NAACP Leader Exposed as White Woman in Blackface

[Master Zik]

Am i the only one who doesn't see a problem with this story, of course this woman is a poor case of mental health, but why people seems shocked with her lie. She's not the first pawg to be obsessed with black people, she's just deeper in that obsession. Her story is more funny than shocking.

I think it's cuz she's fooled a lot of black ppl, at least some co-workers and her own students.

Also the NAACP still have some of a national rep that holds some weight and that it appears she also tricked some in Washington also compounds the whole absurdity of the situation. The way this thread went most were replying with confusion, comedy, or disgust not a lot of shock. Then it's that this lady has went so hard pretending she's black.

 

[ksteezy]

She lied to fit in as something she is not, is that not an identity conflict??...she can't bring herself to admit to herself that she's white, is that not an identity conflict?

What other fact or proof do I need?...is clear as water.

If you find what she did offensive, that's something between you and her...because I feel two people identifying and both lying in the process are comparable, is simply my stance and you shouldn't be directly offended by it.

 

[lamekilla]

But really though who doesn't want to be part of the chosen race?

Plenty of whites who want to be black when it's comfortable. She wants to live her life as a black woman and work for better equality amongst blacks, I applaud her. Doesn't mean that I'll consider her black. Just like I wouldn't consider Caitlyn Jenner a woman.

 

[heliumclinton]

She lied to fit in as something she is not, is that not an identity conflict??...she can't bring herself to admit to herself that she's white, is that not an identity conflict?

What other fact or proof do I need?...is clear as water.

You don't understand what being trans is .. it's clear as water

 

[jchambers]

It saddens me that this group seems unable or unwilling to discuss this issue within the context of racial inequality and has instead insisted upon clumsily wielding it as a bludgeon against transgender people.  


There was nothing preventing Ms. Dolezal from attending Howard University as a White woman.  There was nothing preventing her from wearing dreadlocks.  There was nothing preventing her from working for the NAACP or attempting to serve as an activist.  Society was not restricting her self-expression in these ways, let alone to the point that required her to fabricate a family, manufacture her own purported harassment, and so on.  

We get out fair share of people here on NikeTalk who are "shopping for identity," and see hip hop, basketball, and "urban" culture as a way to distinguish themselves from their parents and align themselves with something cool and vibrant.  They "try on" an identity the way they would an article of clothing.  If trends change, they slough it aside.  If it's deemed uncouth or inappropriate for a particular situation, like a job interview, they can easily replace it.  No commitment - or sincerity - is required.  Just another perk of majority privilege - you can be viewed as an individual rather than as a representative of "your group."

It's with no minor irony that some of the users who've made offensive or even downright racist comments on our forums were drawn here due to a commercialized cultural infatuation.  

And that's nothing new.  Scholars have viewed the "Beat Generation" through this lens for decades.  

The protagonist in Kerouac's On the Road typifies the Beats' rejection of guilt and what many considered a culturally devoid White identity.   The novel's hedonistic protagonist, Sal Paradise, recalls, “I walked with every muscle aching among the lights of 27th and Welton in the Denver colored section, wishing I were a Negro, feeling that the best the white world had offered was not enough ecstasy for me, not enough life, joy, kicks, darkness, music, not enough night.”   Sal’s desires revolve around the selfish pursuit of pleasure, associating minority culture with ecstasy, music, and “kicks.”  His privileged experience, from which he appears so eager to flee, has blinded him to the harsh realities of oppression.  He doesn’t limit his fascination with other cultures to the Black experience, however.  Sal also wishes he “were a Denver Mexican, or even a poor overworked [slur deleted], anything but what I was so drearily, a ‘white man’ disillusioned."

Whiteness, in American society, is essentially a coalition of previously distinct ethnicities.  The preservation and enforcement of an overarching White skin privilege is its raison d'être.  Ethnic groups once considered "non-White," like Italians, were eventually assimilated, helping to maintain a demographic majority.  

Though the true burden of this is borne by those whose oppression creates "White privilege," it isn't without its consequences for White people - however minor.  The presentation of Whiteness as a "social default" often causes those who identify as White to feel devoid of a unique cultural heritage, unless they strongly identify with a particular ethnicity or country of origin.  (Notably, this commandeering of the social default stigmatizes people of color for "acting White" due behavior that involves no deception whatsoever.)  Then, too, there's the crisis of conscience that accompanies the origins of the coalition identity and its associated privilege.   Once you peer into the slaughterhouse window, you can rationalize it - to portray what you've seen as "justified" and present the victims as "deserving," or you can start to question your own sense of innocence and entitlement.  


The psychology that would lead someone to seek out an identity that they consider culturally rich - or one that isn't associated with "White guilt" - is rooted in the system of racism.  Save for the standard adolescent desire for individuation, such an identity problem is only "biologically driven" in the sense that multiracial identities are so often invalidated as people are shoehorned into an either/or binary.  

Suburbia is rife with measured non-conformity.  Nobody actually forces kids to decide at birth whether they're "natural jocks" or "natural nerds."  Traits are traits.  Interests are interests.  Live and let live.  

What's problematic here is less the adoption of traits itself than the issue of honesty and accountability.  

Racism is a blight on the whole of our society.  Unsurprisingly, however, its effects are unequally distributed.  So here we have this one source of dissatisfaction, this feeling of guilt and emptiness that is, as Baldwin phrased it, "the price of the ticket," the price of the privilege, and rather than taking that on as a compelling internal motivator to dismantle the system of racial inequality in this society, we have people just casually "trying on" different identities, discarding guilt, appropriating culture, all while continuing to passively benefit from (or actively invoke) their White skin privilege.  

It wasn't enough for Dolezal to be an ally, to be a White person conscious of her unearned and unjust privilege while simultaneously attempting to attack the system of racial inequality.  

Who, in this society, gets to say, on a whim, "you know what?  I'm tired of racism.  I didn't choose this.  I think I'll just turn it off.  No more consequences of racism for me."  

That, I suspect, is what so frustrates people in all of this.  This wasn't necessarily a "one way trip."  A change of venue and a trip to a salon is all that would be required to "switch back" if life became too challenging - and that's a luxury that most people can't afford.  

That's not, in any meaningful way, analogous to the transgender experience.  We have the opportunity to have a meaningful conversation about racial identity in America, and you're blowing that because you want to feel smug in looking down your nose at the "freaks" who don't conform to your gender expectations.  That's about prioritizing YOUR privileged sexuality ahead of addressing racial inequality, when the same basic process that awards privilege on the basis of sexuality does so on the basis of race. 


In a truly "post-racial" society, it wouldn't matter of Dolezal wanted to change her complexion any more than it currently matters whether or not someone dyes their hair.  

"I was born without a unicorn on my back, but I want a unicorn tattoo" doesn't offend anyone's sense of fair play.  It's a purely personal decision.  "I don't like racism, so I personally choose to change sides so I'm no longer associated with the oppressor" carries consequences for others.  If you're on a team in the middle of a game, switching shirts isn't just a matter of fashion preference.  It carries additional consequences - but not all of those consequences are equivalent or interchangeable.   


When it comes to transgender people, some of the most nonsensical objections attempt to portray a transition in this way - as a means of gaining an "unfair"  advantage.  "Oh, if I'd only known as a teenage boy that I could just call myself a girl I could go into the girls' locker room and stare at boobies!"  etc.  

There, the backlash comes from those attempting to preserve an unjust social order - not from those attempting to challenge an unjust social order.  "I benefit from straight/male privilege.  Challenging gender norms threatens my source of privilege."   That's very different than "You've already marginalized everyone who isn't White and staked a claim to the social defaults in our society.  Now, on top of everything else, you've found something about my identity that you want - and you're taking that, too?!  You want the privilege of Mitt Romney and the righteousness of Martin Luther King.  You want to be the blonde haired, blue-eyed ideal, and you want to be 'ethnically exotic.'  You want to be everything.  You want to have everything.  It kills you that there might be something out there - anything - that you can't possess.  What is that, if not the pinnacle of privilege?"

If you really think that is the goal sought by a transgender person, perhaps you're the one with the mental illness. 

So YOU know what is going on in this woman's head and her specific motivations? This woman gave up any supposed privilege that she had as a white woman in this country, and actually faced racism and discrimination because of it. She changed her appearance, openly appeared in public and the media claiming to be a black woman, went to a historically black college, raised and supported black children and headed an organization whose sole purpose is to uplift people of color and seek equality for them. I agree with some of your points, but you still haven't made a distinction between this woman's journey, motivation or intentions, and that of Caitlyn/Bruce Jenner. This woman may have felt black her entire life, in the same way that Jenner believed himself to be a woman. It seems that you are just picking and choosing which causes you wish to support, even though they are equal. A white person wears some Jordans. a fitted cap and enjoys playing basketball, he is appropriating black culture and denying reality, man wears a dress,wig,some pumps and makeup, he is fighting oppression and being his/her true self. The double standard here is glaring.

"You want the privilege of Mitt Romney and the righteousness of Martin Luther King. "

This is laughable. Your average white person in this country doesn't enjoy the same privileges as Mitt Romney. Maybe she had the privilege of white Diane who works at Target, but certainly not Mitt Romney, unless her parents are multimillionaires who enjoy political support from a far reaching and influential religious organization. Is it wrong for her to seek to be righteous like Martin Luther King?


Your main distinction between these two situations is the fact that Bruce Jenner has a permanent solution to his problem, Rachel does not. Will you accept transracial people if a permanent solution is introduced to increase melanin production and kinking of the hair? Do you support white male transgenders who have not yet, or never intend to have a full sex change? They can also take off the wigs and dresses and enjoy this white privilege that you so abhor.

 

[mr marcus]

She lied to fit in as something she is not, is that not an identity conflict??...she can't bring herself to admit to herself that she's white, is that not an identity conflict?

What other fact or proof do I need?...is clear as water.

You don't understand what being trans is .. it's clear as water

Yep

 

[heliumclinton]

Describing how someone feels inside as a 'conflict' is offensive

 

[Master Zik]

She lied to fit in as something she is not, is that not an identity conflict??...she can't bring herself to admit to herself that she's white, is that not an identity conflict?

What other fact or proof do I need?...is clear as water.

Claiming evidence to be undeniable facts, especially when now, you're completely ignoring motive to further your narrative, which now can't be wrong

I forgot to add this last part to my last post

So if you're not going to do that I don't want to hear from you again when it comes to this topic. I'll just do what I initially thought, consider you to be on some clown ****.

 

[julesbeats]

Lady is nuts

 

[wavycrocket]

Well put

 

[ksteezy]

Claiming evidence to be undeniable facts especially when now you're completely ignoring motive to further your narrative which now can't be wrong

I forgot to add this last part to my last post

So if you're not going to do that I don't want to hear from you again when it comes to this topic. I'll just do what I initially thought, consider you to be on some clown ****.

Then there is nothing to discuss fam, no matter what I say, you gonna feel some type of way so why even bother....I'm gonna feel the way I feel and so will you...you haven't said anything at all to enlighten me, all you did was be on some direct offensive steez, simply because you were somehow indirectly offended by my stance....I'm not here to baby you or comfort you....so I suggest you put me on your ignore list, so you no longer feel offended.

 

[spacedoodoo]

After 50+ years....so we gonna ignore the conflict he's dealt with his whole life living as Bruce....Ight man

It's compareable because they both deal with identities.....the only reason I even brought it up is because how one was viewed as opposed to the other, which is very hypocritical.

c'mon son.. race is biological.. I can never change the fact that I am black no matter how hard I try. Gender is what man and society comes up with and tries to implement its traits like masculinity and femininity. I don't have to conform to gender rolls that society has put in place. And that is exactly what caitlyn is doing which is normal. 

 

[ksteezy]

Describing how someone feels inside as a 'conflict' is offensive

ok man ::sips tea::

 

[$tatus $ymbol]

race is not biological

 

[ksteezy]

c'mon son.. race is biological.. I can never change the fact that I am black no matter how hard I try. Gender is what man and society comes up with and tries to implement its traits like masculinity and femininity. I don't have to conform to gender rolls that society has put in place. And that is exactly what caitlyn is doing which is normal. 

Wait WUT?....

Race is biological? Sex isn't? Gender is used to describe more than just a social construct, is used to also describe the biological sex of a person.

 

[don ramon]

 

Describing how someone feels inside as a 'conflict' is offensive

ok man ::sips tea::

see man it's comments like that tells everyone you more interested in being a nuisance in this thread rather than interested in learning anything

 

[spacedoodoo]

Wait WUT?....

Race is biological? Sex isn't? Gender is used to describe more than just a social construct, is used to also describe the biological sex of a person.

Gender and sex are different...

 

[Master Zik]

Claiming evidence to be undeniable facts especially when now you're completely ignoring motive to further your narrative which now can't be wrong

I forgot to add this last part to my last post

So if you're not going to do that I don't want to hear from you again when it comes to this topic. I'll just do what I initially thought, consider you to be on some clown ****.

haven't said anything at all to enlighten me

It was NEVER at any point in this back and forth my aim to enlighten you.

I said so and so saying this and that are on some clown ****. You came out and let me know you on some clown ****. That's all this is to me.

all you did was be on some direct offensive steez, simply because you were somehow indirectly offended by my stance.

I always reply in kind.

...I'm not here to baby you or comfort you.

Through out all of this I have never asked you for anything. So for you to assume that is pretty much remaining consistent with your previous posts of asinine claims.

...so I suggest you put me on your ignore list, so you no longer feel offended.

Apparently unlike you, I don't have the privilege to simply ignore offensive ppl (whether they intended to or not) in real life. There's no reason for me to simply ignore an offensive person on this site. That's the easy way out. I'll just keep calling you out on all of your offensive bull **** every single time I feel offended.

 

[don ramon]

 

Wait WUT?....

Race is biological? Sex isn't? Gender is used to describe more than just a social construct, is used to also describe the biological sex of a person.

Gender and sex are different...

sex is what physical characteristics one is born with

gender is learned by way of social norms and/or one's self-awareness

 

[chrischamp]

I think it's cuz she's fooled a lot of black ppl, at least some co-workers and her own students.

Also the NAACP still have some of a national rep that holds some weight and that it appears she also tricked some in Washington also compounds the whole absurdity of the situation. The way this thread went most were replying with confusion, comedy, or disgust not a lot of shock. Then it's that this lady has went so hard pretending she's black.

I get it, I'm talking more about black twitter and other black websites, they going hard on her right now. She seems troubled and very emotionally unbalanced, and probably need mental help, but i don't think her intentions was vicious or harmful toward the black community. There's probably more to her past than we know, she's very reluctant to speak about her parents, i don't think she erased her parents from her life for no reason. 

 

[americangenius]

Excellent point, both are altering their appearance to match the person they feel they should be identified as.

 

[$tatus $ymbol]

So if we roll with helium's notion that nature sometimes gets things wrong then why is it that the trans issue isn't looked at as a disorder? If there's a genetic defect we say say nature got something wrong & classify it as a defect or disorder. If nature made the wrong person a man how is it any different that a defect?

 

[ksteezy]

It was NEVER at any point in this back and forth my aim to enlighten you.

I said so and so saying this and that are on some clown ****. You came out and let me know you on some clown ****. That's all this is to me.
I always reply in kind.
Through out all of this I have never asked you for anything. So for you to assume that is pretty much remaining consistent with your previous posts of asinine claims.
Apparently unlike you, I don't have the privilege to simply ignore offensive ppl (whether they intended to or not) in real life. There's no reason for me to simply ignore an offensive person on this site. That's the easy way out. I'll just keep calling you out on all of your offensive bull **** every single time I feel offended.

Well then bro, do as you wish.

 

[PRIME]

• Who, in this society, gets to say, on a whim, "you know what?  I'm tired of racism.  I didn't choose this.  I think I'll just turn it off.  No more consequences of racism for me."  
  
• That, I suspect, is what so frustrates people in all of this.  This wasn't necessarily a "one way trip."  A change of venue and a trip to a salon is all that would be required to "switch back" if life became too challenging - and that's a luxury that most people can't afford.  
  
• "I was born without a unicorn on my back, but I want a unicorn tattoo" doesn't offend anyone's sense of fair play.  It's a purely personal decision.  "I don't like racism, so I personally choose to change sides so I'm no longer associated with the oppressor" carries consequences for others.  If you're on a team in the middle of a game, switching shirts isn't just a matter of fashion preference.  It carries additional consequences - but not all of those consequences are equivalent or interchangeable.  

 

This, these points right here.


Nail on the head.

 

[heliumclinton]

Wait WUT?....

Race is biological? Sex isn't? Gender is used to describe more than just a social construct, is used to also describe the biological sex of a person.

You should take a gender and sexuality course man this is ridiculous