by Mel Reeves
Demands for Rachel Dolezal’s heavily braided head ring hollow, from both Black and white quarters. “Many of those who are distraught over Dolezal’s passing haven’t done as much to advance the cause of racial justice as she has in just two decades of passing.” However, Dolezal “missed an opportunity to really do some good by staying in the skin she was born in and helping to oppose and eradicate racism and discrimination.”
Does Passing for Black Challenge White Supremacy?
by Mel Reeves
“Anybody who willingly chooses to be black is alright with me.”
"Passing for black" – now that's a phrase that gives pause. In fact that phrase flies in the face of all that we have come to accept when comes to the subject of passing. But Rachael Dolezal has created quite the stir by unintentionally challenging the tenets of White Supremacy. Under the rules of White Supremacy, white is always right and no one in their right mind would want to be black or, more importantly, should want to be black.
Of course, Dolezal’s desire to identify as black in a society that values all things white raises questions about her sanity. After all, who in their right mind would want to be black in a society dominated by White Supremacy?
But the question is: is she crazy? Why can’t Dolezal identify as black? After all, there was a national love fest around Bruce Jenner’s transformation to Caitlin Jenner. Jenner chose to become a woman. Why can’t Dolezal self-identify or choose to identify as black?
Many black folks are up in arms about Dolezal’s passing because of the so-called advantages of being black that she supposedly appropriated. I’m not sure what those advantages are, since the color black is the scarlet letter that marks us for almost certain mistreatment at some point in our lives.
To be fair, and when one looks at the whole picture, she wasn’t doing blackface (President Obama would be more guilty of this than her) or trying to mock black folks; she just took the “wigger” thing to another level.
Ironically, many of those who are distraught over Dolezal’s passing haven’t done as much to advance the cause of racial justice as she has in just two decades of passing. After all Rachel Dolezal was actually blacker than some so-called real black folks with real melanin. She was trying to advance the rights of black people – in the wrong way, of course – but she still was miles ahead of some black folks.
“She wasn’t doing blackface; she just took the ‘wigger’ thing to another level.”
She went all out, in her effort to be black and support black folks. Consider how much more advanced the black community would be if more had her kind of commitment because she was immersed in her role as a black person.
And when white folks get up in arms it’s best not to follow behind too closely, because there could be a rope or a Darren Wilson or George Zimmerman in the crowd.
When I overheard that there was controversy about an NAACP president who was found to be of Czech and German origin, I thought: well, that’s not that unusual for the NAACP, since most of its original founders were white.
In fact, Walter White, an early head of the NAACP, passed for black, if appearance were the only criteria. White said of himself, “I am a Negro. My skin is white, my eyes are blue, my hair is blond. The traits of my race are nowhere visible upon me.” Nevertheless, as the offspring of the descendants of slaves he considered himself black.
He used his Caucasian appearance to pass for white to travel into the dens of the segregated South and actually bear witness and report on racist crimes.
And before we nail Rachel to the tree for wanting to enjoy all the advantages of blackness we better be careful because some of this feeds into the White Supremacist narrative of, ‘who in their right mind would want to be black?’
“Rachel Dolezal was actually blacker than some so-called real black folks with real melanin.”
Therefore, we have to be careful that we don’t agree with the racists, who think being black is the worst thing that could happen to a person.
One has to be careful when you find yourself agreeing with your enemy. Thinking folks have to ask themselves, what’s going on that all of the major presses continue to parade this woman on the front page of their newspapers and at the top of their newscasts? It seems they could have kept quiet about it and it would simply have been a little regional secret. But the progenitors of white supremacy couldn’t afford for even a small section of the country to believe that it’s okay to be black.
We live in a society that tells us every day in every way that black is bad, white is good. It’s in the language, even today: black-balled, black-mailed and black listed are all negatives. It’s in the textbooks, it might as well be in the water; kids pick up on it right away. But Rachel Dolezal, despite all her confusion, is challenging this tenet.
So the power structure used its press to do everything in its power to make Dolezal look foolish and confused because the last thing they want is to opens people’s eyes and force them to reexamine the role of race in a racist society. In fact Dolezal’s desire to identify as black reminds us yet again, that race is just an invention, a construct that has been used masterfully by those who seek to divide and thus rule us.
“We have to be careful that we don’t agree with the racists, who think being black is the worst thing that could happen to a person.”
Exposing the sham of race is bad for this society so she has to be crazy. What would happen if large numbers of white folks wanted to become black overnight? Who would they oppress? White folks! In fact I suspect the corporate news folks continuously paraded her in front of the cameras hoping she would say that she was joking about wanting to identify black and if they couldn’t do that, then make her look like a nutcase.
Why else would this story be front page news for five days?
I find it interesting that folks who have not raised much fuss about the mass incarceration state that has locked down thousands of black folks, or didn’t speak out about the recent record level of black wealth loss or even the constant drumbeat of police brutality, are suddenly up in arms about Dolezal.
Understandably there is some resentment because while saying she wants to be black, she still has the ability to pass as white (if she chooses) when shopping for a home, or confronted by law enforcement, or when applying for employment.
However some of the Negroes who are acting so offended, haven’t been black since the 90’s. Some of them are mad because she has been blacker than them. While they were rushing to fill their head with fake Caucasian looking hair, Rachel was styling the black natural look. While many of these Negroes were running to the suburbs to get away from them Negroes she actually ran to the brothers and sisters in the hood. While a lot of these folks complaining have been ashamed of their blackness and its rich history, sister Rachel embraced it. Rachel cheated and used her black “look” to get a scholarship to Howard, but she came back to the black community, unlike some of the folks criticizing her.
“Some of the Negroes who are acting so offended, haven’t been black since the 90’s.”
Yes, I say sister because anybody who willingly chooses to be black is alright with me. We all know a Negro or two who, if they had a choice, would not be black. Folks should be saying, “girlfriend you are out of your cotton picking mind, but if you really are crazy enough to want to suffer with us then grab one of those sacks and start picking.”
On the other hand, whites have been appropriating and ripping off black culture and black folks since we got here. First they stole our bodies for labor and stole sex at their leisure from black women. And after we were declared free, they tried to steal our souls with bad religion and our identity by stealing our history. And they tried to kill our spirit by segregating us.
And in the last two centuries they stole our culture and our looks. Everybody wants to get dark but Lawd, not too dark. White women have been injecting all kinds of nasty stuff in their lips to make them fuller (blacker). Even black butts are being imitated women are doing more squats than they ever have, to get that pushed out black booty look.
And white men don’t have to hide their desire for black women anymore. Has anybody noticed how often there are really attractive black women are in commercials? It’s as if Madison Avenue is saying to white men, “look at these sisters, they sho’ is fine.” According to Scandal, white men with power got to have them one.
We don’t know and may never know what motivated this woman but, think about it: if racism wasn’t such a big deal this really wouldn’t be much of a news story.
But Rachel has really been fooling herself; she isn’t black and will never be black. In fact she missed an opportunity to really do some good by staying in the skin she was born in and helping to oppose and eradicate racism and discrimination. She could have set the example for how to be anti-racist that other whites could follow.
She and others need to understand that freedom can’t be found in denying who we are, but rather by embracing who we are and what the Creator has given us and understand that there should be a struggle, not for a monolithic society but a multi-cultural multi-ethnic mix in which we all can enjoy the fruits of the earth and be treated equally with respect and dignity!
Rachael Dolezal is not our problem; white supremacy is and will continue to be long after she becomes a faded memory.
Mel Reeves is a community organizer living in Minneapolis. He welcomes reader response to [email protected].
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