Rachel Dolezal

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Rachel Dolezal

Rachel Dolezal (also written Doležal ; * 1977 ) is an American cultural scientist and civil rights activist .

Until June 2015 she was an instructor for African and African American studies at Eastern Washington University , president of the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Spokane , Washington, and chairwoman of the Police Ombudsman Commission in Spokane .

She had pretended to be African American , which contradicted her real origin, as her parents made public in June 2015. She then resigned from her NAACP office and was released from her role as police ombudsman for misconduct. Her contract as a lecturer was not extended.

biography

According to her birth certificate, Rachel Dolezal is the daughter of Ruthanne and Larry Dolezal, who, according to their own statements, have mainly German and Czech ancestors. Rachel Dolezal's father was a temporary county commissioner in Lincoln County, Montana . According to Dolezal's brother, they grew up in a “cult-like” environment. Her parents were hippies and then turned to a special form of Christianity that assumes that the world is only 10,000 years old (Young Earth Creationism). Contact with the outside world was limited. In addition to Rachel and her brother as biological children, they adopted several black adoptive children, with whom Dolezal grew up. At times, the parents worked as Christian missionaries abroad, from 2002 to 2006 in South Africa.

Dolezal was homeschooled and attended college in Jackson, Mississippi . Dolezal received her bachelor's degree from Belhaven University, a Liberal Arts University , and a Masters of Fine Arts degree from Howard University . In 2000 she married the African American Kevin Moore. They divorced in 2004. The couple has a son. From 2005 to 2013 she was a teacher at North Idaho College.

She has been with Eastern Washington University since 2007. In 2014 she became President of the NAACP in Spokane. Dolezal is also an artist.

Ethnic origin and public controversy

According to her own statements, Dolezal has felt black since she was a child. You have painted self-portraits with a brown instead of a peach-colored pencil. Dolezal described himself as "clearly not white". Nothing about “being white ” describes who she is. She compared herself to transsexual Caitlyn Jenner and said she cried when she heard her story.

In 2010 one of Dolezal's adoptive brothers broke away from their parents and Rachel Dolezal was appointed as his guardian with the parents' consent. Dolezal, however, in the meantime passed the adoptive brother off as her own son.

Dolezal has always known herself to be part of the black community in her political, artistic and social engagement. On at least one application, for example as an ombudswoman for the black community at the local police, she stated her ethnic origin (in the sense of the American race ) as black. In 2015, she passed off a black American as her biological father on Facebook . In June 2015, when asked by a newspaper, her parents testified that their daughter was now pretending to be a real African American, which they perceived as a falsification of her origins. The family break had already occurred when Dolezal unloaded her parents in 2006 at an anniversary event.

Dolezal had alleged to the media that as a black civil rights activist she was the victim of several hate crimes and that her parents publicly alleged that she had abused her. In addition, her biological brother sexually abused her. In a custody battle for their son, she accused her former husband of forcing her to take part in a sex video against her will. Her former mentor also did sexual violence to her. The Coeur d'Alene Press , a local Idaho newspaper , questioned her parents and started the controversy. Since 2007 she has identified more and more with the Afro-American community. The incident became public across the country. Jonathan Capehart insinuated that Dolezal was acting racist in the sense of a black face. Dolezal's approach was also discussed , especially on social networks, parallel to a transsexual gender identity as transracial . The NAACP announced that it was behind the commitment of Dolezal and that her racial identity had no influence on her suitability as president of the NAACP. In Spokane itself, only 1.9 percent of the population are designated as African-American.

Dolezal was investigated for possible fraud. Patrick Blanchfield sees the problem with Dolezal and other assumed identities that although they can give up their blackness like styling, this is actually not possible for members of the minority. Criticism also came from the black community in Germany, where many saw Dolezal's behavior as disrespectful.

Controversy about transrace identity and the construction of ethnicity

In addition to widespread outrage, the Rachel Dolezal case also sparked controversy about a transrace identity. The African-American television presenter Melissa Harris-Perry has raised the question in her TV show on MSNBC whether the identification of Dolezal not a conceptual distinction between the Black Cis -Schwarzsein and Trans could suggest -Schwarzsein. Harris-Perry uses these terms in analogy to transgender and cisgender . In a comment in the Guardian, Syreeta McFadden denies the idea of ​​a transrace identity, which is thought of in analogy to gender. She writes that the term transracial in specialist literature describes the experiences of children who grow up in families that are culturally and phenomenologically different from their birth.

documentary

Web links

Commons : Rachel Dolezal  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Daniel Victor: NAACP Leader Rachel Dolezal Posed as Black, Parents Say. In: New York Times. June 12, 2015, accessed June 12, 2015 .
  2. ↑ a b Mosendz, Polly: Family accuses NAACP leader Rachel Dolezal of Falsely Portraying Herself as Black. In: Newsweek. June 12, 2015, accessed June 12, 2015 .
  3. ↑ a b Jessica Elgot: Civil rights activist Rachel Dolezal misrepresented herself as black, claim parents. In: The Guardian. June 12, 2015, accessed June 12, 2015 .
  4. ↑ Rachel Dolezal: “False Blacks” fascinates the USA . In: sueddeutsche.de . June 13, 2015 ( sueddeutsche.de [accessed June 14, 2015]).
  5. ↑ David Wasson: Dolezal ousted from ombudsman commission . The Spokesman Review, June 18, 2015
  6. ^ Rob Kauder: Dolezal out at EMU, Inlander . ( Memento of the original from June 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. KXLY.com, June 15, 2015 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kxly.com
  7. ↑ a b c d e Jeff Selle, Maureen Dolan: Black like me? . In: Coeur d'Alene Press , June 11, 2015. Retrieved June 12, 2015. 
  8. Jump up ↑ Diane Duthweiler, Gisele Lamarre, Tracy Connor, Andrew Blankenstein: Rachel Dolezal Scandal Exposes Fractured Family. In: NBC News , June 17, 2015.
  9. ^ Ginger Adams Otis: Ex-NAACP leader Rachel Dolezal grew up in strict, cult-like Christian family, brother writes in memoir . In: New York Daily News , June 16, 2015.
  10. ↑ Ben Brumfield, Greg Botelho: Race of Rachel Dolezal, Spokane NAACP head, questioned. In: CNN. June 13, 2015, accessed June 13, 2015 .
  11. ↑ a b c Mia De Graf: Showing off her all-over tan! Rachel Dolezal poses naked for provocative photo shoot wearing just a gold feather headband and knee-length braids . June 18, 2015. Daily Mail.
  12. ↑ Rachel Dolezal, MFA. In: Eastern Washington University. Retrieved June 12, 2015 .
  13. ↑ Nina Culver: Spokane NAACP elects new president. In: The Spokesman Review. November 23, 2014, accessed June 12, 2015 .
  14. ^ A b c Ben Brumfield: Race of Rachel Dolezal, head of Spokane NAACP, comes under question. In: CNN. June 12, 2015, accessed June 12, 2015 .
  15. ↑ Nils Markwardt: Rachel Dolezal - The question of colors . Zeit Online, June 17, 2015.
  16. ↑ a b Patrick Blanchfield: The Psychology of an Ethnic Fraud: Behind Rachel Dolezal's Invented Persecution. In: The Daily Beast. June 13, 2015, accessed June 15, 2015 .
  17. ↑ Kip Hill, David Wasson: Spokane NAACP president Rachel Dolezal's claims about background disputed. In: The Spokesman Review. June 12, 2015, accessed June 12, 2015 .
  18. ↑ a b The Secret Behind Rachel Dolezal's Skin Color . Welt Online, June 12, 2015
  19. ↑ Shawntelle Moncy. February 5, 2015. A Life to be Heard. The Easterner. http://easterneronline.com/35006/eagle-life/a-life-to-be-heard/
  20. ↑ Jeff Humphrey, Melissa Luck: Did NAACP president lie about her race? City investigates. June 11, 2015, accessed June 14, 2015 .
  21. ↑ Barbara Herman: Bizarre Case Of Rachel Dolezal Sparks Twitter Debate Around White Privilege, Racism And 'Transracial' Identification. In: International Business Times. June 12, 2015, accessed June 12, 2015 . Ben Brumfield and Greg Botelho: Race of Rachel Dolezal, head of Spokane NAACP, comes under question. In: CNN. June 12, 2015, accessed June 12, 2015 . Gary Younge: Rachel Dolezal's deception: her 'black' identity doesn't make sense - or make her black. In: The Guardian. June 12, 2015, accessed June 12, 2015 .
  22. ^ The damage Rachel Dolezal has done . In: The Washington Post . June 12, 2015 ( washingtonpost.com [accessed June 13, 2015]).
  23. ↑ Vanessa Vitiello Urquhart: It Isn't Crazy to Compare Rachel Dolezal With Caitlyn Jenner . In: slate , June 15, 2015.
  24. ↑ Mark Berman: NAACP on Rachel Dolezal: Racial identity 'not a qualifying criteria' for leadership. In: Washington Post. June 12, 2015, accessed June 12, 2015 .
  25. ↑ The Rachel Dolezal case. Abuse of black people . Deutschlandradio Kultur. June 18, 2015. Tupoka Ogette in conversation with Gesa Ufer.
  26. ↑ mrctv.org
  27. ↑ Syreeta McFadden: Rachel Dolezal's definition of transracial isn't just wrong, it's destructive . In: The Guardian , June 16, 2015; Retrieved June 25, 2015.
personal data
SURNAME Dolezal, Rachel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Doležal, Rachel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American academic and civil rights activist
DATE OF BIRTH 1977