This comment pretty much sums it up, I think. I suspect she will eventually lose all her positions as more information is revealed, but initially, it isn’t shocking that the local NAACP would stand behind her out of appreciation for past good deeds if nothing else.
Another comment cryptically described the whole thing as “very Spokane” in that it was offensive, yet hilarious. Still puzzling that one out.
“Another comment cryptically described the whole thing as “very Spokane” in that it was offensive, yet hilarious. Still puzzling that one out.”
I can’t say I’m a Spokane expert, but I can say it’s a bit of an odd place. Extremists of all flavors, I suppose, you don’t know quite what you’re going to find. Something ridiculous (but hilarious) would make sense. Just my general impression.
I don’t know if this has already been posted. Reading this interview makes me really question her sanity or at least her ability to discern truth from fiction. It’s not just her race. Knowing what I know now about her, it was difficult to believe anything she said.
http://easterneronline.com/35006/eagle-life/a-life-to-be-heard/#sthash.1aUk3liU.K5WYAPcA.dpbs
Here’s the thing. While the NAACP may be standing by her now… Do you really think they would be fine with a white kid applying for a college scholarship AA kids? No way.
I read that her mother said she was raised with adopted Black siblings in Mississippi? Mom and dad live in MT. She was married to a Black man, and presumably has Black kids. She also said she does not consider her biological parents her parents…and that there is animosity bc of legal issues about what brother did to the sister…so maybe that precipitated her being raised by others?
So I wonder if maybe she was raised by Black family members, and does in fact consider the man on facebook to be her dad?
I’m not saying that makes it “right” or “wrong”, but there is more to this story here…does anyone know what the deal is with the adopted siblings she was raised with, or what caused a rift that would make her parents “out” her to the press (not exactly parents of the year)?
Great article, @SlackerMomMD - thanks for posting.
Might that include creating her own personal version of her history?
Off the present topic, but does anyone remember the fake ads for the “Hotel/Motel Art Fair” on SNL?
My understanding is that she was raised by her white parents who also adopted a number of black kids. AA local article said that she was known to be white at Howard and didn’t try to make people think otherwise. It said that after years of covering for her and not speaking out, after a combination of her denying her parents and reporters asking them directly they “outed her” just by answering honestly. They didn’t run to the press unprompted.
At any rate, she doesn’t say that she “identifies” with the black culture she said that she “identifies as black”. We know that a hormonal wash of blackness didn’t change her brain and self concept in utero. This isn’t at all like the fluidity of gender or sexuality although she is appropriating the language. It sounds like even by the one drop rule she is as white as the driven snow. I read a piece by an actual black woman on her hair who noted that in all her research she nailed the fabulous “natural” black hair look with that shorter curly do.
I think that the people who have pointed to the weirdness of Spokane are on topic. It isn’t a place that has an historically powerful, educated black community. In such a place it is unlikely that she would have been able to pass. Spokane County is 86% non-Hispanic white. Cheney, the home town of Easter Washington University, is known primarily for being the home of Fairchild Air Force Base. In a place like Spokane she was able to swoop in and pretend to be an educated, powerful black woman because there was less competition.
Anyway, the whole things seems pathological to me and totally unlike someone claiming to have some Native American ancestry somewhere in the past. That requires no physical transformation and as has been pointed out up-thread is kind of a part of the American mythology for better or worse. Most of those people don’t try to authenticate their tribal association (because they can’t) or try to appropriate the real burden of social challenges that have unfortunately been part of the story of reservation life.
Interesting points from her interview. Apparently she has been victimized her entire life, but instead of becoming bitter, she has chosen to empower. If these are lies, this is mental illness, or she is a pathological liar. What sort of explanation could she give. Who would pretend all these things, are any of them true? Any single one of them would be traumatic, and the problem is, if you mix truth with lies, people will not believe any of it.
Born in a teepee, had to hunt for their food with bows and arrows. Jesus Christ is the witness on her birth certificate.
Physically abused by her parents, punished by “skin complexion”, with a baboon whip similar to what they used in slavery. An abusive ex husband who threw her and their child across the room. Drugged with a date rape drug by a rich man, that she was powerless to fight against, since he had so much money. Cervical cancer. Death threats, noose left at her home, robbed, threats to kidnap her son, but the police were unable to catch anyone.
Wonder if we will hear another litany of victim stories from her. In fact, I wonder if she has written a book on her life of suffering? I will be really curious to hear what the explanation ends up to be.
^ seriously?. That is whack a dooooooo!
Munchausen syndrome + dysmorphia.
Armchair shrink hypotheses is that she felt rejected by parents, had to compete for attention vs adopted black kids, leading to feeling that she needs to become black to have worth.
“Armchair shrink hypotheses is that she felt rejected by parents, had to compete for attention vs adopted black kids, leading to feeling that she needs to become black to have worth.”
Maybe…but aren’t the adopted black kids something like 20 years younger than her?
I will have to look for the article link, but I read yesterday that one of her major art projects at Howard was done from the perspective of a black man.
Why isn’t it? If it is possible for a biological male or female to feel that they really are the other sex, and choose to have their body medically altered to match, why isn’t it possible for a person to feel that they really are another race and alter their body? If it is possible for a slim person to genuinely believe that they are fat and starve themselves to death, why isn’t it possible for a white person to genuinely believe she is black and alter her physical appearance to match. I’ve seen no rational explanation, just denial.
Don’t get me wrong, I think it seems that she has a screw or two loose. But still.
“Why isn’t it? If it is possible for a biological male or female to feel that they really are the other sex, and choose to have their body medically altered to match, why isn’t it possible for a person to feel that they really are another race and alter their body?”
Okay, sure, why not?
However, your life being based upon and entire passel full of lies, accusing many people of evil and wrongdoing against you is an entirely different story.
Oh, no doubt.
I think the comparison to trans people is incredibly offensive and completely off-base, even though it’s being used to attack trans people all over the Internet. The two aren’t remotely comparable. I explained why I think that in post 667 in the Caitlyn Jenner thread; see http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/18574019/#Comment_18574019.
There’s no evidence that she received scholarships intended for AA kids or that she claimed to be part African American on her college applications. Everything I’ve read says she presented as white at Howard getting her MFA, which indicates to me that she was also white while at undergrad in Belhaven in Mississippi.
From her father’s interview, she was a 4.0 student and a talented artist. I don’t think her scholarships were due to scamming AA.
http://www.cdapress.com/news/local_news/article_385adfeb-76f3-5050-98b4-d4bf021c423f.html
A story quoting her adoptive black brother:
http://gawker.com/rachel-dolezal-to-adopted-black-brother-dont-blow-my-1711141632
“the fact is that we view someone’s race as being a product not only of appearance and identification and how you’re perceived and (e.g., for African-Americans) having a particular history of shared oppression, but of having a particular biological ancestry.”
That’s true, but it was true of gender until very recently, too. Society took the position that gender and inherited biological determinants were the same thing. If your DNA carried a Y chromosome inherited from your father, you were male, end of story. Widespread recognition of people for whom this is more complicated (trans people as well as those whose XX/XY status doesn’t match their sex) is a pretty new phenomenon.
That’s no reason to de-legitimize Caitlyn Jenner, but it is a reason to look closely at the problem Dolezal presents and wonder whether we will always see race as necessarily having a biological component.