Honestly I try to avoid certain subjects because they tend to be lightning rods for controversy and I think life's too short for bullshit, but still some things I just have to comment on. Rachel Dolezal has been on the radar because she essentially lied about her race and as a result it's led to a discussion on identification, race, and so on. In her latest interview, with Matt Lauer she said that she identifies as black. Okay let me tell you why I have a problem with this.
There is a huge difference between identifying with something and actually being it. You can identify with whatever you want but that doesn't change what you, or who you are at your very core. The fact is that she is not black she is a caucasian woman, end of story. She spoke in her interview about the "black experience" and I'm wondering what the hell that means. Let's put a focus on that for a sec, blacks were enslaved for hundreds of years, seen as less, treated unfairly, discriminated against and made to fight for their basic human rights, is this the "experience" she is referring to? Perhaps someone can explain to me how she was a part of that experience in her middle class upbringing.
In her interview with Lauer she stated that she as a little girl would draw picture of herself with a brown crayon. Does using a brown crayon qualify a person as being black? I drew self portraits with a red crayon but it doesn't make me Satan. I find her bullshit offensive because I have studied enough about civil rights struggles to know that this kind of move is, unwittingly or not, a huge slap to the face of every protester that was made to suffer major indignities during the Jim Crow era.
Let's put it in perspective, she identifies as black and feels that she has to lie about her race, she even claimed that an African American gentleman was her father. So does this mean she thinks she can make a difference in race relations by lying? It's clear Rachel doesn't know a whole hell of a lot. John Brown was a white man that was willing to take up arms in the 1800's in order to abolish slavery. Brown was influenced by black abolitionists such as Frederick Douglas and Soujourner Truth. John Brown did not identify as black, Brown did have a belief in freedom.
My point: RACHEL YOU ARE WHITE, MUCH LIKE YOU WHERE WHEN YOU SUED HOWARD UNIVERSITY AS A WHITE WOMAN FOR RACE DISCRIMINATION.
I am not a psychologist but you have this person wanting to be black, another man wanting to be a woman, and it seems these examples initiate some social dialogue about freedom and being who and what you want to be? Of course, a word you never hear uttered during these pseudo-intellectual diatribes is r e a l i t y ! Look down at your crotch! Whatever you have there or don't have there has determined whether you are a man or a woman. It is not subject to any kind of interpretation as far as I'm concerned. Wanting to be black when you are white is another example of ego trying to trump reality. Short people want to be tall. Fat people want to be thin. Ugly women want to be beautiful. Dissatisfaction abounds but reality remains. When I was a little boy, I wanted to be Superman when I grew up. I still can't fly and still don't have x ray vision! I did by a nice cape! ha ha ha ha
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