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Prior to immersing fully into the topic of racial prejudice, I feel it is essential that I first explain my sudden interest in this topic. As part of my 20th Century American Literature course, we are required to create posts on this website which connect various texts read in class, to the broader landscape of American culture. Consequently, with much of our second semester being heavily focused on African American writers, our professor has implored us to focus our posts on the social issues around race in relation to American culture. Upon hearing his request, I felt an immediate need to address this topic.

Recently in the news, a controversial woman by the name of Rachel Dolezal has faced a similar issue many of the African American authors discussed in my class face, the issue of "two-ness." In other words, it is this constant feeling that one has two conflicting selves. However, unlike these authors, Dolezal doesn't struggle with being black, she struggles with being white.

I must admit that my breadth on this topic is not extensive. From what I've understood, this woman has claimed, for a significant amount of time, to be a woman of colour, taking on the appearance and mannerisms of an African American. However, it has recently been revealed that she in fact, is in no way a woman of colour.

Contrasting this present day situation with readings from the infamous Booker T. Washington and W.E.B Du Bois offers a rather ironic and unsettling situation. Despite having two very different approaches, both authors are infamous for their view on liberalizing African Americans. After reading their passionate words, I am left with an even greater distaste for Rachel Dolezal's actions.

I have never been one to judge or discredit someone's personal choices in life, but I have to question Dolezal's motives here. Considering her profession as an "Africana-studies program teacher," (Vanity Fair, link attached at the bottom) I would expect her to be familiar, if not sympathize with, the sheer struggle Black folk faced of which Washington and Du Bois write.

And so, rather than critiquing her behaviour, I turn to my fellow students and readers posing only two of my many questions:

1. Does Rachel Dolezal's version of "two-ness" discredit the struggle faced by many African Americans like Washington and Du Bois?

2. Should we learn from the past and the works of Washington and Du Bois to accept Dolezal's two-ness rather than discredit her identity, as we have in the past with African Americans?

I can admit I don't have an answer to these questions. I am torn, with being both accepting and skeptical of Rachel Dolezal's claims. Despite this, I think this is an important topic that needs to be both recognized and discussed.

http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/07/rachel-dolezal-new-interview-pictures-exclusive

I completely agree with Sarah in that I think Dolezal is not purposely trying to discredit African Americans and the struggles of both the past and present, but rather she just has trouble in sorting out her identity. In regards to your first question, I wouldn't exactly say she's discrediting any "two-ness," because she is trying to prove that she is black, and nothing else. Whether or not it can be proven of her true ethnicity, Dolezal claims that she is black, which I am assuming in this case makes the idea of two-ness or being of mixed races null. The whole situation is still extremely grey though. I mean, even if we do try and understand Dolezal's psychological dilemma, this does not eliminate the issue of what this situation means for African Americans. Dolezal, as much as she can argue herself as black, was still born from white parents. And so we're stuck wondering about how this knowledge of her heritage will change the way she is treated in society compared to other African Americans. I'm going to assume that had this been a black woman claiming to be white, the response from the public would be far more serious rather than being seen as even slightly humorous.

I think there are some interesting parallels between Invisible Man and the Dolezal case that we can draw to better understand the struggle of fitting in to racial identities. This whole issue will invariably be interpreted through in social, racial, personal, and cultural disputes, but it all stems from personal identity and a sense of community and belonging. Dolezal believes she belongs to a certain race, so she looks and acts like that race in order to make her outward appearance coincide with her internal beliefs. Those beliefs are bound up in a certain cultural perception that will (unfortunately) be automatically applied to you whenever you interact with anybody. If you're trying to emulate an identity on this kind of scale, like Dolezal does, it's not for aesthetic purposes, it's in pursuit of these cultural perceptions.

In Invisble Man, there seems to be an underlying theme that a conversion from whiteness to blackness is a desirable pursuit, or at least masking black skin with a thin white coating. This was evidenced by a thoroughly milked metaphor during the paint factory, with much imagery of white paint covering up anything and making it beautiful, and Mr. Brockway supporting this vision. Later in the story, I.M. passes by a shop selling a cosmetic product which promises to lighten dark skin. Ras warns I.M. and Clifton not to be like the white men in the Brotherhood, and failing to understand why they were doing what they were doing, since they were black. On the surface, race is aesthetic. So, if you appear aesthetically consistent with a race, and act culturally consistent, you effectively become a part of that culture. You are, objectively, not biologically part of that race, but for most purposes a very deep and well-meaning facade is indistinguishable from the real thing.

I think it's easier to sympathize with Dolezal's situation if you don't think of her as "she is white, but wants to be black", but "she identifies with X cultural group, but people automatically assign her to Y cultural group due to her appearance." I think Liana is on the right track by aligning this with a personal identity problem. Charles sees Dolezal as a fraud, but if you apply Sarah's transgender identity metaphor to the situation: should transgender people be forced to admit their gender assigned at birth? Are they "living a lie" because they are not biologically the gender they were originally assigned to? These are some deeper questions that may have their own set of answers when discussing race, but it also seems to be analogous in many ways.