the truth anymore?
DeleteIf she wanted to help the African American Community-awesome! lying to do so-not awesome.
She's not a dumb person, in fact she seems very smart. Has a good education, teaches at a university, where did it all go haywire?