White woman pretends to be black for prestige

[Valmy]

When I was in Oxford the other weekend, I suddenly recalled that the bar that I was at was one that I'd last been to when I'd been a guest of the Oxford Indian Society.  I feel her pain.

[Valmy]

I think you get that more when the "black" parent is already part white, as appears to be the case in this photo.

I think almost all African Americans are part Euro. Ah slave societies.

[Ideologue]

This story is weird all around. Also, why did her parents rat her out?

It's just like Imitation of Life!

[merithyn]

The crazy is deep with this one.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/06/12/spokane-naacp-president-rachel-dolezal-may-be-white/

The Dolezals, it should be noted, are a family divided. Parents Lawrence and Ruthanne and brothers Ezra and Zach do not speak with their sister because, they say, she alleged abuse in the family and obtained custody of her 21-year-old brother Izaiah. Izaiah, who is black, lives with Rachel Dolezal in Spokane — and Rachel says he is her son, the family alleged.

She lent credibility to her story by claiming her adopted black brother as her son.

Lawrence Dolezal said his daughter was involved in Voice of Calvary, a "racial reconciliation community development project where blacks and whites lived together," while at Bellhaven University in Jackson, Miss.

"You speak and sound and act and take on the mannerisms of the culture you live in," he said. When Rachel applied to Howard University to study art with a portfolio of "exclusively African American portraiture," the university "took her for a black woman" and gave her a full scholarship.

"You've got a white woman coming in that got a full-ride scholarship to the black Harvard," Lawrence Dolezal said. "And ever since then she's been involved in social justice advocacy for African Americans. She assimilated into that culture so strongly that that's where she transferred her identity."

He added: "But unfortunately, she is not ethnically by birth African American. She is our daughter by birth. And that's the way it is."

There's a check box for that. Can't they go back and see if she misrepresented herself? Or did they just not look at the check box?

Photos allegedly of Rachel Dolezal's wedding. Back row from left to right, according to Lawrence Dolezal: Ruthanne Dolezal, Kevin Moore, Rachel Dolezal, Lawrence Dolezal, and Lawrence Dolezal's parents, Peggy and Herman. Front row: The Dolezals' adopted children — Ezra, Izaiah, Esther and Zach.

It's the extent to which she went to maintain this lie. That's the part that astounds me. Why lie? Why not say that she had a mixed family, and so has been witness to the experiences and wants to help fix it?

What does lying get her?

[MadImmortalMan]

What does lying get her?

A full ride scholarship to Howard University, apparently.

Paging Dorsey.

[derspiess]

What does lying get her?

Quite a bit, apparently.  She's a professor of "Africana studies" and runs the local NAACP chapter.  Probably leads a comfortable life.  Or did up until now, anyway.

[MadImmortalMan]

You have to admit we've made a lot of progress on race when privileged white girls are pretending to be black for the benefits. 

[Valmy]

Probably should not insist your parents were horrible racists who abused you for your blackness if you want to keep it going. Which is why I think this is not about identity or cynicism but insanity.

Or, you know, claim your brother is your son and random volunteers are your father.

[merithyn]

What does lying get her?

Quite a bit, apparently.  She's a professor of "Africana studies" and runs the local NAACP chapter.  Probably leads a comfortable life.  Or did up until now, anyway.

She's a part-time professor of "Africana Studies". I think her other two "jobs" are actually volunteer. Her primary job appears to be doing black women's hair.

[Valmy]

The vest wealth and prestige of being a college prof and running a NAACP chapter 

[derspiess]

Opportunities she would not have had as a white woman.

[derspiess]

You have to admit we've made a lot of progress on race when privileged white girls are pretending to be black for the benefits. 

Yep, victim status gets you some bennies these days.

[Valmy]

Opportunities she would not have had as a white woman.

Shit opportunities most of us could do without. Look at the shit she is doing. This is not some attempt to benefit from white guilt but fullbown madness.

[Malthus]

Opportunities she would not have had as a white woman.

Shit opportunities most of us could do without. Look at the shit she is doing. This is not some attempt to benefit from white guilt but fullbown madness.

Yeah, I'm inclined towards the 'mental issues/pathological liar' position, assuming the info in the articles is accurate.

[derspiess]

She's a part-time professor of "Africana Studies". I think her other two "jobs" are actually volunteer. Her primary job appears to be doing black women's hair.

From her EWU bio:
http://www.ewu.edu/csbssw/programs/africana-studies-program/aep-faculty/rachel-dolezal

Most recently, Rachel Doležal has been appointed by the Mayor of Spokane to serve as a police commissioner for the Office of the Police Ombudsman, to oversee fairness and equity in law enforcement.

That sounds like something that *could* be volunteer, but to me it sounds more like a cushy set-aside-type gig.