NAACP leader pretended to be black

[JollyRoger]

She is going about self-victimization the wrong way. She needs to claim to be a straight, white, Christian male if she wants to be taken credibly as a modern-day victim.

 

[warpus]

I might have figured it out. Maybe she just wanted to be able to say that one word that only African Americans are able to say.

 

[BvBPL]

For what is otherwise a pretty unremarkable story, this poor woman has hit close to a perfect score in the 'generate excessive interest and outrage' stakes.

Poor woman? Poor woman?!

How does someone who purposely defrauded others earn your sympathy like that?

There's no reason why should could not have her job while being white. The NAACP does have white officers, particularly at the local level.


Link to video.

 

[NovaKart]

So, so bad. She got to pick and choose when to be black or white. She didn't grow up black but acted like she did, and that she knew first hand the black experience, but she could go home and take it all off if she wanted. She massively appropriated and took up space that real black women could have occupied. She slandered her parents by claiming they abused her. She made up hate crimes. The latter two just makes it worse for real victims.

The NAACP fairly regularly hires white people and other POC; actually in its early days there were a ton of white people involved. There was nothing she did that couldn't have been done while being honest about who she was.

If she's sick, I hope she gets help. If not, then she constructed and continued a scheme that 99.99% of the population couldn't even conceive of.

I agree with most of what you posted except I've never really liked the idea of appropriation as being a bad thing. It's true she has the option of taking off her black identity but I don't see how that fact really is harmful to anyone. Going to the extreme of actually claiming she's black is taking it very far though. This story is about a white jazz musician who you could say adopted a whole lot of black culture and identity but without actually claiming to be black:

Mezz" Mezzrow. A musician who played with some of the early greats of jazz, Mezzrow married a black woman, lived in Harlem, and called himself a "voluntary Negro." Unlike some of the others on this list, he doesn't appear to have tried to hide the fact that he wasn't "actually" black—except for the time he was imprisoned after being caught with marijuana at the 1940 World's Fair in Queens. This American Conservative piece points to a passage about the incident in Mezzrow's autobiography, Really the Blues:

Just as we were having our pictures taken for the rogues' gallery, along came Mr. Slattery the deputy and I nailed him and began to talk fast. 'Mr. Slattery,' I said, 'I'm colored, even if I don't look it, and I don't think I'd get along in the white blocks, and besides, there might be some friends of mine in Block Six and they'd keep me out of trouble'. Mr. Slattery jumped back, astounded, and studied my features real hard. He seemed a little relieved when he saw my nappy head. 'I guess we can arrange that,' he said. 'Well, well, so you're Mezzrow. I read about you in the papers long ago and I've been wondering when you'd get here. We need a good leader for our band and I think you're just the man for the job'. He slipped me a card with 'Block Six' written on it. I felt like I'd got a reprieve."

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slat...o_be_black_rachel_dolezal_s_predecessors.html

She just wanted to be a victim and thus get money as a result of that.

It does seem to be connected to her work but I don't think she's making a lot of money off of it. I think she just has some mental problem where she needs to feel oppressed, maybe for the attention, kind of like Munchhausen Syndrome.

This thread was born non-Red Diamond - no use in pretending to be something it is not.

I'm not trying to start an argument or anything but I think the witty one-liners can get a bit tiresome, boring and predictable. I myself do it from time to time but if that's the main thing you're posting and you're a very prolific poster then it can get old and distracting.

She lied about personal stuff to fit in and get on. She also has some pretty huge issues with her parents and upbringing. Neither of these is rare, so why has this case gathered so much attention?

1. The politics of left-and-right is obsessed with identity.

2. America is obsessed with race.

3. Public opinion is obsessed with hypocrisy in politics.

4. Humans are obsessed with parent-child relationships.

For what is otherwise a pretty unremarkable story, this poor woman has hit close to a perfect score in the 'generate excessive interest and outrage' stakes.

It's a good point and I don't have much to add to it really. For me, the interest comes from why she would do this. I've always had an interest in people like this who make up a lot of stuff.

 

[NovaKart]

Poor woman? Poor woman?!

How does someone who purposely defrauded others earn your sympathy like that?

There's no reason why should could not have her job while being white. The NAACP does have white officers, particularly at the local level.

I was thinking about that as well. She's the leader of the NAACP in the Pacific NW area, she's a adjunct professor (I don't really know what that is) of Africana studies and she's on a commission for minority issues in the government. Only with the last one do I see being white as a possible block to the position. Even with the last one if she had experience and was known in the black community maybe then it would not be an issue.

However, a lot of people might think a white Africana professor was odd and she might encounter some hostility there. I don't know. I think you'd have to work pretty hard to prove that you really know your stuff and are qualified to be there.

 

[warpus]

A non-Greek taught me classical Greek studies in an intro type of class, and it wasn't an issue. He was qualified due to his education and past experience, not his ethnic background.

 

[BvBPL]

I agree with most of what you posted except I've never really liked the idea of appropriation as being a bad thing. It's true she has the option of taking off her black identity but I don't see how that fact really is harmful to anyone. Going to the extreme of actually claiming she's black is taking it very far though.

Some of her history can be explained away as misunderstandings. For example, where her undergrad portfolio was all black women. One might assume she was black and she might not have actually represented herself as black. Those sort of instances are one thing.

However, she seriously crossed the line when she represented her brother as her son. Harm was done when she lied to people about that relationship. That's far beyond a simple misunderstanding, and it rises to an active deception against others.

 

[bhavv]

I don't get why someone would make up that they went through loads of abuse.

But, I can most definitely call myself black now as a SE Asian, because I have darker skin then her.

 

[NovaKart]

A non-Greek taught me classical Greek studies in an intro type of class, and it wasn't an issue. He was qualified due to his education and past experience, not his ethnic background.

Well I suppose that's typical for non-Greeks to teach Greek studies and I would assume many or most of the students were not Greek. I think with Africana a large majority of teachers and students would be black. I personally don't think it should matter if someone who isn't black teaches it but I imagine there would be bias there from students and faculty.

Some of her history can be explained away as misunderstandings. For example, where her undergrad portfolio was all black women. One might assume she was black and she might not have actually represented herself as black. Those sort of instances are one thing.

However, she seriously crossed the line when she represented her brother as her son. Harm was done when she lied to people about that relationship. That's far beyond a simple misunderstanding, and it rises to an active deception against others.

Yeah she definitely wanted people to think she was black.

I don't get why someone would make up that they went through loads of abuse.

But, I can most definitely call myself black now as a SE Asian, because I have darker skin then her.

It's a mental condition. I've heard from psychiatrists that they were told really implausible stories by patients about how they were abused and that they seemed to want to believe it.

 

[warpus]

I don't get why someone would make up that they went through loads of abuse.

Attention. It's a fairly common tactic, I thought. I guess the "loads of" might not always apply..

 

[classical_hero]

I don't get why someone would make up that they went through loads of abuse.

There are plenty of fake hate crimes going around.

 

[Narz]

Almost posted this story in the "news of the weird" thread.

Sounds like some sort of Body Dysmorphic Disorder.

Well she certainly did Czech her privilege at the door.

I don't get why someone would make up that they went through loads of abuse.

Some of them want to abuse you, some of them want to be abused.

 

[warpus]

Well I suppose that's typical for non-Greeks to teach Greek studies and I would assume many or most of the students were not Greek. I think with Africana a large majority of teachers and students would be black. I personally don't think it should matter if someone who isn't black teaches it but I imagine there would be bias there from students and faculty.

I presume this is because Africana requires one to not only understand and be knowledgeable about African issues, but also be able to relate to these issues on a first hand basis? I can understand that, in the case of the ancient Greek example that I threw out there is obviously no way for anyone to experience ancient Greek life first hand, so we can only really hire people on a basis of knowledge, education, and teaching experience.

 

[jackelgull]

I don't think there are many sane people willing to do things like this. Wow, is all I can really say.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

I want to be mad. The only thing more offensive than this right now is all the people trying to call her "transracial" as if her Blackface is some sort of parallel to being transgender. It's not.

However, I am also seriously impressed. She bamboozled dozens of people for more than decade. She got her adopted cousins to pretend to be her kids, she hired Black folks to pretend to be her parents and grandparents, and she totally mastered the day to day speech, dress, and actions of a Black woman. That's some method-acting that puts Daniel Day Lewis to shame.

But seriously, don't do this folks. Ever. Because it is Blackface, even if she was doing good with the NAACP by it.

Also, my POC friends are passing this around FB right now and it's perfect.

She just wanted to be a victim and thus get money as a result of that.

Yeah but that's what you think all POC do.

 

[gay_Aleks]

Once you go black, you never go back. So they say.

 

[BvBPL]

You can only really get away with this thing at Harvard.


Link to video.

 

[Goodfella]

I want to be mad. The only thing more offensive than this right now is all the people trying to call her "transracial" as if her Blackface is some sort of parallel to being transgender. It's not.

However, I am also seriously impressed. She bamboozled dozens of people for more than decade. She got her adopted cousins to pretend to be her kids, she hired Black folks to pretend to be her parents and grandparents, and she totally mastered the day to day speech, dress, and actions of a Black woman. That's some method-acting that puts Daniel Day Lewis to shame.

This. I think a lot of the people calling her 'transracial' are doing so to mock Caitlyn Jenner but anyone who's serious is absolutely ridiculous.

 

[KmDubya]

I heard that she is going to team up with Senator Elizabeth 'Fauxcahontas' Warren and run for President.

Their campaign slogan will be "You are whoever you pretend to be"

Luckily for her she is a progressive liberal so she will not be held accountable. Imagine the outcry if she was a conservative Christian Republican.

 

[useless]

There are plenty of fake hate crimes going around.

Yeah, such as Christians complaining gay people are persecuting them