What troubles me about Rachel Dolezal most is that she grew up with white privilege

[cali]

and yet she's been using herself as an example of someone who has suffered life long racial prejudice lecturing others, including students on the experience of growing up black and female. She taught a class specifically about that. It's not just cultural appropriation. It's more serious than that.

And the thing is, she could have said "look, I strongly identify with AA culture. I grew up in Mississippi. I have adopted black siblings. I attended Howard University. I married an AA man and have a black son. I love AA culture and I have immersed myself in the culture. I want to be part of the solution to the problems facing black Americans."
Maybe she wouldn't be the head of the Spokane NAACP, but she could still have participated.

Here's an article with a video of a lecture she gave on black hair.

http://thegrio.com/2015/06/13/rachel-dolezal-brother-dont-blow-my-cover/

And she's cancelled the meeting she scheduled with her NAACP chapter for today, in which she had promised to explain herself:

Some members of the Spokane, Washington, NAACP chapter are upset that a Monday meeting was postponed, because they had hoped to hear Rachel Dolezal explain herself.

Did the chapter president, who presented herself as black, lie about her race? Is she, as her parents allege, actually white?

"People want resolve. They want some kind of closure" to the controversy that has triggered national headlines about Dolezal, debates over race and identity, and put the NAACP in the spotlight, chapter member Kitara Johnson said on CNN on Monday morning.

Johnson said that members want clear direction from the national office of the NAACP about how to handle Dolezal's future with the organization, and in the meantime, Johnson has started a petition to make
Johnson said that members want clear direction from the national office of the NAACP about how to handle Dolezal's future with the organization, and in the meantime, Johnson has started a petition to make Dolezal take a leave of absence.

<snip>
http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/15/us/washington-rachel-dolezal-naacp/

[Cleita]

1. I lived up there in what's called the Inland Northwest comprising

Eastern Washington, the Idaho Panhandle and Western Montana, for five years. I never saw a black person there so maybe someone introducing the inhabitants to black culture and history is not a bad thing. I suppose what really bothers everyone is being lied to.

[csziggy]

2. She also exhibited extreme hypocrisy

Criticizing Eminem for appropriating black culture while she was doing it to a much greater extent:

DU thread: This Series of Five Rachel Dolezal 2014 Raw Interview Videos Will Absolutely Baffle You
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026838991

And the article with the videos it discusses: http://www.colorlines.com/articles/series-five-rachel-dolezal-2014-raw-interview-videos-will-absolutely-baffle-you

She cut off a student from sharing her cultural experiences because she was not "Hispanic" enough.

I've known white people who were brought up with black culture and considered it part of their life experience but they never pretended they were black or lied about who their parents and children were. They also didn't lie about their personal life experiences, claiming to have been born in a teepee, having to hunt their food with a bow and arrow, or having been beaten with a "baboon whip" or claiming other people's life experiences as their own.

I doubt anyone would be upset of Dolezal changed her appearance to fit her chosen cultural identity and worked with the NAACP. But her lies are offensive to the very group she claims to be working for.

[Capt. Obvious]

3. If those 9 hate crimes against her never happened

does that make them any less reprehensible?

[FrodosPet]

5. Of course it does

How can something that does not exist be reprehensible?

That would be like saying "That guy over there never committed rape. But he is still as reprehensible as if he had"

If I am misunderstanding the question, please clarify.

[cali]

7. yes. and if she perpetrated them herself that is reprehensible

[GCP]

10. Huh??? n/t

[countryjake]

4. Have you seen the latest report on this?

Dolezal story takes a turn June 15, 2015

Report: Rachel Dolezal assisting alleged victim in child sexual assault case against Rachel's older brother

http://cdapress.com/news/local_news/article_41195e08-847c-5e7f-b11e-1c3a9005b1c6.html

There is a new twist in the Rachel Dolezal story.

~snip~
Since The Press reported the news, Dolezal has made several statements to various media outlets indicating that her parents' motivation to come forward about her ethnic identity was motivated by family legal matters playing out in Colorado. Court records show that Dolezal's older biological brother, Joshua, was arrested in 2014 on four counts of child sexual assault.

The charges were filed in Clear Creek County, Colorado. The case is scheduled to go to trial this summer.

The New York Daily News reported Sunday that Rachel Dolezal is assisting the alleged victim in the case. The New York publication did not release the name of the victim and it was not immediately available in court records.

Joshua, who lives in Indiana, could not be reached for comment, but Dolezal's mother relayed a message to The Press on behalf of the family...

Breaking: Dolezal stepping down as NAACP Spokane president JUNE 15, 2015, 8:56 A.M.

http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/hbo/2015/jun/15/dolezal-postpones-meeting-naacp-board/

Rachel Dolezal resigns as president of Spokane NAACP

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2015/jun/15/dolezal-resigns/

Rachel Dolezal resigned as Spokane NAACP president this morning. In a letter sent to the NAACP Executive Committee she wrote, “It is with complete allegiance to the cause of racial and social justice and the NAACP that I step aside from the Presidency and pass the baton to my Vice President, Naima Quarles-Burnley.”

Dolezal’s resignation comes after accusations that she’s been passing as a black woman for years, when her family says she’s white. Although the NAACP hasn’t taken an official position, some leaders and former leaders are calling for her resignation. One member started an online petition on Friday, calling for Dolezal’s resignation. A demonstration is planned for tonight in downtown Spokane.

Charles Thornton, the former vice president of the Spokane NAACP chapter, called for Dolezal’s resignation via email.

“It is difficult for me to believe anything Rachel Dolezal says. She has completely lost the trust I had in her,” Thornton wrote. “The lies she told to me go deeper than I could imagine. Rachel Dolezal needs to resign.”

[lovemydog]

12. I wonder how she can be considered a credible witness in a court case.

I think she has lied so much and so often and hurt so many people doing it that these lies are really doing a lot of damage. I get the feeling that even more will be coming out, from her family, from people she knew and genuinely hurt.

It appears that she lied about the hate crimes leveled against her. Yes, that is really wrong and really damaging. Not to mention the time the Spokane police department and the Spokane postal service has spent trying to track down the truth of the matters.

I understand that some people haven't read much about it, that's fine. It's a weird story. But I hope some reading here will examine just how often she has lied, and how these lies are now turning in on themselves. And hopefully stop saying stuff like 'I don't see how she has hurt anyone.' If the child was indeed sexually assaulted, Rachel is far from a credible witness in the child's favor. If the child was not sexually assaulted, did Rachel play a role in false accusations.

This is far beyond 'oh, she identifies as black so what the heck who cares, everything is cool.' Way beyond that.

[randome]

6. Someone who failed to bond with her family so sought a different identity for herself.

It's unfortunate but I see her as more confused than intentionally deceptive. The deception only followed the self-deception she inculcated in herself.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]"If you're bored then you're boring." -Harvey Danger[/center][/font][hr]

[GCP]

11. No, sorry, it doesn't wash

She lied and she lied and she lied. She needs to go.

[randome]

14. I agree she needs to go.

Insofar as a white male can make pronouncements on such things.

But she's a talented artist and her parents are creationist fundamentalists so it's not hard for me to imagine that someone like her might have gone down a wrong path or two. Hopefully she'll get the therapy she needs.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]You have to play the game to find out why you're playing the game. -Existenz[/center][/font][hr]

[KittyWampus]

8. What troubles me is she had fundie parents, one sibling went to live with HER-

to get away from whatever was happening in her screwed up parent's house.

And I believe one of her other siblings is facing some kind of criminal charges and her parents leaking the info about her seems to be retaliatory and done to discredit her possible testimony.

Edit- apparently that other sibling is facing sex crime charges...

[snooper2]

9. um, how do you know they are fundies?

[cali]

17. her father has worked for Creation Ministries- I think that's the name- for many years

[snooper2]

18. Jeez, so the whole family is jacked up...

[cali]

16. that may explain her being troubled. it does not excuse her lies

and her appropriating very real life experiences she never had. The issues you detail are certainly disturbing but so is her behavior.

[randome]

19. There's a certain mindset, when you truly feel disconnected...

...where you can half-believe some of the things that come to mind. You might embellish something a trifle and if you get away with it -and still have that sense of disconnection to the world at large- you start making up bigger and bigger stories until you can actually be confused as to what is real or not.

Witness Brian Williams.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Everything is a satellite to some other thing.[/center][/font][hr]

[geek tragedy]

13. she's got issues nt

[ileus]

15. Now she knows how I feel.