Leila Gracie reflects on the high-profile case of Rachel Dolezal, an American civil rights advocate who lied about her life story in order to live as a black woman.
What makes an acceptable lie?
Rachel Dolezal in a recent TV appearance. Photo: Boston Herald.
In the light of genuine racial discrimination and injustice, it’s obvious why some have felt offended by Rachael Dolezal. As a rule, we don’t choose our race and have to simply deal with its consequences. Yet we should examine the nature of her lie. For instance, compare it with someone who has an affair, or someone who commits crime; such people would lie because they seek self-gratification at the expense of other. This is, surely, immorality in its most basic form. Was Dolezal truly “getting off” on living life as a mixed-race person? Was she having fun at the expense of others; was there some selfish reward? The argument that she deliberately and strategically built a career on the lie also seems tenuous, especially as she ‘lived’ the black identity in many other aspects of her life.
Furthermore, the lie was just plain odd. Though immoral, other lies, such as infidelity or stealing, still have a place within the spectrum of ‘normality’. Imitating another race does not. It is distinctly abnormal. She had to deal with the fact that no one would ever truly understand the truth. It was surely a source of shame for Dolezal and something that had to remain strictly private.
It appears that Dolezal wished so deeply that she could be someone else that she sought to make it real. Perhaps she hated her white self. Perhaps the thought of being a black person seemed like the only way to truly find happiness. There may have been moments when she was confronted with the ‘whiteness’ of her body and felt frustrated by its inadequacy. So she constructed a story for herself; the unique circumstances that made her, essentially, a black person in a white person’s body.
It would be interesting to discover exactly what Dolezal thinks being white, or being black means. What is it that she wants to escape and what is it she wants to become? She may carry guilt as a member of a racial group that has perpetrated racism. Indeed, we should all appreciate what we have; we should look to help those less well-off; we should be on the lookout for all forms of injustice and immorality and we should heed history’s lessons. But this can all be achieved without also feeling guilty. The cause could also be something more generic; simply the sense of disparity that arises whenever differing cultures meet.
Biologically derived social identifiers
There are certain aspects of our biology, such as race/gender/age, which carry social currency; they inform our social identity. Of course, they tell us something tangible as well. They tell us about our bloodline and its history, and about our place in the process of human procreation. However, the human race seems to universally attach meaning to these biological features.
While I would not agree that these meanings are pure social construction, there is certainly malleability and historical context in the meanings attributed. As individuals, we get no choice about what social identity we are ‘handed’ and must navigate our way through; make the best of our little lot. This means managing external interpretations of social identifiers as well as arriving at our own understandings of them.
Can we change/choose our social identifiers?
Ostensibly, it is possible to change a (biologically derived) social identifier. An obvious example of this is that one can undergo hormonal and surgical procedures to change one’s sex to match one’s gender identity. Of course, those who have changed their biological sex in order to reflect their gender identity should be accepted into society and be free to live with dignity and respect from others. However, empirically and semantically speaking, society does not seem able to cut ties completely with what it originally thought of as a biological certainty. A person who has transitioned to a different gender nevertheless retains the identity of a ‘transgender‘ person even after their sex and gender have been harmonised.
This word does a special job, not just for the trans individual (who may or may not celebrate a distinctively trans identity) but for wider society. It tells a story; it accounts for a history of gender. The fact that this is even necessary could tell us something about society’s views. Do people stumble when it comes to ‘accepting’ that transgender individuals have truly changed gender? If so, why might this be? One might venture that some members of society find this very concept threatening. After all, most people experience their gender identity and biological sex as one and the same. Unpicking this concept, or challenging its certainty, is often not just uncomfortable, but unfathomable.
On this basis, if, one day, it is acceptable to change one’s race, I would suggest that language will adapt, in its usual but imperfect way, so as to articulate that the new identity is real but also tell that another preceded it. The only way round this is secrecy and hoping to ‘pass’ as Dolezal seemingly did.
Who we are to ourselves: the spirit of common humanity
For better or worse, our social identity will always impact our social intercourse but it is down to us how we incorporate it into our personal sense of identity. In fact, I would suggest that to ourselves we can never truly be any of our social identifiers. Without society, to ourselves (i.e. when we have our own space and our own thoughts), it is difficult to ever fully attain the feeling of being a particular race/gender/age. Perhaps it’s terrifying to admit, but surely, ultimately, to ourselves, we are just a complex mix of ‘me’ and trying to make a success of things is the primary focus. The effects of dementia or brain damage reveal the fragility of the processes through which we know who we are.
I am not suggesting we face some kind of existential oblivion. We need something to anchor us in society and need to feel that such things are, to some degree, real. However, I would suggest that we remember our spirit of common humanity and let that be the predominant guide to understanding ourselves. Had we entered this world in different circumstances, we would be managing an entirely different set of connotations of our identity.
Dolezal’s desire to change race reveals our common tendency to try to live and be our social identifiers – to ourselves. It is immaterial that Dolezal interpreted ‘whiteness’ negatively and ‘blackness’ positively. What matters is that she felt utterly defined by her race. I would suggest that if we can, we should concede to the person that we know exists beneath this skin.
Leila Gracie works in the field of behaviour change in London. She also enjoys writing as a means to ponder life’s mysteries, exploring themes such as gender relations, body image or mental health.
It’s so refreshing to read an article that doesn’t simplify the issues in this case or demonise Rachel Dolezal as I strongly suspect that as time moves on more details will come out that help us to understand the history behind such an odd behaviour. When I first read about this in the news I couldn’t help but think of Michael Jackson and all the plastic surgery and speculation regarding his skin and whether it had been lightened. For Michael Jackson I can see that what he became was in part down to the pressures surrounding growing up in the media spotlight and not having people around him who could ground him or support him in any meaningful way. He had money and talent but he seemed in a lot of ways very vulnerable.
Going back to Rachel Dolezal I also tend to think that if it was her intention to defraud people and ‘pretend’ at being black then she would have gone much further than she did. For starters she could have changed her name or got coloured contact lenses or had procedures done to alter her facial features. From what I have read it would seem that she hasn’t set out to act a role but it seems that she really sees herself as a black women and believes she is being her ‘true’ self. I don’t condone the lying but think that there is an explanation in her psychological make up rather than just someone who wants to mislead and dupe people. I think some kind of dissociation or fracturing of her personality that has lead her to this point.
This issue has been debated ad nauseum in the Trans community. Most are offended at the comparison between her race identity with trans identity. There is increasing biological evidence that the trans brain is different from cis. So it is offensive to draw the comparison.
I am a non-white (East Asian) Trans woman and I am inclined to agree.
People have been ridiculed for wanting the same thing (e.g. the late great Michael Jackson). Skin whitening products sell well. Yes, it is up to the individual to decide how they express their gender / race but it would be naive to suggest the ground is totally neutral from one to the other.
We cannot ignore the job that Dolezal was in. A white person could empathise and do her job as well, but likely there were black candidates in the selection process as well. So if it improves her chances of getting the job by NOT BEING TRUTHFUL about her race, then it *is* clearly wrong. This is also suggesting that Gender Dysphoria is a lie.
So yes, Dolezal did do wrong and it is offensive to the Trans community to suggest otherwise!
Kat C is right – as time moves on, other elements to this story have come to light that put a whole new perspective on the “lie” about Dolezal’s race.
For instance, most of the stories where the original “shock, horror! – white person is faking being black/mixed race” stuff was presented ignored something quite important about her background. Dolezal’s white parents had fostered/adopted several black/mixed race children who lived as her siblings.
Surely that would have added two significant dimensions to her life? Specifically, I would expect that
1) her parents – if they were good foster/adoptive parents – would have done all they could to give their non-birth children extra care to not feel left out, and also to develop a positive image in their racial identities, being concious that their new parents didn’t match their birth identities. This might have almost led to Dolezal feeling left out of the party, now being in the minority at home; did she feel that she had to be black/mixed race to fit in now? That her parents would prefer that identity to her own, because why else would they foster/adopt children of another racial identity?
2) Dolezal, having grown up with black/mixed race members of her family has been aware of the disadvantages they have suffered in certain sectors of society, and taken that identity on to share their experiences and try to help. Is that really so criminal?
Sure, in an organisation for promoting the needs of BME groups there is a strong case that there are ample BME candidates to do the work. But I can remember being at University where no-one wanted to be the leader of the LGBT society, so a straight friend of mine volunteered. He understood that some LGBT folks might not want to have to come out enough to be in such a public office, and he was confident enough in his own identity to be okay with it. If Dolezal has been a good, caring and effective representative, her race shouldn’t matter, even if she has had some sort of identity crisis along the way.
Humanity has been inventing identities since our times as Hunter Gatherers. The same is true of many aspects of our currently perceived realities, in terms of Family, Group, Region and Country. Such artificial divisions have served us ill. One World – One Race – All Humans. No Gods – No Need.
I heard that all ‘white’ people have about 1% ‘black’ in their make-up. Also aren’t we all ‘out of Africa if you go back far enough?’
“On this basis, if, one day, it is acceptable to change one’s race,”
Race, though, is not merely a social identifier. It is a biological/scientific identifier as well. What happens to people of different races in different places around the world is the social construct, not their DNA. Only when we (if?) we ever get to a place where we can actually change our DNA to change race will that sentence actually make sense.
As Suzanna says, there is increasing evidence for scientific reasons behind feeling that a person may have the wrong sex. There is a world of difference between Dolezal and her decision to identify as a different race and being trans. The two do not compare (it is also a current favoured issue of the Moderator of the Free Church of Scotland who thinks people will soon go to the post office to get their passport biometric data changed to match their new race).
This issue is quite complex and includes, in the US in particular, the entire establishment of positive black culture and identity in a country where mass civil rights marches are still in the memories of so many. For example, there are many black women who object to white women wearing black hairstyles. They see the identity of who they are being acquired by others and thus diluting who they are. If white women proclaim themselves to be black because they want to be then there is no point in creating a distinct black culture is there?
There is also an element of privilege here. We have a white woman demanding to be identified as black. I wonder what would happen if a black women demanded to be identified as white?
The world sees people by the colour of their skin not “the person that we know exists beneath this skin”. We need to support black women in their identities, not let other people take it.
“There is also an element of privilege here. We have a white woman demanding to be identified as black. I wonder what would happen if a black women demanded to be identified as white?”
Halleluja! Dolezal is about privilege and lies followed by a big dollob of transphobia from the article. And yes, you could say a black person like Michael Jackson would have been more comfortable being identified as white. What did we all do? We sat back and ridiculed him – and yet here, there are voices of sympathy for Dolezal… go figure!
Intriguing woman and I’m not disagreeing with anything that anyone’s said about the reasons why this woman did as she did, but there may be another reason too.
To live as a white person in a white culture is relatively mundane. To be ‘black’ is to face some discrimination on one side, but on the other have the support and compassion of what is arguably a closer knit and more supportive group of people around you. You face bigots, yes, but you also have people who want to fight your corner for you because they see injustice in how some people treat you, want to be your friend, we arguably more ready to step in and help you, etc.
It may seem bizarre to us to think that someone might want to, to some extent, make themselves a target/victim, but as our enemies become more vociferous, so our friends and allies oft become more impassioned too.
This may be twisted logic to some, but we may not be talking about someone with the most logical, rational thought processes going on in their mind. Personally I think we should see this woman’s behaviour as deserving of some compassion, as any sick person might deserve, rather than something to be ridiculed, pilloried, or condemned out of hand without trying to seek a deeper understanding.
A man can have amazing empathy with feminist issues, but that does not make him a woman. He could still identify strongly with his male identity, happily remain cis-gendered male and still be a card carrying feminist. As a white person, Dolezal can be an out and proud advocate for black issues, and heck, no doubt she can be excellent at her job too.
Don’t get me wrong, I have no real issues with Dolezal – and I agree some empathy for her is not out of place here. However, if we accept she lied to get her job – I DO take issue with the article that suggests all trans people somehow lie to the world about their gender identity. If the analogy is correct, then it would be ok for a cis male transitioning to a woman simply to compete for a job reserved or best performed by women? And because of her privilege (education, confidence, pale skin) getting it, despite other real black candidates.
In the pioneering days of trans intervention (changing laws, developing good medical practice) the top priority of most trans people is to be as “stealth” as possible (or “pass” as cis gendered). This is hiding and seems to be apologetic about the fact they are trans. I am glad to say the new generation of trans people are far more proud of their roots and are coming out as trans (not only to friends and family but on social media). Even though they may be trans men (female to male) who are virtually undetectable once their testosterone therapy changes their bodies.