The Other Rachel
Is it possible for black women to become friends with a white sistah?
By Tracie Reddick
Rachel Dolezal’s claim to blackness didn’t upset me.
I’ve been around white girls who act black and sistahs who wanna be white.
To each its own. To thine own self be true. Do you. Isn’t that what we tell people.
“How I feel is more powerful than how I was born” Rachel stated in a published report. “I identify as black. Nothing about whiteness describes who I am.”
Hey, if she wants to be black like me, more power to her. After all, if you take skin out of the equation, we’re all the same, right.
I hate to sound like a reverse cliche, but one of my best friends from childhood was white.
A chick named Brandy who had more rhythm and soul than me. Her color was never an issue, she was simply one of us. And we didn’t hesitate to beat down any white girls calling her a nigger lover.
So, it was kinda sad to see all these black folks bullying Rachel for the one thing we say we want white folks to do: see us as one.
Hell, if Tiffany Haddish can call herself a unicorn, why can’t this white lady be black?
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Cuz she ain’t! I hear you.
Still, she looks like a sistah, been arrested for welfare fraud and changed her name to Nkechi Amare Diallo. She’s done her time, can we give her a weekend pass?
She’s earned it given all the hate that has been hurled her way cuz folks thought she was pretending to be black. Homegirl never backed down from her truth. You gotta give her props for that.
There’s a big difference between Rachel and white people who use black slang or adapt our demeanor simply for cool points. Like Madonna using the n-word. That shit was fake as hell.
Then there’s Teena Marie. We didn’t have a problem with her fire and desire to be black cuz she was talking square biz.
We put Teena, Bill Clinton, the so-called first black president, Eminem and any other white folks on a pedestal for the same ethnic love that Rachel was scolded for showing.
Why is it a sin for her to ‘fess up her feelings of blackness. There’s not a lot of white folks willing to jump on that bandwagon — not even them Kardashian girls pimping our culture. But, some of us love them, wanna be like them.
So, if people can say they were born the wrong gender, why can’t Rachel claim she was created the wrong skin color. She’s not alone in her sentiment. There are other white people who feel the same way and vice versa when it comes to black folks.
And scientifically speaking, black is not even a color. It’s the absence of color.
OK. I’m getting off track and starting to ramble. LOL.
I guess the point I’m trying to make is that I respect Rachel for transcending to a higher level.
She’s an example of Martin Luther King’s dream of living in a colorblind society and a world where Rodney King just wants us all to get along.
In this racially divisive climate, gimme more white people like Rachel and less like Donald Trump.
