Black or White

6-16-15

So what is an acceptable way to identify one’s self?

I will admit that right out of the gate I felt that Rachel Dolezal was a sad person. I felt that yes, she was deceiving people and it wasn’t right. I wasn’t sure that I was as pissed as so many others in the public, specifically the black community. That being said, I could understand their frustration.

Culture is an interesting dilemma. There are stereotypes, there is history, and there continues to be a push from many groups to embrace their backgrounds, good or bad. There is a black history month. There are Greek festivals. Hell, there is an Irish festival coming soon. America in particular doesn’t know what they want to be. As the global melting pot they like to tout themselves as, we sure don’t want to actual melt together. Instead, we are all multiple oils swirling around a pot of water in little bubbles.

My problem with Ms. Dolezal isn’t so much her desire to assimilate to the black culture so much as her omitting her past. Her ancestors are as white as they come, which sure isn’t a good or bad thing, but it is a thing and this woman has decided to make the prejudice that has taken place in that community her own plight, and perhaps that is rather insensitive overall.

I do have issue with the idea that the concept of race is being compared with one’s gender identity. I have gone back and forth, hearing both sides of this coin. The problem is making it simplistic to the point of saying that how you feel is how you should present yourself. Sure, there is that, but feeling truly that you are a woman is different from feeling you are a specific race. Race tends to come with far more baggage in the history department, whereas feeling male or female despite your packaging is a deep seeded identity.

Based on Ms. Dolezal’s history, she seemed enamored with black culture and specifically artwork done by black artists. In the same way you might emulate your favorite musician’s style, she started to dress and be more like her artistic heroes. She clearly stopped just short of blackface.

I do wonder if this had taken place 100 years from now what people would say. Would it be far enough away from the travesties of slavery that one might be able to look at it with less hate and more acceptance? Is it a case of imitation is the sincerest form of flattery? And my question to her, since every time she has been asked what her race is she pauses, is what does it mean to her to be black. What is that feeling? And why does she need to be black to feel you want to help the black community?

I don’t want to judge her too harshly. It is possible her being so enamored by the community she wants so badly to be a part of will actually destroy her identity, which is a shame for anyone. Feeling deeply that you are one person when in reality you are someone else entirely can cause anyone a great deal of internal turmoil and I hope that someday she figures that all out.

In an ideal world, though, it would be nice if no one cared. Man, woman, black, white, whatever! You are a person, which is what we should focus on. Sadly, we are just too young a species to get to that point.

So I leave this thought; haven’t we all had a time in which we decided we were something when we really were not that? I also wonder, how many people feel the need to label themselves so completely that they would forget their actual heritage. I would bet a lot of white families feel pretty bad about their great grandfathers owning slaves and have done everything in their power to distance themselves from that.