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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Rachel Dolezal

70 replies

TheSnowFairy · 16/06/2015 20:30

DH and I have been watching this story unfold with interest.

Is she delusional? Or trying to make a difference and feels she can only do so from 'within'?

We think you cannot choose to be black if you were born white - AWBU?

OP posts:
Goshthatsspicy · 16/06/2015 20:51

I think the fact she lied is a problem. I don't think it is impossible for her to identify as a different race.

StillStayingClassySanDiego · 16/06/2015 20:52

Big thread thread on this somewhere already, in Chat I think.

Goshthatsspicy · 16/06/2015 20:53

Thanks still l've been following it too. I'd like to read what people think.

Original poster
TheSnowFairy · 16/06/2015 20:54

I did search for it but only in AIBU!

OP posts:
acatcalledjohn · 16/06/2015 20:55

The Piers Morgan twat on most occasions article on the Daily Fail is quite amusing.

She is delusional. Apparently she had to identify as black because she adopted a black child. What she basically is saying is that, if you adopt and Asian child, you really ought to head down to Harley Street to have your facial features changed to typically Asian features. And maybe open an Asian restaurant because that is what Asians do Hmm.

Piers Morgan Daily Fail

Original poster
TheSnowFairy · 16/06/2015 21:02

She has lost her job, her presidency and has become (from what we've seen) a bit of a laughing stock.

Can't work out her parents' motive either though. What a messed up family.

OP posts:
HoldYerWhist · 16/06/2015 21:04

I don't think you can just decide you're a particular race because you feel like it, can you?

And didn't she make loads of claims of hate crimes that were complete lies?

Original poster
TheSnowFairy · 16/06/2015 21:08

I think I (white British) can become a Chinese citizen. That does not make me Chinese, however I change my appearance, or however much I wish it to be so.

OP posts:
CattyCatCat · 16/06/2015 21:09

She might feel that she has a black brain and identity but is trapped inside a white body. Sort of Transrace, if you will.

bbcessex · 16/06/2015 21:10

I think in the Rachel Dolezal case, hers is not straight forward. Her (white) parents did adopt 4 African-American boys whom she was brought up with, and they did live in Africa. From what I've read about her parents / upbringing, it's not a surprise that she's a bit screwed up.

The pictures of her as a teenager show her as a young girl with reddish hair and freckles; very clearly a white girl. She's had a hair treatment and tanning treatment to maintain a darker colour skin in order to pass as mixed race.

It's a very, very strange case.

Goshthatsspicy · 16/06/2015 21:10

Didn't the press on the US, contact her parents? And they just told the truth? I'm sure l read that?

Goshthatsspicy · 16/06/2015 21:12

Is her hair permed?
I've never had one so successful.

Denimwithdenim00 · 16/06/2015 21:12

What does make a difference from within mean?

She's not of the black community she's white.

She's a liar and a fantasist and lied to get her job.

Her parents and her white background have been denied and deleted so she's a racist twat too.

Either she's simply a liar and a confidence trickster or she had a mental illness.

Her parents were right to not continue with the lie and deciet when confronted by journalists.

She deserves all she gets.

mileend2bermondsey · 16/06/2015 21:13

I think she is extremely odd.

What about a family where a black child is adopted by a white family, grow up in a majority white area, have white friends, white family, white boyfriend/girlfriend, etc. Would the kid be able to say he is 'culturally white'

ChuffinAda · 16/06/2015 21:14

The parents came out to make a rebuttal against her claims of abuse.

CaptainAnkles · 16/06/2015 21:15

Her parents being interviewed and saying they think she's loopy seems a bit cruel though, she's been utterly humiliated everywhere. She obviously did the wrong thing by lying but does she need to be repeatedly kicked while she's down?

Original poster
TheSnowFairy · 16/06/2015 21:15

Denim I meant that maybe she felt she had to be black to talk about the struggles of African American women, that a white person wouldn't be taken as seriously.

OP posts:
Szeli · 16/06/2015 21:18

Her parents lived in Africa, she didn't.

Her hair is a weave I think and it seems a regular fake tan.

She doesn't look anything but Caucasian. I can only assume she got away with it because people were too scared to question it.

I'm still hoping it was a performance art piece

bbcessex · 16/06/2015 21:19

I think there's a lot more to it than meets the eye. Certainly though, I think there can be no doubt that Rachel Dolezal is one very, very mixed up person.

Rachel Dolezal
whois · 16/06/2015 21:39

I think the fact she lied is a problem. I don't think it is impossible for her to identify as a different race.

Agreed.

If people can feel they were born the wrong sex (which is genetics), why can't someone identify with a different race (which is predominantly a social construct).

Clearly some sort of a messed up home life, one of her adopted brothers has got a legal separation from the parents (or whatever you call it) and has said they were physically beaten.

whois · 16/06/2015 21:40

Either she's simply a liar and a confidence trickster or she had a mental illness.

You think the same about trans-gender people too?

ChaiseLounger · 16/06/2015 21:45

Bbcessex, she had hair treatment and tanning?
Is that all? Because her skin at certain times was so very dark.
And the hair was do very 'black' - sorry if that's not PC, so I assumed she was wearing a wig.

ChaiseLounger · 16/06/2015 21:47

Whois, I have no problem with transgender, but this is Different. It's the lies and deception.

scarlets · 16/06/2015 21:50

For me, the story is less about her race, and more about her unhappy family life.

whois · 16/06/2015 21:50

Yeah, and I agree it's all very odd - but I can kinda see that it's plausible for someone to identify as a different race.

I feel quite sorry for her.

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