So NAACP leader Rachel Dolezal is really white?

jeffl said:
The NAACP is in a bind, I think. If they fire her, is it discrimination? But how can you let a pathological liar lead your company? Any company?

Is she the one actually comparing herself to a transgender person or is that the media going crazy? I think if she lied on her application it would be reason for dismissal, not because she is white.

It seems a lot of people are offended because she's claiming prejudices and mistreatment have been inflicted on her because of her "race." But she is essentially choosing it as a lifestyle, whereas many people of color suffer mistreatment on a regular basis and have no say in the matter. She could shred that identity and have the privilege that comes from being a white woman. So while she can be empathetic and work tirelessly to advocate for better treatment (which she has) is it really "her" struggle? And does that matter? Is experiencing persecution (or having a family/cultural history of it) a prerequisite to being of that ethnicity?

The comparison to transgender people seems to be coming because people are saying well, if you just decide the gender you're born with isn't for you, then what part of your "original" identity are you forced to stick with?

Gender is, technically, something you can change (through surgery and others). But can you change your birthplace, your family history, all of that, just because you want to? I really like Italy and Italian food but I'm not Italian. I'm just not. Can I just decide to be Italian? It's a really interesting question.

Now that I'm thinking of that comparison, I'm not sure I've ever heard trans women speaking out on behalf of women's rights and advocacy. I'm not saying they don't, just that I haven't heard it. So could Caitlyn Jenner be the face of equal treatment for women in the field of athletics, for example? Not really... she didn't experience any sort of discrimination in the Olympic games, obviously, because she competed when she was a man (forgive me if that's not the correct way to phrase that).

Sorry for rambling. I'm really trying to make sense of all of this.

TarheelsInNj said:
It seems a lot of people are offended because she's claiming prejudices and mistreatment have been inflicted on her because of her "race."

When I was a ski bum in Colorado I use to get mad at the dead heads and fellow skiers that all had advanced degrees from great universities when they complained about living in poverty. Given that they were all choosing that lifestyle and had many options available to them, they really had no right to complain. If this is what she is doing that is messed up.

I read that her Art shows had been the subject of racism ( boycotts and hate mail) but is that the same? Her artwork is an extension of herself, it could legitimately be controversial, it could legitimately reflect African American life and could legitimately be the subject of boycotts and hate mail. Everything that I have read that had specific information was around her art being the subject of boycotts and hate mail, not her personally.

I am not defending her decision to lie, I just hate the media circus around this kind of story.

TarheelsInNj said:
Gender is, technically, something you can change (through surgery and others). But can you change your birthplace, your family history, all of that, just because you want to? I really like Italy and Italian food but I'm not Italian. I'm just not. Can I just decide to be Italian? It's a really interesting question.

And that is an interesting question. Mr. Kibbegirl is bi-racial with an Italian parent. Although he acknowledges his Italian heritage, he identifies as a black man. He explains had he grown up being raised by his father and around his father's family in a predominately white environment, he might have thought differently about who he was racially, albeit, still bi-racial but being more comfortable in perhaps claiming to be Italian than Black.

Rachel didn't add that she was Czech, BLACK and German. She stated that she was Black and American Indian. IMO, she stole an identity and used it as a gain. As you mentioned, she skipped over the mistreatment and prejudice (I don't believe there was any on her part. There are many black women who really do walk through life unscathed by mistreatment and/or prejudice. I believe Rachel to be (pretending to be) one).

well ---

She has resigned

http://gawker.com/rachel-dolezal-has-resigned-as-president-of-spokane-s-n-1711400764?utm_campaign=socialflow_gawker_facebook&utm_source=gawker_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

You can view homegirl's' resignation speech in the link below.

Rachel Dolezal Steps Down As President Of Spokane NAACP Chapter
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/15/rachel-dolezal-steps-down_n_7586736.html

Shocked, I tell you, shocked that she resigned

jeffl said:
The NAACP is in a bind, I think. If they fire her, is it discrimination? But how can you let a pathological liar lead your company? Any company?

Not really. She deliberately misrepresented herself.

So who gets the first interview with Rachel? Oprah, Diane Sawyer, Barbara Walters, Anderson Cooper or Dr. Phil? LOL! I'm sure there will be book & movie deals or even a LIFETIME made for tv movie.

Let the circus begin!

phenixrising said:
So who gets the first interview with Rachel? Oprah, Diane Sawyer, Barbara Walters, Anderson Cooper or Dr. Phil? LOL! I'm sure there will be book & movie deals or even a LIFETIME made for tv movie.
Let the circus begin!

Surely there must be a way we can, instead, make it end like those opposing the 4th July circus?

I'm glad she resigned. Maybe she has some integrity after all, despite all the weird lies.

I think it's more of that fact that she got found out. I'm sure the NAACP "nudged" her to resign over the weekend....

PeggyC said:
I'm glad she resigned. Maybe she has some integrity after all, despite all the weird lies.

ramzzoinksus said:
So according to the left gender is what you choose but race is 100 percent genetic. Got it.

Pretty much!

*sigh*

Ok, ZZ, maybe this is easier for you to understand...

You have someone who converted to Judaism, who had no known Jewish heritage, but they studied, and became very well learned, and part of the community.

They want to lead something based on their studies. Fine.

They want to lead something based on the stories of their parents' experiences surviving the Holocaust, and their own experiences with antisemitism when growing up. Not fine.

"Imitation of Strife". White chick passes as a light skinded Black woman with family problems who once lived in a tepee and now fights for the rights of her Black and brown not-really-brethren. Black people are offended, white people are befuddled and everybody is "hurt" because she lied, like they don't lie about something to somebodyevery day. O Chappelle Show why have you forsaken us?

Robert_Casotto said:
So the state of being white disqualifies you from a leadership post at the NAACP?

I don't think that's the conclusion to draw, under the circumstances.

Robert_Casotto said:
So the state of being white disqualifies you from a leadership post at the NAACP?

Nope. And the NAACP was careful to say that's not the case. That's what's really a shame about it, it seems like she was actually very good at her job. If only she hadn't lied her way to get there.

Whether she would have actually been hired if she had claimed to be white, nobody can know.

Robert_Casotto said:
So the state of being white disqualifies you from a leadership post at the NAACP?

No. For example, there is a white (Jewish) guy who is chapter president of an NAACP chapter in Arizona.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2015/06/12/maricopa-county-naacp-chief-take-race-flap-rachel-dolezal/71162076/

sprout said:
*sigh*
Ok, ZZ, maybe this is easier for you to understand...
You have someone who converted to Judaism, who had no known Jewish heritage, but they studied, and became very well learned, and part of the community.
They want to lead something based on their studies. Fine.
They want to lead something based on the stories of their parents' experiences surviving the Holocaust, and their own experiences with antisemitism when growing up. Not fine.

^ BRAVO ^

Before she "trans-racialed" to Black, Dolezal sued Howard University for discriminating against her because she was White.

wapo.com: Rachel Dolezal Sued Howard for Racial Discrimination Because she was White

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2015/06/15/rachel-dolezal-sued-howard-for-racial-discrimination-because-she-was-white/

This is an excellent opinion piece in the Boston Globe by Michael Jeffries, CHS grad:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2015/06/13/rachel-dolezal-story-lesson-how-racism-works/J8R27qgq2YfDRUuOVhpYGI/story.html#skip-target1

Her racial bias lawsuit against Howard was unsuccessful and she was ordered to PAY the university:

Dolezal’s lawsuit against Howard, a historically black university, alleged that the university denied her a teaching assistant job, further employment and a scholarship because she was white. The lawsuit also claimed that Professor Alfred Smith, chair of the Art Department, specifically kept Dolezal from serving as a teaching assistant one semester and removed some of her artwork from a student exhibition because of racial prejudice.

Howard University is “permeated with discriminatory intimidation, ridicule, and insult,” lawyers for Dolezal, who then went by Rachel Moore, alleged.

Ultimately, Washington D.C.’s court of appeals affirmed a lower court decision finding that the actions taken against Dolezal were not racially motivated. The case was dismissed and she was ordered to reimburse more than $2,700 in costs incurred by the university, as well as an additional $1,000 for an “obstructive and vexatious” filing attempting to delay her medical exam.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/rachel-dolezal-sued-howard-university-119024.html#ixzz3dDqbA674

Maybe it's time to get her in the studio for her DVD commentary.

Actually more of the founders of the NAACP were white than black:

Founding group
The NAACP was formed partly in response to the continuing horrific practice of lynching and the 1908 race riot in Springfield, the capital of Illinois and resting place of President Abraham Lincoln. Appalled at the violence that was committed against blacks, a group of white liberals that included Mary White Ovington and Oswald Garrison Villard, both the descendants of abolitionists, William English Walling and Dr. Henry Moscowitz issued a call for a meeting to discuss racial justice. Some 60 people, seven of whom were African American (including W. E. B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells-Barnett and Mary Church Terrell), signed the call, which was released on the centennial of Lincoln's birth.

More mess.....I smell a big Lifetime movie deal or book coming.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/06/16/rachel-dolezals-brother-author-joshua-dolezal-faces-trial-for-alleged-sexual-abuse-of-a-black-child/