But, he added: “She has over the past 20 years assimilated herself into the African-American community through her various advocacy and social justice work, and so that may be part of the answer.” He went on to say that Rachel cut off all communication with him and her mother, and “doesn’t want us visible in the Spokane area in her circle because we’re Caucasian.”...And: "Here Are Rachel Dolezal’s Responses So Far Concerning Her Race And Hate Mail."
On Thursday, Dolezal retained support from at least one friend and fellow member of the Spokane NAACP, the Inlander reported.... “In my opinion, it wouldn’t make a difference to me,” [Cedric Bradley] said. “It’s not about black and white, it’s about what we can do for the community.”
I found that story via Instapundit, who is making jokes like: "She's trans-black, don't shame her" and "She’s obviously transitioning, and we should support her choice." I'm simply noting that opportunity for humorous insight, not signing onto it myself. I want my distance from transgender jokes. But the analogy is significant and worth thinking about seriously.
As for trans-racialism, I think, to some extent, people do choose which race to identify with. It is, to some extent, a matter of personal expression and the general social convention is to allow people to simply say what race they are and not to question it. At what point is it ethically wrong? Presumably, it has something to do with whether you've taken some benefit that was designated for others, especially if that's the only reason you've chosen this identification.
ADDED: Here's something Meade wrote in the comments back in 2008. Looks really prescient now:
I'm hoping Barack has a sex change and runs for reelection as a white woman with a really even tan. Talk about historic! The first transgendered president formerly known as a white male. That would shake things up, wouldn't it? He could truly be all things to all people. He could write a sequel to his autobiography and title it Daydreams of My Mother, Myself.
Posts
141 comments:
She saw a racket that was appealing and made the most of it.
Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson were probably inspirations to her.
And, of course, Elizabeth Warren.
Absolutely hilarious. We're almost to the point where the whole charade crumbles.
I get your "wanting distance" from uncomfortable jokes, and I think that may be what Jerry Seinfeld was talking about when he was explaining why he doesn't do campus comedy anymore.
-XC
If it weren't all about will to power on the part of the left, we could talk about a lot of things seriously.
That's why the left answers questions with: "Reject first, ask rhetorical questions later."
They don't have an answer even to why I can't identify as a lesbian trapped in a man's body, which is apparently Caitlyn's thing.
How are these things decided? By unspoken rules that may never be acknowledged. If you ask about them, the response will be an insult, an unthinking rejection, and whatever modest rhetorical flourish that the liberal can muster at the time.
I would say, it's entirely possible for an individual to strongly identify with a different racial or ethnic group - without pretending or claiming to be an actual member of that group.
The situation here is reminiscent of "Black Like Me" by John Howard Griffin, except that what Griffin did was pure impersonation - he remained white underneath.
Watching libtards reconcile her with the stupid shit they've already said about Bruce Jenner and the shit they ignored about Elizabeth Warren = lulz.
So she's reverse-passing.
Doesn't affect me, doesn't bother me.
Althouse wants to maintain a distance because she knows that any response will be white hot vitriol, not rational discussion. That's because the left knows exactly where rational discussion would lead. To the obvious absurdity of their position, and to their true agenda, which is to seize power completely.
That's why they work so hard to get a rapist back into the White House.
I think you are missing the point here: the lady is nuts. That conclusion is also supported by the fake hate crimes that follow her around. Being ruled by nut cases it probably not a good thing no matter how clever the argument justifying the nuttiness.
Is it just me, or do a LOT of the more successful Blacks seem to have a lot of White in them? Historical figures, too. Just a coincidence, I'm sure.
Seriously, with the inexpensive DNA testing that is available now, I would think the Left would be running away from these issues as fast as they can. Not good for The Narrative.
American Indians believe that white people can be Indians. That it is a state of mind, and they know it when they see it. This doesn't mean that you can just "identify" as an Indian though. Usually those people are objects of derision.
At least so I have read from a couple of different Indian writers.
So I have a serious legal question. Is this "choose your race and gender" stuff legal, or do I go to jail when I submit a bid on a contract for my woman owned and disadvantaged minority business?
If race and gender are only socio-concepts, why do we need to mandate AA and racial/gender spoils systems for disadvantaged peoples? Why can't they just claim privilege as white males?
After all, it's choice not DNA that makes them disadvantaged...
tim in vermont said...
American Indians believe that white people can be Indians
Only the Indian writers who are not enrolled members of a Federally recognized tribe with a casino. Those guys aren't looking for white men to split the take with...
I taught Human Resource Management for 22 years and AA and related issues were always of great interest to me.
Back in the 90's I wondered just how one would determine whether a person is black or African-American and corresponded (by paper mail!) with the relevant person at EEOC.
She told me that as an employer, one cannot question whether a person is African-American or not. If they say they are A-A, blue eyes, fair skin and blonde hair notwithstanding, one must accept that they are.
What had stimulated my interest was a case at the time in San Francisco of 2 blonde, fair skinned kids whose parents claimed places in a special school under affirmative action because they were black. The kids and parents were both obviously white but under federal law, the school had to accept them as black if they claimed to be.
In another case, illustrating the stupidity of these laws, back in the 80's, in Maryland, they had some sort of preference in govt hiring for people with Hispanic surnames.
John Smith (I don't remember his actual name) got turned down for a job as he did not score high enough on a test. He went and legally changed his name to Juan Maldonado (or some such) and applied for the preference on the basis that he had a Hispanic surname. They tried not to give him the preference, he went to court and won.
My grandson, with 3 pure Puerto Rican grandparents, would not have qualified for that preference as his last name is Henry. Unless, possibly, he used J.M Henry-Torres.
This who AA thing is stupidity on stilts. But is good money for lots of people!
John Henry
Funny, I just blogged about this.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/janetheactuary/2015/06/odd-news-for-the-day-transracialism.html
It's actually pretty sad as a symptom of our politics of race and identity.
As far as I am concerned, if this dipshit in WA claims to be African-American, who am I, who is anyone, under the law, to question her.
John Henry
A simple DNA test will quash this instantly. Might be a great episode for Henry Louis Gates, Jr and the Finding your Roots program - which I love.
If race identification becomes a matter of personal preference, then anti-racial-discrimination laws become viewpoint discrimination.
The inverse, viewpoint discrimination is proper because of racism is a pillar of modern progressivism and most totalitarian cultures.
At what point is it ethically wrong?
It's fine. It's just satire of what's already ethically wrong.
Should people get excited that they can now apply to jobs, universities, and various opportunities under whatever gender and ethnicity and sexual orientation they might feel is advantageous?
Currently, I'm a straight white male. However, I could apply to something as self-identifying as half native american/polynesian transitioning from gay to straight and male+
Women and blacks don't have any moral responsibilities.
With the beams of hatred being aimed at whites these days, who wouldn't want to "pass" for black and "distance yourself" from the carnage?
She is a fraud. The son is her step brother the father that is black is not her father. she is delusional and has committed fraud on the public and the NAACP
BTW, I have nothing against what she is doing either. Anymore than I would have a problem with a black passing as white, or a gay passing as straight or a straight passing as gay, like one guy apparently did to get a gig on "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy."
I'm simply noting that opportunity for humorous insight, not signing onto it myself. I want my distance from transgender jokes. But the analogy is significant and worth thinking about seriously.
The new Althouse: "Cruel Neutrality" to "Craven Neutrality"?
So she used the advantages of her white privilege to deny an African-American a job in an African-American civil rights organization by posing as an African-American. The irony is so deep and wide that it almost defies comment.
I wish I was a Negro
With lots of Negro soul
So I could stay true to my ethnic roots
And still play rock'n'roll
If I was a funky Negro
Eating soul-food barbeque
I wouldn't have to sing the Middle-Class Liberal Well-Intentioned Blues
Where are the shrieks about cultural appropriation or cultural colonization? As far as the latter is concerned, this woman is the British Empire.
she is delusional and has committed fraud on the public and the NAACP
But not Caitlyn! No way! Nosiree!
I don't think Caitlyn has committed any fraud by the way. I just don't think that RAH can back up what he says in any sort of rational terms that do not include an agenda of "will to power" for particular groups over other groups. Full stop.
The Drill SGT said "So I have a serious legal question. Is this "choose your race and gender" stuff legal, or do I go to jail when I submit a bid on a contract for my woman owned and disadvantaged minority business?"
This is a GREAT question. The federal government gives preference to minority, women owned small businesses when it comes to buying stuff. As a white guy, can I claim to be one of these businesses and get the preference just because I really, REALLY believe I am? If not the whole trans-fill-in-the-blank industry is a sham and people who practice it or advocate for/defend it should slink back into the shadows and STFU.
On the other hand, if it's legit ... I have some paperwork to fill out.
Miss Dolezal is black from the wrists and ankles up and the neck down.
I'm an Indian Too from Lizzie Get your Gun.
Is the traffic cop supposed to give Ms. Dolezal a beat-down or just issue her a citation?
There was an episode of The Big Bang Theory where Leonard and Raj hire a prostitute to come on to Howard while pretending she's Jewish.
Howard figures it out and is appropriately grateful.
"except that what Griffin did was pure impersonation - he remained white underneath."
Griffin did it for a very important reason. He was studying what it was like to be black at that time, long before it became a racket like this.
"a LOT of the more successful Blacks seem to have a lot of White in them?"
I wouldn't say that. I will say that a lot of the really angry blacks have a lot of white in them. I think there is a factor there that is real. Clarence Thomas, Walter Williams, Thomas Sowell, Condaleeza Rice are pretty black and are hated by other blacks.
Look at the angry ones like Mosby. Here she is with the fake black girl if you scroll down they are side by side. They look kind of similar. Any story there ?
Remember that the angry radical left in the 70s and 80s had a lot of angry white women and black ex-convicts. The Symbionese Liberation Army and the Black Family were black men and white women.
Laslo could probably explain the connection, so to speak.
Oh, so she was denying that her parents were her parents, and accusing them of abuse. No wonder they talked to the media. I was curious as to why her parents would expose her.
she is delusional and has committed fraud on the public and the NAACP!
But not Elizabeth Warren, amiright?
Is it just me, or do a LOT of the more successful Blacks seem to have a lot of White in them? Historical figures, too. Just a coincidence, I'm sure.
Thomas Sowell has written extensively on this. Ethnic America is a good place to start, his trilogy on race in the world is also good though perhaps delves too deeply for some.
Sowell has done a lot of work looking at blacks who came to the US from the Caribbean vs blacks who came from Africa.
Blacks came to the Caribbean as slaves, actually in harsher circumstances than blacks who came to the US. Yet blacks who later emigrate from the Caribbean to the US do significantly better as a group than blacks who came direct.
And blacks who have immigrated to the US from Africa freely in the past century do significantly better as well.
Speaking of descendants of these groups as well.
I don't think it has as much to do with blood as with not getting sucked into the loving embrace of our benevolent government.
Sowell is a fascinating writer on this and many other subjects. Those who only know him from his columns are missing a lot. His columns aren't bad but not all that great either. He needs a book to stretch his legs in.
John Henry
From the linked article:
"Dolezal said she found a threatening package in the NAACP’s post office box in February, KXLY reported. The city of Spokane later sent out a press release that the package contained racist messages and death threats. The city statement reiterated that it was the ninth hate crime Dolezal had experienced.
“It is deplorable and shocking that Ms. Dolezal should be experiencing hateful and malicious threats. We stand strongly in solidarity with her, as a university and as a campus community,” Eastern Washington University President Mary Cullinan added in a statement.
But postal workers told police the envelope was not timestamped or canceled. The only way the letter could have gotten into the box was if it had been placed there by a post office employee or by someone who had the P.O. Box key. "
The internet is an amazing thing.
Sweet Soul Sister
All the hip young things trying to make a scene
Living out forbidden dreams
Star spangled banner flutters in the sky
Time hustles those who wait to die
Come on little honey
Come on now, please
Come on little honey and dance with me
Sweet soul sister
Keep on pushing till the dawn, well
Sweet soul sister
Forever dancing on and on
Ooh, she's a Dior girl, twisting round the world
Midnight crush boogie scene
Firm fixed expression, sensual, tender, smooth
Sexual panther, beautifully cool
Come on little honey
Come on now, please
Come on little honey and dance with me
Sweet soul sister
Keep on pushing till the dawn, well, well, well
Sweet soul sister
Forever dancing on and on, yeah
Hustle and strut through Paris at night
Hustle and strut
Hustle and strut through Paris at night
Hustle and strut
Say, "Na na na"
Say, "Na na na, yeah"
City of sin
Come and let me in
City of sin
Come and let me in, ow
Sweet soul sister
Keep on pushing till the dawn
Sweet soul sister
Forever dancing on and on
NAACP was founded by white folks:
"Mary Ovington did conceive of the NAACP (her name for it, according to the book Chronological History of the Negro, was originally called National Committee for the Advancement of the Negro Race). It was Miss Ovington (she was a lifelong spinster) who, along with Oswald Garrison Villard and William English Walling (both white males), on Feb. 12, 1909, sent out the "Call" to everyone they believed would be supportive of an organization that would provide blacks a new direction: integration. "
http://www.answers.com/Q/Who_was_the_founder_of_the_NAACP
Ms Ovington sure looks white to me:
http://dilemma-x.net/2012/07/09/mitt-romney-will-speak-wednesday-july-11-2012-in-houston-at-the-annual-convention-of-the-naacp/
Perhaps this woman is just trying to bring NAACP back to its roots. Though I don't think Ms Ovington claimed to be black.
Next up: Al Sharpton turns out to be a guy named Marty Cohen from New Jersey. (Hat tip to Insty)
John Henry
From Wikipedia:
"The [NAACP's organizing conference in 1911] resulted in a more influential and diverse organization, where the leadership was predominantly white and heavily Jewish American. In fact, at its founding, the NAACP had only one African American on its executive board, Du Bois himself. It did not elect a black president until 1975, [emph. added] although executive directors had been African-American. The Jewish community contributed greatly to the NAACP's founding and continued financing."
So much for authenticity.
John Henry said...I don't think it has as much to do with blood as with not getting sucked into the loving embrace of our benevolent government.
half that and half the fact that immigrants self select for initiative and drive to succeed...
I've said this before... but.... on the next census we should all mark African-American. It is not even a lie. Anthropologists tell us all human life came out of Africa. Are you a science denier? Result, the end of AA on the basis of race. Do a similar thing by all marking female. Boom, down goes AA for basis of gender. Identify as gay. That preempts the foreseeable issues there AND solves the gay marriage question. It's all or none at that point.
The end of discrimination. The end of civil rights/EEO law suits. The end of Title IX. The end of..... the current insanity we all live under.
My Costa Rican step-father adopted me in 1981 when I was 11. Because his name is on my birth certificate, I am as legally Hispanic as my younger siblings who are his biological children.
I get calls all the time from Hispanic organizations, and could have used it to my advantage in college...but didn't. He gave me enough my taking care of me when my real Dad didn't.
I always felt like if I checked the Hispanic box, and would be misrepresenting myself and cheating someone else.
Some say the human race originated in Africa and all ancestors may have been black. So this is like the Palestinians' "Right of Return" to the ancestral home.
Is the issue discrimination and social assistance, or is it class partitioning mandated by diversity policy, presumably to create positions for minority leaders and manufacture democratic leverage?
Pro-choice or selective doctrine has consequences. Strategies to create leverage through denigration of individual dignity and debasement of human life creates moral and evolutionary hazards.
Oh, well. Everyone likes "green". As in recycling, obfuscating for profit. Good perceptions and money.
This reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where some character switched his religion to Judaism just so he could crack self deprecating Jewish jokes; which Jerry found offensive.
So in that regard, is it ok for the racially disguised Ms. Dolezal to use the "N" word?
Just occurred to me. Does she think this is a legitimate statement, "It's a black thing. You would not understand."?
In an article I read about her, it mentioned that her parents had adopted four black children. Good for them, but I can see how the daughter might have gotten the idea that the best way to win love and approval is to be black.
Ann wrote:
At what point is it ethically wrong? Presumably, it has something to do with whether you've taken some benefit that was designated for others
No. What is ethically wrong is having benefits that go to people based on their skin color. That is vile, evil, and horribly wrong. Scamming such an evil system isn't the least bit wrong.
Compare and contrast, kids:
He went on to say that Rachel cut off all communication with him and her mother, and “doesn’t want us visible in the Spokane area in her circle because we’re Caucasian.”...
[Cedric Bradley] said. “It’s not about black and white, it’s about what we can do for the community.”
Sure sounds like it's "about black and white" when this lady cut off all communication with her parents because they're (gasp!) white. I might buy that she didn't want her parents to be visible in the community only because it'd blow up her con, but to cut off private communication just because they're white...that's racist, bro, that's straight up racism.
I think you are missing the point here: the lady is nuts. That conclusion is also supported by the fake hate crimes that follow her around. Being ruled by nut cases it probably not a good thing no matter how clever the argument justifying the nuttiness.
IT's so easy to see on a case like this, isn't it?
"Yet blacks who later emigrate from the Caribbean to the US do significantly better as a group than blacks who came direct. "
I've seen this in medical students for years. This is a highly selected group and USC has quite a few black students in medical school. Of all the black students I've had in my groups over 15 years. only three were American born. One flunked out and another played water polo in high school and college, not exactly a ghetto sport.
One had radical parents and was an odd kid. I thought for a while he was schizophrenic but eventually figured out that he did not know how to talk to white people. He got along with white kids his own age but could not talk to older whites. I eventually had to write up a script for him to use to take a medical history from a white person. I think he finally graduated.
The others were Africans or Caribbean and they had no problems. One African girl was so poor she did not have a laptop or any physical diagnosis instruments. I loaned her mine for a year. Medical students don't use microscopes anymore. They use laptops and digital slides of tissue or bacteria.
It's funny how everyone except the Pro Lifers get self-identify.
It is, to some extent, a matter of personal expression and the general social convention is to allow people to simply say they've adopted an alternate reality and not to question it.
FIFY
I always chuckle at the NAACP. Would they mind if I called their members "colored"? They certainly seem supportive of the Jim Crow era "one drop" rule.
If a man can become a woman and vice versa and we must be forced to accept such things, why can't a white person be black and vice versa? To deny such things would make you a denier (shudder!).
Besides, words have no meany any longer as anyone can use a word to mean anything they want and you are not allowed to object.
"IT's so easy to see on a case like this, isn't it?"
Maybe but there is also a distinct advantage in that circle to being perceived as a "victim." Mattress Girl is clearly crazy but some of these cases may just be opportunism.
Prior to Ms. Dolezal's racial outing by her white parents, members of the African-American community and her local chapter of the NAACP became suspect of her roots when her lip-sync performance of Beyoncé's "Single Ladies" lacked any form of rhythm.
Maybe her parents are black, but don't realize it yet.
As they say, if you want to know who who rules you, discover who you cannot laugh at. I suspect that if you decide what you cannot laugh at it, then you selected your own rulers.
I've thought about checking the Native American box on employment forms. There is some family lore about us having some Creek Indian in our line, so who am I to judge?
I could even argue myself as female, even though I was "born" a "male" because I have quite a few "feminine" traits.
This could work. . . . .I mean, who wouldn't want a transgendered-Native American on their payroll?! They could clock off two boxes for their annual Affirmative Action requirements.
The article doesn't say why the parents outed her. Was the reporter investigating due to some other trigger and asked them? Or did then announce the information of their own initiative? The latter seems pretty hurtful.
Larry and Ruthanne eventually lost contact with Izaiah, and on Thursday did not know where he was. Larry added that Thursday is Izaiah’s 21st birthday.
Sad.
chuck said...
I think you are missing the point here: the lady is nuts. That conclusion is also supported by the fake hate crimes that follow her around.
Doubly-fake hate crimes: white woman stages anti-black hate crimes against a white woman.
O brave new world, That has such people in't.
My mother's grandmother, the one who migrated to America, was half Jewish. I don't think my mother ever knew that. She thought she was German. My father, according to the DNA, was more than 25%, ango-Saxon, but he considered himself Irish. Your ethnic identity is a social construct. I can pass for Anglo-Saxon, Irish, and German. Being Jewish is a stretch, but maybe I could pull it off if I did a little research. It's probably easiest to just say you're American and have done with it, but it's also nice to have a home team to root for........I have red hair, an alcoholic father, and a Catholic education. People take me for Irish, but I contain multitudes.
If anything this points up how ludicrous the whole "trans-*" thing is. We're supposed to take Caitlyn Jenner seriously but not this woman. Really.
It is a sign that being a victim is now the premium status. Note that obtaining victim status and being an actual victim may have no relation to each other, as recent events have highlighted over and over again.
I seriously doubt that a democratic country run by self-identified victims can survive for very long.
It's just as well. She may be genetically white, but she's not authentically white.
Welcome to The New Left World Order:
Jenner is a woman, because he says he is.
Dolezal is black, because she says she is.
but...
Zimmerman is white, because they say he is.
These are the same people who preach to us about "settled science".
Dan
PS Soon to come: 2+2 = 9, if you feel very strongly about it.
When is a mental disorder benign?
Take a thin white civilian female and if she says she is a fat black military veteran male ... you only get two things. A liar (because she knows she is not) or a crazy person (because she believes she is). Professor Althouse may want to put the female/male comment into a nice loving "trans"-box, but you can't. That is just taking the crazy into yourself.
Trans-(gender|fat|race|vet|whatever) ... Crazy people. That is the simple truth of the situation.
We need to really answer the questions: "Which mental disorders are benign? Benign to that person? And/or benign to society?"
Dan
PS Soon to come: 2+2 = 9, if you feel very strongly about it.
Welp, that's how both sides (R&D) do budgetary math so we're already there.
At what point is it ethically wrong? Presumably, it has something to do with whether you've taken some benefit that was designated for others
But should there be "benefits" that are "designated" for certain people purely based on their race or gender? If adopting another race or gender allows you to receive benefits, is this a misappropriation of property rights, or is it a radical protest against race/gender privilege?
When Confusion is the goal, confusion happens.
Do you feel confused yet into silence so as not to offend precious victims of rational culture that dares assigning meaning to words?
If not the beat must go on until you have collapsed. It's for the children.
All Americans are African American. We shouldn't be denied our true heritage just because our ancestors spent some time in Europe of Asia before coming here. I'm not joking, or at least mostly not joking. "African American" is a useless, meaningless phrase.
I can't let this go without comment: "In my opinion, it wouldn’t make a difference to me," [Cedric Bradley] said.
He can only give his opinion of what his reaction would be? Could it be different from his reaction? If not, why not just give us his reaction? But if so, then he needs professional help.
I might buy that she didn't want her parents to be visible in the community only because it'd blow up her con, but to cut off private communication just because they're white...that's racist, bro, that's straight up racism.
That battle was fought and lost here at Althouse. There cannot be such a thing as black-on-white racism according to some here. It something to do with numerical superiority if I recall the proponents correctly.
But come to think of it, this case is actually white-on-white self-loathing.
Rob said...
It's just as well. She may be genetically white, but she's not authentically white.
"Authentically white" sounded funny, so I did The Google:
"Authentically white" = 283 actual results.
"Authentically black" = 382 actual results.
The false result numbers that google initially displays were:
"About 2,660" and "About 23,400".
23,400 is "about" 382 in google-land.
But should there be "benefits" that are "designated" for certain people purely based on their race or gender?
The Supreme Court has said yes, at least for the next 25 years.
I look all white but my dad was black...
If anything this points up how ludicrous the whole "trans-*" thing is. We're supposed to take Caitlyn Jenner seriously but not this woman. Really.
In defense of the black community, I'd guess that most blacks (except those in the favored Coastal Media Elite) still believe that Jenner is a man. So they don't have the cognitive dissonance that the Coastal Media Elite are currently experiencing with this little scandal.
Huffington Post "finally" ran the story and its interesting to read the comments there; most seem to have no problem with what she did. I have to say that I agree (I don't blame Ann for being careful on this one -- we don't know for sure yet which way the SJWs are going to swarm).
I do think that someone who supports (or pretends to support, because they are afraid of being hanged in effigy if they don't) transgender rights, but says that what this woman did is wrong, is a hypocrite. Would those same people say that transsexuals have a affirmative duty to disclose their prior sex change as they go through the remainder of their life?
This is why this one is so much fun.
Our professor host demurred, "I want my distance from transgender jokes."
I won't. They deserve as much mockery and condemnation as can be found. But my job doesn't depend on refraining from speaking freely.
If anything this points up how ludicrous the whole "trans-*" thing is. We're supposed to take Caitlyn Jenner seriously but not this woman. Really.
If you truly believe that a transgendered person is mentally ill (as I do), then it might be best to tread lightly.
Apparently the family didn't initiate the outing, but it's still sad.
Dolezal’s mother, Ruthanne Dolezal, said Thursday by phone from her home in Northwest Montana that she has had no contact with her daughter in years. She said her daughter began to “disguise herself” in 2006 or 2007, after the family had adopted four African-American children and Rachel Dolezal had shown an interest in portrait art.
“It’s very sad that Rachel has not just been herself,” Ruthanne Dolezal said. “Her effectiveness in the causes of the African-American community would have been so much more viable, and she would have been more effective if she had just been honest with everybody.”
Rachel Dolezal dismisses the controversy as little more than an ugly byproduct of contentious litigation between other family members over allegations of past abuse that has divided the family. She’s particularly suspicious of the timing, noting that the allegations broke on her son’s birthday and come as the Colorado lawsuit filed by her sister against their brother nears a key juncture.
Ruthanne Dolezal, however, said while the family has long been aware of some of their daughter’s racial and ethnic claims in the Inland Northwest, they didn’t comment until being contacted by the media.
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2015/jun/11/board-member-had-longstanding-doubts-about-truthfu/
American Indians believe that white people can be Indians.
I have also heard that the bar for joining an Indian tribe is astonishingly low. My barber joined a tribe because all her neighbors were in the tribe. It's kind of like the Elks club, but with more federally subsidized perks!!
My primary interest in this story is what caused her parents to finally reveal her true identity? There must be a world of compelling stories behind that decision.
What ? No link to stories at the NYT, ABC,NBC, CBS, WaPO? Aren't they covering this story? [snarc]
Navin R. Johnson: Huh? I am *not* a bum. I'm a jerk. I once had wealth, power, and the love of a beautiful woman. Now I only have two things: my friends, and... uh... my thermos. Huh? My story? Okay. It was never easy for me. I was born a poor black child. I remember the days, sittin' on the porch with my family, singin' and dancin' down in Mississippi...
"Legal issues between family members." I should've known.
Another thorny problem that can best be solved with not caring what anyone's race is. But then, in the world of race hustling, it will always matter and this will always be a problem.
After all, what makes one black, anyway? Skin color? My dad is darker than Obama. Roots that can be traced to Africa? Almost anyone can have those if you go back far enough. Maybe this woman's "race identity" should be a moment to ask what it means.
Some native Americans are very white looking--my father in law was mostly eastern Cherokee, born on the reservation and an enrolled member of the tribe but he (and my wife for that matter) are very light skinned. And "blacks" have varying skin tones, as do whites (from Italians to Swedes). But this should only matter to racial classifiers.
Gahrie said...
JAC: But should there be "benefits" that are "designated" for certain people purely based on their race or gender?
The Supreme Court has said yes, at least for the next 25 years.
Just because some government lawyers favor unconstitutional racism doesn't make it a good idea (or legal). And 12 of those 25 years are used up.
John Scott:
Not at all. The humor is in pro-choicers who promote class diversity while denigrating individual dignity and debasing human life. Human. Not black, white, etc. Selective science, morality, principles, etc. have consequences.
That said, selective equivalence makes a dull rainbow.
At what point is it ethically wrong? Presumably, it has something to do with whether you've taken some benefit that was designated for others
If she marries as a black woman to a black man and has children, how will she present any racial oddities to her husband and children.
Do the children have the right to know their true race/heritage.
Will she deny visiting by her parents.
Seems one can foresee all kinds of ramifications from concealment.
Q: What do you call a nun with a sex change operation?
A: A tran-sister.
+
Three Englishmen were in a bar and spotted an Irish man. One guy said he was going to piss him off, so he walked over to the Irish man and tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, I hear your St. Patrick was a sissy." "Oh really, hmm, I didn't know that." Puzzled, the Englishmen walked back to his buddies. "I told him St. Patrick was a sissy and he didn't care!"
The second Englishmen walked over and tapped the Irish man on the shoulder. "I hear your St. Patrick was a transvestite!" "Oh, wow, I didn't know that, thank you." Shocked beyond belief, the English man went back to his buddies. "You're right, he is unshakable!"
The third Englishmen said: "No, no, no, I will really piss him off, you just watch." The English man walked over to the Irish man, tapped him on the shoulder and said "I hear your St. Patrick was an Englishman!" "Yeah, that's what your buddies were trying to tell me."
+
Brando:
It's about manufactured leverage. Well, that, and money. Leverage to extort wealth. It's a racket. There are ulterior motives for a multi-trillion dollar exchange of wealth for debt fiscal policy, "million man" displacement (i.e. excessive and unmeasured immigration), "million baby" selective child, etc.
Since they reject intrinsic value on principle, and denigrate individual dignity as a strategy, the best that can be said about their motives is that they crave environmental stability, especially when it is through reduced liability (e.g. national redistribution schemes), with their very visible hand directing it/us.
Judith: [on Stan's desire to be a mother] Here! I've got an idea: Suppose you agree that he can't actually have babies, not having a womb - which is nobody's fault, not even the Romans' - but that he can have the *right* to have babies.
Francis: Good idea, Judith. We shall fight the oppressors for your right to have babies, brother... sister, sorry.
Reg: What's the *point*?
Francis: What?
Reg: What's the point of fighting for his right to have babies, when he can't have babies?
Francis: It is symbolic of our struggle against oppression.
Reg: It's symbolic of his struggle against reality.
I find it amusing that there were so many outraged hot takes...which have turned into consternation.
Even the race experts at NPRs Code Switch were having a tough time figuring out how to explain the difference between trans-racialism and transsexualism to the rubes.
Personally, I think her background with a family of adopted children and whatever the issues were with the purported abuse she's in a dispute with her family about are more the basis of her 'identity" than systems or structures.
SOOOO
Anybody look up the bound-to-be-ugly family lawsuit?
WHAT IF I TOLD YOU... That St. Patrick was English all along?
Simply stated: mental illness.
Weird. Somewhere it was mentioned that her family was living in NW MT, and she apparently grew up in Troy. Maybe an hour before I read this thread, and after Ann had posted her stuff, I was asked how to find the road to Troy, or to Bull Lake. Not sure which they were really looking for. It is a small world, at least some days.
It was a bit weird. An old guy, who looked and dressed like he was Mennonite, or some such, walked up to me and asked if they had missed the turnoff. He had the beard, suspenders, and straw hat, and his wife had the bonnet, dressed all in black and white, etc. Guy driving though was dressed normally, and driving a brand new Cadillac. I was able to show the two guys where they were going on my iPhone, since all of my MT maps are apparently in my other vehicle.
Part of why this whole thing is a bit weird is that there just aren't very many Blacks in this part of MT. Apparently, there was one last summer here in town, but haven't seen them this summer. Not many Hispanics either. But, a fair number of Indians (aka Native Americans), since we are located less than 100 miles from tribal land. Would be surprised if there were that many more Blacks in Troy, except apparently the ones raised along with this woman.
This is a link to a "black rapper" whiter than Clay Aiken.
The seriousness of comedy, at least good comedy no matter how vulgar and sometimes especially because of precisely the extreme vulgarity, should not be underestimated up in here.
"In a cutaway interview, Sarah and Lucy explain that J-Roc really believes that he is black and is not pretending for the benefit of his career. The people in the park just go along with this. But DVS'* dismissal of J-Roc's 'blackness' causes him to retreat into his trailer, bringing the rap show to a screeching halt.
...
As the rap show crowd become restless, Julian orders Cory and Trevor to perform. This is not what the audience wants and it makes things worse as jeers and projectiles fly toward the stage. J-Roc's mom checks on him, but finds him devoid of all his rap paraphernalia and mannerisms, and instead wearing khakis and a golf shirt. He explains his shattering realization that he is actually white. His mom tries to convince him to believe in himself and go back out and do the show anyway, but he is still uncertain."
*Detroit Velvet Smooth
http://trailerpark.wikia.com/wiki/Who%27s_The_Microphone_Assassin%3F_(Episode)
I will admit that talking about trans-black is maybe easier than trans-female or trans-male. That is because there isn't a question about which pronouns to use. This one is a woman, which means that we can safely use she, her, hers, etc. But, what about Caitlyn Jenner? My partner, never very politically correct, uses he/she. And, those going the other way she/he. But, there aren't good genitive or objective cases of pronouns that work well here. His/ers? Him/er? I am willing to mostly go along with the trans person's wishes, but it is till hard to talk about Caitlyn winning those gold medals, when it was her male alter-ego, Bruce who had done so.
Yes, as unknown referenced, the whole thing is scene right out of Monty Python's Life of Brian.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dgp9MPLEAqA
"From now on, I want you all to call me Loretta"
"What?"
"Its my right as a man."
"well, why do you want to be Loretta, Stan?"
"I want to have babies."
"You want to have babies?"
"It's every man's right to have babies, if he wants them"
"But you can't have babies."
"Don't you oppress me."
"I'm not oppressing you Stan, you haven't got a womb. Where's the fetus going to gestate? Are you going to keep it in a box?"
Bruce, I think the currently proper term is "SHIM"
"I want my distance from transgender jokes. But the analogy is significant and worth thinking about *seriously*."
Has anyone else noticed that in the last 3 or 4 months, our hostess has lost any vestige of a sense of humor and apes a kind of stern, angry cultural criticism usually found on the left? I'm thinking, for example, of her bizarre post on her encounter with libertarians.
I'm thinking, for example, of her bizarre post on her encounter with libertarians.
Dude, that happened years ago....we're several meltdowns past that these days.
The event happened years ago, yes. Her most recent post about it was remarkable for its sternly judgmental tone; it appeared 1 week ago: http://althouse.blogspot.com/2015/06/why-are-libertarians-mostly-dudes.html.
Note the "they are inhuman" comment -- substantially colder and crueller than she was even when the incident happened.
She's my favorite honky!
But the analogy is significant and worth thinking about seriously
Alright, I'm ready to think about this issue seriously I've been on twitter and seen the tut tutting when some (mockingly) make the connection between Jenner and Dolezal, but there is no explanation why it is wrong. Some have not asked in a mocking manner, but in all earnestness and seriousness and have received no definite answer (unless "Conservatives are bad" is an answer).
It seems to me that Dolezal truly believes she is black. Nothing in her conduct that has been publicized show someone who is denigrating black culture. She became very involved in the Black community in the Northwest; she has been a champion for their struggles and identity. But so many can see that she is a fraud. And yet, Caitlyn Jenner is not? Why? Because sex, the act, (and by corollary gender) trump anything else we might be feeling these days. Dolezal is wrong because her blackness is not intrinsically tied to sexual activity.
If Caitlyn Jenner wants to be a woman now, well, go for it, whatever. But the real issue is the rewriting of history that happens before his Big Reveal. The whole wikipedia brouhaha of Caitlyn now being the fastest women of the sport. Yes, this belief hasn't gone mainstream, but it's there and it's pushing. If that's not the same kind of fraud as Dolezal, then please, explain why.
With the willing collaboration of the MSM, when Obama was running for president--at least the first time--he was able to disguise himself as someone who WASN'T a Red Diaper Baby and an Alinskyite! True fact!
Imagine the shame and degradation that woman has to deal with every day.
She hears an ethnic joke and has to respond "As a white woman pretending to be a black woman, that joke offends me!" When she hears Obama criticized, she has to say "As a white woman pretending to be black woman, I feel like President Obama has been great at backing civil rights for my people."
Dolezal seems to have issues. She has apparently gotten into the attention-getting fake hate crimes racket.
I can't believe I am the first one to quote The Jerk:
I was born a poor, black child
One article says she claimed to have lived in a teepee in childhood with parents who hunted with bows and arrows.
I happen to be purple and have one eye, one horn, and can fly. People eater? I'll let the media decide.
Gusty Winds said:
This reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where some character switched his religion to Judaism just so he could crack self deprecating Jewish jokes; which Jerry found offensive.
Priest: And this offends you as a Jew?
Jerry: No! It offends me as a comedian.
John Henry
Now I can't find the story but apparently the NAACP said that this afternoon that they accept her as black.
I think they have to. If they didn't, they would open up a whole can of worms about who is black and how they prove it.
For example, is a person with 1 black grandparent black?
How about a person with one black great-grandparent?
And so on.
Nasty business, this assigning people to races.
John Henry
Now I can't find the story but apparently the NAACP said that this afternoon that they accept her as black.
I've seen a story where the NAACP said her race doesn't matter. The story I read did not have them going all the way to "We accept her as Black".
Frankly that would be absurd, but we are talking about Progressives here.
davidjay @5:15,
Don't worry, you're not the first. Read the thread then comment. It's usually best.
The woman obviously has a troubled relationship with truth.
A somewhat response to John Henry as to Africa to the Caribe to American blacks fared better:
They had to become more self-subsistent on the islands, grow their own food, harvest it etc.
Long before the multicultural and Democratic Left built a badly designed structure around many American blacks such black folks were punished for any independence, sometimes w/ death. You couldn't read, think, write for yourself. That the cultural legacy you still see alive today
I think that's Sowell's point.
If Obama thought he could run for a third term by following Meade's suggestion, Katie bar the door!
If Norman Lear wasn't so aged, he might be able to put a sitcom together about her called
FRAUD.
PuertoRicoSpaceport captured the EEOC classification process perfectly. I only had to deal with it for HR reporting purposes. Since no one can define what an African-American is, the feds simply provide for self-identification. (There is one exception to this - Native Americans have rules about who can claim to be one. Enrolled membership etc.)
You are what you say you are.
There is an underlying belief by the government bureaucrats that to be black is so bad a status that no one would claim it unless they had to.
As soon as everyone claims they are African-American, this whole nonsense will end. Go for it!
tim in vermont said...
BTW, I have nothing against what she is doing either. Anymore than I would have a problem with a black passing as white, or a gay passing as straight or a straight passing as gay, like one guy apparently did to get a gig on "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy."
****************
Then you will have nothing against tens of millions of white men and women, starting tomorrow, claiming that they are all actually gay,trans-sexual racial minorities and DEMAND Affirmative Action.
Right?
(I can see you've thought deeply about this /sarc)
This level of national outrage used to be reserved for national public figures. It should stay that way.
Walter White, who was NAACP president from 1931 to 1955, was described as a "voluntary negro". He was 95% or so white, and could "pass" as white, but chose to identify as "colored". In the 1920s, he traveled in the South, "passing" as white, to gather information on lynchings.
White's slave ancestry was well documented, so there was no question of an "impersonation", but his case does raise the issue of how race can be determined. The notorious "one-drop rule" declared anyone with any trace of African ancestry to be "black". But in some post-colonial societies, the "one-drop rule" was inverted: anyone with a trace of white ancestry had a superior position.
Then you will have nothing against tens of millions of white men and women, starting tomorrow, claiming that they are all actually gay,trans-sexual racial minorities and DEMAND Affirmative Action.
Right?
You can demand anything you want. Doesn't mean your going to get it. so, knock yerself out.
Racial Dolezal is a white pretending to be black.
That means she's whack.
Just struck me that the only thing more shocking than Obama changing his sex or gender would be him changing his political party.
That is, sex or race, lol
Perhaps in 208 Meade recalled this Bloom County strip: https://c4.staticflickr.com/4/3032/2853127942_4c96eac346_z.jpg?zz=1
A big difference between the Dolezal and the Jenner impostures is that Jenner's has the backing of a huge Show-Biz publicity machine, all to beat the tub for an upcoming Reality show. Millions of dollars are at stake. It's like Peter Pan, where all the boys and girls in the audience must applaud that they believe, or Tinkerbell dies.
I'm interested in the fact that a self-declared white female law professor should couch her discussion on the basis of “ethics” rather than law. If the EEOC rules that race is based on self-identification, that’s the rule. Just as people planning to run for President can raise unlimited amounts of money before they formally declare, but are limited after they declare. Ethics has nothing to do with it.
But if there was a massive tide of people who once passed as white who now self-identify as black what would government functionaries do? Run tests? Create a Department of Racial Identity? Realizing that racial identity issues are one of the central features of the Liberal view of reality, you can be quite sure that such a system would quickly be put in place. In Obama’s America.
Who is Black or White, Female or Male? Is "call me Caitlin" Jenner female or male? Jenner has male genitalia and male XY chromosomes that can never be surgically altered.
As Elizabeth Price Foley points out..
Homer Plessy, the plaintiff in the famous “separate but equal” Supreme Court decision, Plessy v. Ferguson, was 7/8 white and 1/8 black.
According to Louisiana law at that time that made him black, but what race was he really?
Barack Obama had a White mother and a Black father but he self-identifies as Black. But what is he really? If he decided, like Jenner, that he's really mentally female, would he be the first Black Female president? How much Black blood in post Civil Rights America does it take to be Black, or White? What would Homer Plessey be considered by today's America and today's judicial system? Would Homer be entitled to claim all the privileges of Affirmative Action? Even as he's claiming to really be White?
Foley again:
“What would a university do if an applicant self-identified as “black” on an application but showed up looking “white”? And if the university made such a judgment, what on earth would that mean? How would the university defend its belief that a student didn’t “look” black? What sort of bizarre racial stereotypes would it rely upon in making such an appearance-based judgment? And if the university actually decided to take action against the student for racial misrepresentation, what on earth would that mean? How would the university judge whether the student was really “black”? What percentage of blood would suffice for such a progressive institution? Fifty percent? Ten percent? One percent?”
If Left-dominated institutions now accept self-identification it makes sense to claim the identity of favored groups.
I think someone once said that you should make the enemy live up to their own book of rules. The Left wrote this book of rules, let's run with it.
"I want my distance from transgender jokes". Of course you do. You live in viciously bigoted Madison and are employed at the notoriously intolerant University of Wisconsin. I'm imprrssed you have the temerity to speak out at all.
Post a Comment