The Rachel Divide

[ShowerOfShite]

Just watched this new documentary on Netflix about Rachel Dolezal, who identifies as 'trans-racial'
Anyone else seen it?

Think that's a few years old, but I recall I found it fascinating.

Oh I remember her. She seems like a very damaged individual - although she’s most famous for trying to pass herself off as black she’s told many other lies, which I kind of think points to the fact that race isn’t the issue, but some sort of deep seated mental problem.

Yes,I saw it a few years ago. What other lies has she told @Kanaloa? I agree,serious MH issues.

To be fair she grew up with black children. I don't think she's as bad as she makes out

I have seen an old documentary ,I think she has mixed race siblings and kids doesn't she?
I remember thinking the situation wasn't quite as clear cut as it had been portrayed in the media.

@MrsPelligrinoPetrichor

Yes,I saw it a few years ago. What other lies has she told *@Kanaloa*? I agree,serious MH issues.

She pretended her adoptive brother was her son. She claimed her dad was her step-dad and pretended someone else was her dad. She claimed that she was also of Native American descent, as well as African American and that she was born in a tipi, which her mother says is complete fabrication. She accused her parents of whipping her as a child because of her skin colour. She also claims that from age 5 she drew herself as black, which her family say isn't true at all. She also committed welfare fraud.

She's clearly seriously disturbed.

@MrsPelligrinoPetrichor

Basically been covered now but yes she said she was Native American, claimed a man was her father despite no evidence proving this and everyone denying it, made claims of abuse (although I do think some of those might be true, but hard to tell from someone who lies so much). Then some more sort of ‘harmless lies’ ie saying she had lived places where she hadn’t lived.

I wasn’t really saying it isn’t important to race, as it absolutely is. I can only imagine how offensive it must be to a black person to see this woman complaining that she’s suffered racism when she’s as white as me! I was more saying that I don’t think it’s based in racism but rather that this is a woman who has something wrong deep inside.

@x2boys

I have seen an old documentary ,I think she has mixed race siblings and kids doesn't she? I remember thinking the situation wasn't quite as clear cut as it had been portrayed in the media.

I believe her parents fostered/adopted African-American children. I thought perhaps this is where this came from, a person with mental health problems (as a teen perhaps) in some way trying to get attention from parents? I don’t know. And yes she had mixed race children. However, she was saying she was actually black. Not just felt culturally aligned with African-American people, she tried to say her father was black and she was African-American too.

I thought it was a really thought provoking documentary and it’s what started me thinking about the issues of self identity. ExDP and I had a really good discussion about it - it’s what started me thinking about cultural appropriation vs gender identity.

Oh well that's odd ,but if everyone around you is black,mixed race I can understand her affinity ,but to actually say you are black when you are not is just strange .

Just thinking aloud ,clearly she can't have suffered from racism ,but as her fostered / adopted siblings are African American and she herself was married to a black man ( I think) and her children are mixed race I can understand she might have taken on board her very close relatives, experience of racism
I'm not disabled,and would never say I was ,but my child has severe disabilities so I do kind of take discrimination towards him because of his disabilities very close to heart

Yes I totally would understand her campaigning against racism and saying she had special ties to the community through her siblings and kids - I feel this as I have mixed race kids, almost a stronger stake in the argument if that makes sense. But she was saying she herself had been racially persecuted/her ‘real’ father was black and Native American and so on. It was all very odd and I think she’s obviously quite an unwell person.

She also randomly changed her name to a Nigerian name despite, I believe, having absolutely no ties to the culture whatsoever. It’s just all a bit mad. I also think it’s sad because it’s now hard to tell what things she is lying about because some of it could be the truth. Certainly her parents being abusive seems plausible but who knows? When someone lies so much it’s hard to tell.

Yes ,it's very complex though where does her actual concern and her lies start and finish

Yes it’s complex. I think (for me) it’s the fact that she lied about homelessness/welfare fraud, possibly abuse, where she was born, an unknown man being her father etc. To me that kind of points to the idea that this isn’t really about race or racism but that she is a person who lies about many many different things. Understandably the race lie has become the most well known/notorious but she lies about a lot of things.

I did see one person online speculate over whether her strong empathy towards her siblings’ experiences had somehow fed into this lie, but that doesn’t really explain her lies about being destitute to claim welfare/Native American heritage/abuse.

I’ve often wondered if perhaps there was a lot of abuse in the home and it has caused trauma to her resulting in this persona as an adult.

Tbh she might not know you do get people who lie so much ,they start believing their own lies and then add in her own life experience ,it's difficult to say what's true and what's not .

Yes totally. I’ve definitely met people who almost seem to think their own lies are true S they’ve told them. It’s sad though.

Yes it's very sad and her case just complicates issues