The Dolezal Dichotomy
In her Netflix documentary, Rachel Dolezal asks the question: “Why do we still want to go back to that worldview of separate races?” By insisting on identifying as black while acknowledging her disassociation from her biological white roots — isn’t that what she is literally doing?— Antonia Nikki.
Like most people who rely on the Internet for global news, I, too, was in complete disbelief when I turned my phone on one morning of June 2015. Rachel Dolezal, a then 38 year old college instructor and social activist, was confronted in regards to her publicly portrayed ethnicity by a TV journalist looking to expose her biological ethnicity. Little introduction is needed for Dolezal, who has now gained worldwide notoriety with her unwavering identification as a “trans-racially black” biologically born white woman — a term she still identifies with today.
Three years after the scandal, Dolezal was featured in a documentary detailing her and her family’s experiences following the aftermath of the scandal. The Rachel Divide, directed by Laura Brownson for Netflix in 2018 garnered mixed reviews. There seemed to be a genuine effort by Rachel Dolezal; her adopted sister, Esther Dolezal; her formerly adopted brother-turned-adopted-son, Izaiah Dolezal; and her biological son, Franklin Moore, to garner sympathy and provide an insight to the “how’s” and “why’s” of the scandal that unfolded. In between interviews, Brownson had also inserted clips of and interviews with members of the black community who were (rightfully) angry and upset with the ex-NAACP chapter president; almost as if to quickly shut down any empathy the viewers had garnered towards Dolezal throughout the film.
As featured in the documentary film as well, Dolezal talked about writing a memoir on her personal experiences and life struggles to explain her views on her racial identity. In the film, Dolezal claimed the top 30 major publishing houses had turned down her manuscript. Despite the clear controversy, Dolezal was still determined to put her own voice out in between the increasing number of aired interviews and talk shows she voluntarily participated in that portrayed her in a light she disapproved of. Eventually, her book “In Full Color: Finding My Place in a Black and White World” was published by BenBella Books in 2017, two years after her public disgrace.
Race: A Man-made Social Idea or a Legitimate Biological Divide?
The concept of “race” is a relatively recent (in the history of mankind) human-invented social construct, largely credited to, unsurprisingly, the same person that founded the study of zoology. Surprisingly to most people, especially racial advocates, the founder of the concept, Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, believed there is no “inferior race”. Unfortunately, in many countries, including the United States, the idea of race to colonize was introduced by Europeans to uphold oppressive social structures that benefitted them financially. After many centuries of upholding this idea globally, it has now been regarded as the norm. Many still struggle to live with and without the ingrained stereotypes, and governments still continue to enforce the idea of race by requiring their citizens to legally declare their newborns’ racial identity based on a government issued printed checklist upon birth. Throughout life, race is still a determining factor in achieving success, as evidenced by major life events such as negative discrimination by banks for mortgage loans and affirmative action by schools for student admissions.
So if the concept of diverse race is more than just a biological construct, is Rachel Dolezal allowed to claim the black identity? Dolezal often repeats the claim that she has viewed herself as black since she was young, claiming that she would draw self portraits with “brown crayons” and “black curly hair” despite being a fair-skinned, blonde haired child. As an adult, Dolezal is now a fake tanned-skinned, black weave-wearing woman. So if the concept of race is only skin deep, is Dolezal allowed to “be black” as long she looks and acts the part she stereotypically believes to “be black”?
The New York Times published an article and Dolezal had quoted one of the article’s lines in the documentary film: “Dolezal’s unwavering certainty that she was black was a measure of how seriously she believed in integration: It was as if she had arrived in a future that hadn’t yet caught up to her”, she reads and chuckles in agreement. Dolezal’s increasing presence in the news and tabloids led to debates on the existence of racial fluidity and even discussions comparing the concept of “transracials” to transgenders.
On Being Black: Who Gets to Decide if One is Qualified Enough?
Rachel Dolezal has been criticized on her chosen identity by those who are black by birth for not understanding that being black is more than just skin deep. She has also been criticized in an article by Ijeoma Oluo for The Stranger on her failure to recognize and understand the nuanced experiences that are uniquely black; including the fetishizing portrayal of Africans in the National Geographic magazines Dolezal claims to enjoy as a young girl that apparently has already identified as black, even back then.
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In her Netflix documentary, Dolezal asked the question: “Why do we still want to go back to that worldview of separate races?” By insisting on identifying as black while acknowledging her disassociation from her biological white roots — isn’t that what she is literally doing? By implying this idea of the identity of being white means being the oppressor and the identity of blackness as the oppressed, is this technically not separation as well? She identifies as black because she identifies as being oppressed by her white parents; which no doubt based on her stories of her abusive childhood, she has every right to feel. However, by equating blackness as simply by being the oppressed, is that not discrimination in it’s own way?
Hence, since Dolezal was, and still is, being oppressed by her white parents, she views herself as the same as her abused black siblings. She views being white as the equivalent of the “bad guys” and in her Netflix documentary she implies that “going back” to being a white person means to be subjected to the punishment of her parents again. She wanted to disassociate herself so much from her white family that she started viewing herself internally as not white, or as Dolezal says in her NBC interview with Amber Payne, she “challenges white privilege”. Dolezal even started dressing in styles she perceives to be African American so her outward appearance reflects how she feels about herself on the inside. Some may even argue the racist threats she received over the years were (allegedly) fabricated to make her feel like she is genuinely a part of the black community hence she understands the struggles of living as a black person.
In order to be black, she made herself believe she fit in the black stereotypes she created in her mind (as evidenced by her self-portraits in a stereotypical African fashion on her Instagram posts and in her Netflix documentary). She spent years making sure she looked black on the outside by altering her physical appearance constantly; and she made her environment as stereotypically black as she possibly can by only creating portraitures of black people, suing her way into Howard University (a historically black dominated university), surrounding herself with black people by integrating in the black community through organizations such as the NAACP, and even having a black father figure: all for The Full Black Experience™. Which begs the question, does living like what you believe to be a stereotype of a race make you that race — and is that not inherently racist on its own?
While it may be true her view of blackness being the oppressed has led her to doing good work that favors the black community; positive discrimination, at the end of the day, is still discrimination.
This is not to discredit the work that Dolezal has done for the black community, specifically in Spokane, as it is evident that she has done amazing social work that has greatly benefited the community. In the Netflix documentary, she talks about how she only started to view herself as black after she gained custody of her black sibling; and in the documentary as well as her book, she describes maintaining the “black look” as a way to create a “black family” for her children. However, you do not have to be black to be a mother to black children. You do not have to be black to care about black people. The same way you do not have to be a woman in order to support women’s rights.
Therein lies the difference between being “transgender” and “transracial”. To be discriminated against for being transgender means you are being condemned and oppressed, often from birth, because of your identity. Whereas being discriminated against for being transracial means being condemned for choosing your oppressors and oppression, not from birth, but because you can, at any point in your life.
Trans-Racialism: A Form of Trauma Compartmentalization?
Rachel Dolezal speaks on the struggles of her life not being so black and white, quite literally. She implies she is a person that is simply beyond race and ethnicity. Despite her social justice work, she fails to realize that her worldview and actions are, in fact, also a part of the problem. She equates her situation with the white-passing “fluidity” of the family members of black and bi-racial authors Audrey Smedley, Dorothy Roberts, Ann Morning and Allison Hobbs, while at the same time fails to highlight that the reason many women of similar fate choose to pass as white is to survive a white centered community in the first place, and not to identify with “white struggles”.
However, while Rachel Dolezal may not have been the Spokane NAACP chapter president if she identified as a white person throughout her life; I have no doubt that through her creativity, her resilience, strength and tenacity, her passion for social justice issues and minority rights, her history with her black family members, her interest and knowledge in the African diaspora culture, her strong political views and her great love of her community members, I have no doubt that she would have still led herself towards the amazing social work she has done and the recognition and achievements she has currently accomplished in her life.
At the end of her documentary film, Dolezal appeared dejected, refusing to accept that, as someone who was born and raised white, had no say in being a black person. She had spent so many years distancing herself from her “whiteness” to escape her unhappy childhood with her white family, and finally found her home in “blackness” with her new, chosen black family — only to be shunned and cast out by them as well because she was proven not “black enough” by her rejected white family.
It seems as if Rachel Dolezal is using the identity of “blackness” as a form of escapism to run away from a traumatic past and to find a supportive community that understands her life struggles. Perhaps the only way she can finally find the real family she yearns for is by accepting her past and herself; and understanding that it is absolutely okay to be white. Her personal struggles are not unique to the black identity, and to view it as an absolute is insulting to the black community. By understanding that it is okay to be different yet still have similar experiences, then perhaps she can finally create that community with a sense of belonging she dreams of — and realize that there is nothing inherently good or bad to be a white person; as it is to be a black person.
Instead, she pushes her way through the community she now struggles to be a accepted by, by living her life under her new African inspired legal name of Nkechi Amare Diallo; in hopes of finally having a seat at the table she has longed for her entire life, yet again.
