The Miseducation of Rachel Dolezal

By now just about everyone has heard about the controversy surrounding Rachel Dolezal, the NAACP President of the Spokane Washington Chapter who was just discovered to be white. Dolezal would hardly be the first white individual to hold a leadership position within the NAACP. Further, we all just celebrated Caitlyn Jenner's revelation of self-defined identity. Not to mention Dolezal didn't exactly opt for a position that affords more privilege. So what's the big deal?

Firstly, she lied. Lied by omission, lied by fabricating evidence to bolster her claim of blackness, lied by appropriating styles that are conscripted by society as being representative of black racial identity with the purpose of being presumed black. If being white was not an issue in terms of barring her from her work with the NAACP, then her disguise served no purpose other than making her feel more comfortable at the expense of legitimate black experience and struggles. PoCs are born into a social system in which race has material affects on their lives. Hate crimes are not a fantasy. Prejudice is not an abstract frustration. Lack of access politically, educationally, socially, in employment, and in so many other areas is not an idea of whimsy and wonder. This is reality. And that's where Dolezal's privilege shows. At any point, she could have stopped what she was doing, slipped out the back door, gone blonde, stopped tanning and *POOF* white lady, with all the access that affords. PoCs do not have that choice.

But there are people who pass for white! you say? Yes. Some. And that choice, the choice to live with privilege or deny it becomes a matter of conscience. But there are ways in which a person passing for white is different than a person passing for black. Passing for white doesn't threaten white people because white status is a position of power. If a PoC has the ability to live with the privilege of whiteness in the eyes of society, white people are basically saying "It's okay, you're one of us. We accept you. Come join the party." It's complicated, but only for the individual faced with the choice of accepting or rejecting the privilege that assumed whiteness brings. On the other hand, white people posturing as PoCs are encroaching upon an identity that historically has been one of struggle, exploitation and dehumanization at the hands of white people, and that is usurping an identity that is also relatively less powerful by contrast. It is therefore extremely problematic to just assume "hey, I feel black so I'm black now." Dolezal's struggles are not the struggles of institutionalized racism and systemic violence against her for her racial and ethnic identity. There is no way for her to understand what that reality is like, no matter how many people she fooled. Again, she could walk away. She had an out.

Which is why this is okay...

...But this is absolutely not.

But Caitlyn Jenner! you say. If Caitlyn Jenner can decide to change her outward reality, why can't Dolezal do the same? Good question. I'll start by discussing what gender means. Gender is a socially constructed concept that defines how a person identifies along a spectrum of masculine to feminine to neither to both. Our definitions for this gender or that are based upon cultural and traditional norms which evolve over time and are dependent upon our communities of association. In the 19th century boys wore pink to show status. High heels were originally designed for men to make them taller and were abandoned when women began to wear them to look more masculine. Regardless of your physical body, your likes and dislikes and activities and behaviors may be considered more or less masculine/feminine depending on the era, and those variables create your gender identity. Your gender identity is where you place yourself on the spectrum based on how you feel. Like it or not, it is fluid and ever-changing. The choices to pursue surgery or otherwise cosmetically or aesthetically change one's outward appearance among transmen and women are no different than any other elective surgeries or procedures or even hairstyles or makeup for cismen and women. It is how we express our gender identity, our feelings about where we self-define, and it helps others to see us in the same light.

But race now. Race is also a socially constructed concept as there is no biological or genetic difference between races. There are no subgroups or DNA mismatches. Our basic makeup as human beings is identical. So race is how society has chosen to categorize people based upon common physical characteristics among groups, most notably skin color. This has been done as far back into recorded history as we can find. Historically, different races have been exploited or dehumanized, abused and discriminated against rationalized by everything from junk science to political or economic motives. And specifically in our country, black Americans predominantly find their history in the West-African slave trade. Even those who do not have experienced the ramifications. Reformation, the Ku Klux Klan, lynchings, segregation, Jim Crow, the Civil Rights Movement, fire hoses, rejection from places of business, slurs, fear for their safety, even fear from officers of the law who should be protecting them. You don't get to just pick that identity because of your feelings. It simply doesn't work that way. It is not your place to say you belong. Not now. Not ever.

But I think my biggest issue is this: in attempting to "change race," she not only adopted styles mimicking what she saw commonly among black women, she conflated race with culture. She attempted to "act black." How exactly does one "act black"? When you ask yourself that question, you can immediately see why her changes in behavior to fit in are problematic. The only way to act black is to BE BLACK. If you are black then however you are acting is acting black. Anyone who is NOT black and attempting to "act black" is choosing behaviors informed by stereotypes.

Further, there are ways to be an effective traitor to your race and the internalized racial scripts our society lives with without pretending you're not white. The disguise is indicative of race shame and guilt, neither of which are useful in deconstructing inequality. Step one of being a white ally: Own your shit. Admit your privilege and the ways you benefit from it. Admit that your starting line is just a little closer to the finish line than many of the other racers. And then actively seek to reject that privilege. Don't take advantage of it when you have a choice. Point out when someone is catering to your privilege and ask them not to. Speak up when you see injustice. Listen more than you talk. Don't make it about you. Dolezal did a lot of good for the NAACP and PoCs. But she could have done a lot more by not pretending to be something she was not. Allies are important to the cause too, and transparency is critical.