June 13, 2015

"American history is full of tales of partly black people 'passing' as white, trying to shed the burdens of an oppressed people, but doing the reverse is much rarer."

"... Faking a racial history, in either direction, raises difficult questions about what race is and why it matters, and about the assumptions people make.... 'There was very little to be gained by identifying yourself as black, so if you did, no one questioned it,' said Ms. Sandweiss, author of 'Passing Strange,' an acclaimed book about a man who did just that in the late 19th century. 'It shows how absurd racial classifications often are.' There have been other examples of white people living as black, in American history and culture, but not many. When with his black wife and children, Clarence King, the subject of Ms. Sandweiss’s book, pretended to be a black Pullman porter, while in his parallel life he was a famous white geologist and surveyor with powerful friends. Mezz Mezzrow, a jazz musician who died in 1972, often passed as black, called himself 'a voluntary Negro.'..."

From a NYT article titled "Black or White? Woman’s Story Stirs Up a Furor."

The article has this quote from a Guardian columnist named Steven W. Thrasher: "The reason that [Rachel Dolezal's] story is so fascinating to me and to the rest of the world is that it exposes in a disquieting way that our race is performance — that, despite the stark differences in how our races are perceived and privileged (or not) by others, they are all predicated on a myth that the differences are intrinsic and intrinsically perceptible."

88 comments:

Big Mike said...

Yes, the word "passing" is the first that came to my mind. In reverse, of course.

Big Mike said...

I suppose it says something about the NAACP that it takes a white person to do an effective job running one of its offices.

Fernandinande said...

'It shows how absurd racial classifications often are.'

I wonder why They never never seem to say that in regard to "affirmative action".

rcocean said...

Actually, American isn't "full" of Black people trying to pass as white. Historically, most light-skinned Black people have been astoundingly loyal to the Black community despite widespread discrimination.

BTW, I'm astounded that no one is interested in Obama's attempt to pass himself off as Jewish. We all knew he wasn't a Christian but it seems that the crazy "He's a Muslim crowd" just got the wrong religion.

Heartless Aztec said...

In my last year of teaching in an inner city school a black female student named Latreenka came up and hugged me announcing to the entire class that "Mr. Autree. You be my salty sweet nigga' dawg!" As compliments went in that school it was a very nice one. And in truth I have been a past member of the NAACP holding a membership card as a shield against false accusations of racism - displaying the card and announcing "I'm a member are you?" - would stop the accusation dead in its tracks everytime. Playing a real race card as it were. The look of complete mouth open befuddlement on the accusing person's face was worth the price of membership alone. So saying, I think I'll open an exploratory committee to run for a leadership position as the "Salty Sweet Nigga' Dawg' Candidate" in the local NAACP chapter. Maybe I can also self identify as a female a la' the Jenner person. White is the new Black and Man is the new Woman. Who's with me in the Revolution?

Lewis Wetzel said...

A confession -- all of my life, I have been a white man passing as a black man passing as a white man.

Michael K said...

I have to go back to The Jerk, "I was born a poor black child." "But you're white !' "Even that didn't work out."

exhelodrvr1 said...

Are we still going to be able to criticize Hillary for changing her accent depending on where she is speaking?

Carol said...

The only thing "absurd" about race is the one-drop rule.

iowan2 said...

— that, despite the stark differences in how our races are perceived and privileged (or not) by others, they are all predicated on a myth that the differences are intrinsic and intrinsically perceptible."

So the notion that blacks need black role models is bullshit. I always knew it intuitively, just unable to explain it. I always thought that if you wanted (lusted after) what someone else had....do what they did. If you want to be fit and trim, do what that person does. Control what you eat. Get out of bed a 4:30 and run, etc. Want to be rich. Become the best at your trade and work 70 hours a week 51.5 weeks a year. Want to play like a concert pianist, practice 5 hours a day.

I don't see where skin color enters into it.

Anonymous said...

Everybody is missing the point. In an age of affirmative action, set asides, special victim's status, silencing every argument by laying the 'card', I'm surprised there isn't more of this.

Why not claim to be black as a student? It' like adding up to 400 points on your SAT.
Got a business that has potential for government contracts. Move up in the line by being a protected minority.

Have an eye on a government job? Check that special box.

Silence your enemies by denouncing them as racists.

Chuck said...

Yeah, there is all of that.

And then there is the part in which if you can pass as black, you're a lot more likely to get admitted to the University of Michigan's Law School. Or the University of Texas as an undergrad. We know that you'll get treated especially nice at Princeton, Harvard and Yale.

Drew W said...

Why is it that I consider Ward Churchill to be a charlatan, but Rachel Dolezal to be a nut? They were doing pretty much the same thing. Race-faker prejudice -- I had no idea I was guilty of it too!

Moose said...

Blacks try to pass for white due to the inherent benefits of being white vs black. Therefore its telling that someone might want to pass for black. Seemingly being black has in some scenarios like this one it empowered her to be black. Which also informs one about the dynamics behind male to female transsexuals.

Anonymous said...

The NAACP will be doing deeper background checks on its officers after this.
If you think they are color-blind you're the one that can't see.
I wouldn't be surprised if they start taking DNA swabs.

Any other chapters ,besides Dolefuls, that is not headed by a black?

James Pawlak said...

It appears that she is really Black as she has based her "career" on lies and deception for personal gain.

PuertoRicoSpaceport.com said...

I am surprised that in all this nobody has mentioned Mark Twain's take on the issue of race in "Puddinhead Wilson"

A black kid and white kid get mixed up at birth and hilarity, then tragedy, ensue.

John Henry

PuertoRicoSpaceport.com said...

Surfed:

You do realize that "Salty dawg" refers to the taste of semen, don't you?

I don't think I would want to be in the position of a teacher having a student say that. Even if not true, or even if not the intended meaning, seems like it would lead to trouble.

As for the NAACP card, you mean all I have to do is pay $50 or whatever and I can pull off my hood, flash my card and say "Yo, don't call me racist salty dawg."

Sounds almost as good as a get out of jail free card. John Henry, officially certified not to be a racist. Yeah. I like the sound of that.

MayBee said...

Everybody is missing the point. In an age of affirmative action, set asides, special victim's status, silencing every argument by laying the 'card', I'm surprised there isn't more of this.

Exactly. I know a lot of middle class and upper middle class kids who you would never know have any hispanic blood, but one of their parents or grand parents is Mexican or Puerto Rican. It not only helps in college admissions, but with jobs, too. The company gets to tic a box for the Federal Government.

Anonymous said...

"The reason that [Rachel Dolezal's] story is so fascinating to me and to the rest of the world is that it exposes in a disquieting way that our race is performance — that, despite the stark differences in how our races are perceived and privileged (or not) by others, they are all predicated on a myth that the differences are intrinsic and intrinsically perceptible."

Remarkable how people who refuse to examine such stories from any perspective but that of the academic sandbox ("race is performance", "critical race theory", gender theory" blah blah blah) manage to miss what is immediately "perceptible" and interesting to "the rest of the world": the obvious mental health issues afflicting the object of their "fascination".

Why the willful disregard of so salient a feature? If they really were interested in race and culture they'd certainly go there - because there's a gold mine of interesting stuff to think about re contemporary culture and race in Ms. Transracial's history. Far more interesting than these sterile sandbox exercises.

Bob Boyd said...

Will Dolezal lose her N-word privileges?



Lucien said...

I'm trying to care about this . . . but it's just not working.

Bob Ellison said...

Anglelyne said, Remarkable how people who refuse to examine such stories from any perspective but that of the academic sandbox ("race is performance", "critical race theory", gender theory" blah blah blah) manage to miss what is immediately "perceptible" and interesting to "the rest of the world": the obvious mental health issues afflicting the object of their "fascination".

That's not what sings out from this story.

What sings out is:

1) She probably is amoral.

2) She knows full well what she is doing (see the quotes from her brother and parents).

3) This happens only because the incentives are very strong indeed.

Maybe she has mental problems. But she might only be a jerk. There's a lot of that around.

Ann Althouse said...

"I am surprised that in all this nobody has mentioned Mark Twain's take on the issue of race in "Puddinhead Wilson""

It's in the linked article.

Zach said...

Why not claim to be black as a student? It' like adding up to 400 points on your SAT.
Got a business that has potential for government contracts. Move up in the line by being a protected minority.


AKA the Elizabeth Warren maneuvre.

The simplest answer here is probably the best -- that's a really, really racist thing to do, and people have moral objections.

Take Elizabeth Warren for a working example. I think it's generally understood that Indians have gotten a raw deal through much of American history. I think it's also generally understood that Warren has not gotten even a tiny bit of that raw deal personally, regardless of whether one of her grandparents' great grandparents was part Cherokee.

So when Warren puts herself forward as an Indian in her efforts to get a very desirable job at Harvard Law School, she's not just working the system. And she's not just hurting the hypothetical Cherokee woman who could have taken her place, or even the more qualified people who would have been hired in her place absent any preferences at all. She's claiming that things which are both true and awful in our shared history can be rectified by giving her a job she doesn't deserve. That's a moral claim, and she shouldn't make it if it isn't true.

SteveR said...

I think she started by thinking it was a way to get into a little gig and once she got it going she couldn't stop. She's got more serious issues than just being a fraud.

Michael K said...

"I don't see where skin color enters into it."

It is the badge of victimhood and confers privileges. Not "white privilege," of course but that is old stuff.

Those rules about how to get rich or stay in shape are example of "white privilege"and blacks are not allowed to do that. If they do, they are ostracized like Clarence Thomas. Of course, they don't know what "ostracized" means.

There is a reason why this is a black song.

glenn said...

Lotta white folks want to have a cool black friend. Tootsie just wanted to be the cool black friend.

buwaya said...

The US population is getting mixed so fast that some preference categories are crossing the line to absurdity. Hispanic in particular. The majority of "Hispanic" kids in selective academic programs are visibly very "white", and culturally European, as far as that goes, and would not have been discriminated against in any context at any time.
Our own kids are white (Hispanic&other), Asian and "hispanic" (Mexican). This sort of thing is now becoming the rule around here, not an exception.

Skyler said...

I recall a very prominent incident of someone pretending to be an injun who is currently in the Senate.

SeanF said...

PuertoRicoSpaceport.com: You do realize that "Salty dawg" refers to the taste of semen, don't you?

Salty dog is an old nautical term referring to an experienced sailor - salty because of the salt content of ocean water.

Even Urban Dictionary, which acknowledges that "salty dawg" is often used to refer to someone with extensive [b]sexual[/b] experience, doesn't try to claim the "salty" part has anything to do with semen.

Bob Boyd said...

If Dolezal has taken advantage of any set asides, affirmative action programs or has taken any money designated for minorities would she be criminally liable?

Sebastian said...

"She's claiming that things which are both true and awful in our shared history can be rectified by giving her a job she doesn't deserve. That's a moral claim, and she shouldn't make it if it isn't true."

Funny stuff.

"Moral"? Truth? That's expecting too much of Fauxahontas.

rhhardin said...

Difficulties multiply once you pretend to care about this stuff.

Perhaps they will settle into a new standard narrative, and the news can be full of it for years.

As the World Turns will turn on it.

Lewis Wetzel said...

In the interests of fairness, it is important that the government require that a child's race be noted on his or her birth certificate, like in the old days of segragation. Gender, however, may change at any time, so it should not be noted on his or her birth certificate. Furthermore, to be certain a child is not given social clues which may influence their eventual gender decision, should they make one, they should be referred to as "neutrons" (pronoun form "nur").

Ken Mitchell said...

I'm confident that I'm of the correct race, but there aren't any government forms that have my racial classification as an option. But I don't care; I know what I am, and when asked, I'm proud to say that my race is "human".

Anything else is meaningless.

Anonymous said...

Bob Ellison: That's not what sings out from this story.

Of course not. That's my point. To get to the loonier aspects you have to go to the local papers and the facebook sleuths. Here, we get that, oh yeah she's apparently lying about her race, but precious little or nothing about the faked hate crimes, the crazy confabulations about her childhood, her "sons", the whole history of pathological lying that goes well beyond her trying to ride the racial preferences gravy train.

F'r instance, what's up with her and her parents? White missionary do-gooders, adopt four black kids, natural daughter ends up repudiating them, faking being black, and embarking on a life's career as a pathological liar. Hmmm, wonder what's up with that? I'd say there's something interesting going on there, something interesting about race and culture (I'm guessing there's a treasure trove of white do-gooder pathologies in here somewhere), but some people would rather witter on about racial stuff that happened 40, 50, 100 years ago, because that's all they know and it all fits comfortably into their sterile narratives about "performing race" and white privilege and blah blah blah.

It's not just that she's crazy. It's all crazy. Some people just don't seem to notice it.

Laslo Spatula said...

So my head is between her thighs, and I'm paying extra special attention to the clitoris of My Neo-Nazi Girlfriend who Is Not My Girlfriend when she laughs and says:

"I know what you're doing."

"I would hope so," I reply, then resume my activity.

"No, I mean the other thing."

"The other thing?"

"When you go down on me for that long you're hoping to get anal sex."

"That's not true --"

"It's OK. You're cute when you think you are on-the-sly."

"I can accept that."

"So say it, Black Man: whaddaya going to do?"

Ah. The 'Talk Black' Thing again.

"I'm-a gonna fuck that white azz!"

Louder!"

"I'M-A GONNA FUCK THAT WHITE AZZ!"

"Oh yeah? What are you going to do it with?"

"WITH MY BIG BLACK COCK!"

"Is your 'big black cock' a MONSTER cock?"

MY BIG BLACK COCK IS A MONSTER COCK!"

"And what am I?"

"YOU IS A BLONDE, BLUE-EYED LIL' WHITE GIRL."

"And what is going to happen to the little blonde, blue-eyed, white girl?"

"SHE GONNA GET FUCKED IN THE AZZ BY A BIG BLACK MONSTER COCK!"

Coincidentally, I am struck by the memory that my fourth-grade teacher Mr. Weaver was a black man married to a white woman. Somehow I think their dialog would've been different. Maybe not.

Maybe Mrs. Weaver liked being told about Mr. Weaver's big black monster cock. Loudly.


I am Laslo.

Gahrie said...

Maybe Mrs. Weaver liked being told about Mr. Weaver's big black monster cock. Loudly.

Sometimes I pity the poor grad students reading these threads fifty years from now for their thesis on early 21st century social media.

David said...

"Black" people could pass as white because they looked white. They looked white because they had large amounts of white ancestry. They had white ancestry because . . . well, lots of reasons, not all of them having to do with voluntary sexual liaisons.

David said...

Ken Mitchell said...
I'm confident that I'm of the correct race, but there aren't any government forms that have my racial classification as an option. But I don't care; I know what I am, and when asked, I'm proud to say that my race is "human".

Anything else is meaningless.


Meaningless to you perhaps, Ken, but for society as a whole, only in your dreams. Our whole history tells us that race (even though the sages now tell us it doesn't really exist) is dripping with meaning.

YoungHegelian said...

So, if someone "passes", except it's from white to black, is it called "gnissap"?

The "g" will have to be silent, I suppose.

n.n said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
n.n said...

David:

Ideally, race will matter in proportion. Similar to gender, where women and men are equal, other than self-evident exceptions that follow from our physiological differences. In practice, however, race is the product of numerous factors, both natural and social, which engender intrinsic biases that favor company of like- biology, mind, etc. That said, there is a human race, to which we strive to reconcile our differences.

YoungHegelian said...

Coincidentally, I am struck by the memory that my fourth-grade teacher Mr. Weaver was a black man married to a white woman. Somehow I think their dialog would've been different. Maybe not.

Along the same lines, but not imaginary, I think back on Mrs W, our after school "street crossing guard" lady for the 8 years I went to Catholic School. She always, & I mean, always, had her crossing guard uniform done right, down to the details. I mean immaculate. White gloves, patent leather shoes, "cop" cap, black skirt with crisp white shirt often combined with black-lens sunglasses for the Alabama sun.

In retrospect, I suspect Mrs W. had some kind of cop-fetish thing going, as she was not a real cop. I'm sure that this thought crossed the mind of some of our dads, but they had enough sense not to discuss it in front of us. I wonder if Mr. W. ever got "read his rights" while handcuffed to the bed.

CWJ said...

"The reason that [Rachel Dolezal's] story is so fascinating to me and to the rest of the world..."

Yeah, journalists and academics routinely confuse their interests and insights with those held by "...the rest of the world." If they were as confident in their positions as they imply, they'd let them stand on their own without have to resort to a rhetorical "Applause" sign.

Some stories, like this one deserve a "Ha, ain't that a hoot," and then get on with your life and let those directly affected deal with it.

richard mcenroe said...

Did you see the photo of that guy who shot up that Dallas police station? TOTALLY NAACP management material

tim maguire said...

Nobody has ever "passed" as white. People 7/8ths white who look white and live as white are white by any sane standard. There sometimes comes a point in a white person's life where they are accused of being black or they suddenly claim to be black. Sometimes those people thereafter pass as black. But they are in reality white.

Anonymous said...

What is wrong with this? I am used to Press talk about Clinton as the 1st Black POTUS and Hillary changing accents during trips to South Carolina. I thought it was normal for democrats to pretend to be black. I have no problem with the Spokane NAACP Leader. If I had, then I would have objected on Clintons before. I didn't and so I cannot.

Skyler said...

Iberia was conquered by the Moors. My family is from Portugal. Thus I am a black man. One drop is all the purity tests require.

I'm more black than Heap Big Chief Warren is injun.

Lewis Wetzel said...

Forget the "one drop" rule. Forget the paper bag test.
I propose an "NPR" test. If a person listens to NPR, they are white. If you are a "Black" person who listens to NPR, you are not Black. You are white. Change your f'n name to "Tom" or "Bob" or "Steve" and buy a minivan. Now.

Skeptical Voter said...

I'm a proud Mongrel American--my ancestors have been in this country since the early 17th century with all the racial and ethnic mixing that that implies. A good bit of the family history involved Huguenot Baptist preachers in the Carolinas. One of them was known as "Blind John". He married a woman named Jemima.

My good liberal San Francisco resident older sister goes crazy--absolutely berserk--when I suggest to her that having a Great (x number of greats here) Aunt Jemima who was married by a blind man is proof positive that we have a Negro ancestor in our family tree. She's the politically correct progressive in the family, and I'm the knuckle dragging Neanderthal, but the idea that I have more than a few drops of Negro blood (plus Lord knows what else) in my ancestry bothers me not at all. I also suspect that I have more Cherokee or Choctaw in me than Elizabeth Warren ever dreamed of.

Like Popeye the Sailor Man, I Yam What I Yam---and whatever and whoever came before me--slave or slave holder--matters not at all.

Fabi said...

One of my girlfriends told me that I was hung like a nigger. I guess that's a compliment, but didn't ask her how she knew.

Gahrie said...

There is an expression for people who are Black, but act/identify White...coconut or oreo are the two I hear (brown on the outside, white on the inside). But there is no corresponding one for white on the outside and black on the inside?

fivewheels said...

This is a tough issue for the identity politics people. For those of us who think identity politics is stupid, we can sit back and take an amused look at this person's dysfunction.

But it's a major issue for the other side. It reminds me of when some black writers said in the 2008 campaign that Obama didn't count as black because he wasn't a descendent of American slaves and didn't truly share that experience. On the face of it, it sounds dumb to literally say he's not black, but it makes perfect sense from their point of view. Once you give in to identity politics, and you've decided you care about "what" people are and not just who they are, eventually you have to start making decisions about who counts as one of "you."

You want to be represented politically by someone who is "like you"? Then you have to decide if that person is black like you, a lesbian like you, or disabled like you. You have special concern for your "brother" because you have the same background? You have to make the call: Does this person count as Jewish or not? There will be a line.

They have to decide what to do with Rachel Dolezal. The rest of us don't.

Gahrie said...

By the way, are we still pissed at Ted Danson's blackface? Does it matter that he was dating a Black woman at the time?

fivewheels said...

Also, as with the case of Jackie at UVA and Emma Sulkowicz, I'm not comfortable with people giving Dolezal the free pass of being mentally ill. It sure seems like when a man is caught lying, he's just a filthy liar, but when a woman is caught, it's, "Oh the poor dear, she must be so troubled. After all, you mustn't hold a woman accountable for anything!"

Lewis Wetzel said...

I had a skinhead friend who showed me his family Bible. I looked at the back where it had a list of marriages going back a long time. One line had a guy's name under "husband", and under "wife" it just said "squaw." I never laughed so hard in my life.

Dr.D said...

She is an academic. I can assure you that there are significant benefits in academia to being black. They move ahead to tenure, get a pass on any criticism, and generally get a free ride, get preference for grants, etc., just for being black. It is to her great advantage to be black.

What amazes me is that anyone bought this nonsense. You look at her, and she does not look black. You look at her parents, and they do not look black. Why would anyone accept that she is black? Other than her lies, of course!

The fraud has been exposed. Let those directly affected deal with her, and let us move on to more interesting topics.

Laslo Spatula said...

"Sometimes I pity the poor grad students reading these threads fifty years from now for their thesis on early 21st century social media"

I think Grad students should be reading Laslo now.

I am Laslo.

sinz52 said...

tim maguire said: "People 7/8ths white who look white and live as white are white by any sane standard."

Call it insane if you wish,
but a hundred years ago, the standard for judging race was much tougher.

Laws were passed implementing the so-called "one-drop rule," which stipulated that if you had at least one black ancestor, no matter how many generations ago, (i.e., you had even "one drop" of black blood), then you were black.


Guildofcannonballs said...

I ain't be knowing sense making;

But let's forgive the Rich Lowery.

For once?

Can we?

Is there a greater curse than to to be "the one Buckley chose" at this day and age?

Fuck it: I like the man Richard Lowery for himself in that he didn't implode or fuck up.

How amazing is that? How many books (and sequels) didn't Chrighton wright that our new Buckley will (attempt at least; which history has shown...) emulate with an eye on improvement.

Unknown said...

"There is an expression for people who are Black, but act/identify White...coconut or oreo are the two I hear (brown on the outside, white on the inside). But there is no corresponding one for white on the outside and black on the inside?"

Yogurt raisin.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Neither having been a participant of before or (ne gioes): By God,.

Unknown said...

"In the interests of fairness, it is important that the government require that a child's race be noted on his or her birth certificate, like in the old days of segragation."

Interestingly race is *not* noted on a military ID.

tim maguire said...

Blogger sinz52 said...tim maguire said: "People 7/8ths white who look white and live as white are white by any sane standard."

Call it insane if you wish,
but a hundred years ago, the standard for judging race was much tougher.

Laws were passed implementing the so-called "one-drop rule," which stipulated that if you had at least one black ancestor, no matter how many generations ago, (i.e., you had even "one drop" of black blood), then you were black.


I'm well aware of the one drop rule, it's not obscure. What it is is insane. Seriously, you're defending it based on its acceptance a hundred years ago?

kcom said...

"Maybe I can also self identify as a female a la' the Jenner person"

You mean the athlete formerly know as Bruce Jenner?

I think that's the correct syntax. I don't know what the symbol looks like.

Anonymous said...

fivewheels: Also, as with the case of Jackie at UVA and Emma Sulkowicz, I'm not comfortable with people giving Dolezal the free pass of being mentally ill.

Nobody's giving her a pass because she's batshit. I've dealt with pathological liars. Trust me, "oh, you poor dear" didn't describe my reaction to them. Not feeling much, if any, sympathy for them didn't preclude my noticing that the were not quite right in the head. They're not.

Same with Sulkowicz. Are you telling me she's not one fucked-up chick (whose fucked-upedness has been aided and abetted her entire life by the adults promoting bullshit "narratives" about life)? Why do you immediately assume that anybody noticing she's fucked up thinks that she should get away with wrecking other people's lives?

Noticing that our society seems to be producing more and more of these obviously fucked-up people doesn't mean one thinks that they ought to get away with their destructive shenanigans. To the contrary, putting the hammer down would probably do their mental health a power of good.

It sure seems like when a man is caught lying, he's just a filthy liar, but when a woman is caught, it's, "Oh the poor dear, she must be so troubled. After all, you mustn't hold a woman accountable for anything!"

No, that's just you imposing another tired "narrative" on the situation. Get out of the fucking sandbox.

Amadeus 48 said...

Anglelyne at 3:42 wins the thread. It's all crazy.
We need to get back to thinking of everyone (including ourselves) as individual moral agents with responsibility for their own thoughts, words, and actions.

Danno said...

John Henry said, "As for the NAACP card, you mean all I have to do is pay $50 or whatever and I can pull off my hood, flash my card and say "Yo, don't call me racist salty dawg."

Sounds almost as good as a get out of jail free card. John Henry, officially certified not to be a racist. Yeah. I like the sound of that."


I didn't think you would have a problem any way. (See link.)

https://www.google.com/search?q=%22john+henry%22+hammer&espv=2&biw=1378&bih=644&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0CC8QsARqFQoTCMTOgJbwjcYCFQNDkgod4XUAbw&dpr=0.9

Lewis Wetzel said...

"I'm well aware of the one drop rule, it's not obscure. What it is is insane. Seriously, you're defending it based on its acceptance a hundred years ago?"

A hundred years ago? The bill that Daniel Akaka, US senator from Hawaii, introduced to recognize Hawaiians as a sovereign nation (like American Indians) stipulated that a Hawaiian citizen would be a person with at least one ancestor living in Hawaii in 1778. Do the math.

Lewis Wetzel said...

Sinz52 wrote:
"Laws were passed implementing the so-called "one-drop rule," which stipulated that if you had at least one black ancestor, no matter how many generations ago, (i.e., you had even "one drop" of black blood), then you were black."

I think that this is a canard. Before the civil war, the child of a slave was legally a slave. Maybe that's where the "one drop" rule came from.

Guildofcannonballs said...

I think I have cancer.

Evil white spot on my nose.

I just used to get sun burned.

fivewheels said...

"Why do you immediately assume that anybody noticing she's fucked up thinks that she should get away with wrecking other people's lives?"

1) My point was to note the wide gap between "fucked up" and a diagnosed mental illness that legally connotes a lack of responsibility, and actually should.

2) Jackie and Sulkowicz and a host of other fucked-up women (let's include Hillary Sniper-Fire Clinton just for fun) always do get away with it. Is that not the case? What price is ever paid?

Guildofcannonballs said...

I will snort my nose into unexististence.

I hate uppers: but iffin that be my Hell I'll endure to fuck my nose Cancer.

For Christ's Sake.

Guildofcannonballs said...

No no it's okay.

Unknown said...

This woman isn't crazy. Her motive is transparent ambition. She's a pure scammer working a risky gamble that paid off - until it didn't. She's checked every possible box. Hunted with bow and arrow as a child. Serial hate crime victim. And she was raped in 2005, too. Well of course she was. How could she not have been? Now the scammers she scammed look foolish so it will not go well with her. The aftermath should be interesting.

Lewis Wetzel said...

Turns out I was wrong. There were "one drop laws" throughout the South, most of them dating back about a hundred years. A late as 1985, a woman who was the great-great-great-great-granddaughter of a white man and a Black woman had to call herself Black on her passport (Jane Doe vs. Louisuana).

Six of the appellants, Marie Bernice Guillory Rougeau, Armet Guillory Fontenot, Lucy Elizabeth Guillory Parker, Suzy Elizabeth Rita Guillory Phipps, Regina Rougeau, and Tex
Adam Rougeau, contend that their birth certificates, issued between the years 1919
and 1941, erroneously designate their parents as “colored”, when in fact they were
white. These appellants seek a mandamus that would compel the Louisiana Department of Health and Human Resources to correct the alleged error. Two of the appellants, Theresa Guillory Rougeau and
Mildred Rougeau, were never issued birth certificates. They seek a mandamus compelling the state to issue delayed birth certificates designating their parents as white. The Trial Court found that the evidence presented by appellants was insufficient to justify a mandamus.

No word on whether the Rougeaus listened to NPR.

n.n said...

The same is true for a multiplicity of European ethnicities, who the social complex (e.g. civil rights) have conveniently arranged as a monolithic clump.

Joe Schmoe said...

There is an expression for people who are Black, but act/identify White...coconut or oreo are the two I hear (brown on the outside, white on the inside). But there is no corresponding one for white on the outside and black on the inside?

Wigger.

mezzrow said...

hmmm... imagine that.

jr565 said...

Tim McGuire wrote:
'm well aware of the one drop rule, it's not obscure. What it is is insane. Seriously, you're defending it based on its acceptance a hundred years ago?"

well Halle berry ascribes to it when it comes to her kids.
But even if we adopt the one drop rule as the standard for blackness, this lady has no drops.

H said...

Thanks to Zach at 3:29 pm Saturday for putting so clearly the things floating around in my head. And his comment helps me understand why I think Dolezal is different from Jenner.

JAORE said...

"Take Elizabeth Warren for a working example. I think it's generally understood that Indians have gotten a raw deal through much of American history. I think it's also generally understood that Warren has not gotten even a tiny bit of that raw deal personally, regardless of whether one of her grandparents' great grandparents was part Cherokee."

Our oldest came to me when he was about to enter the wonderful world of work. There are Indian ancestors on both sides of the family. He asked, "Should I check Native American?".
We both knew there could be check mark identity advantages to such an identification.
I responded with questions in kind. Like, "Do you feel more white or Indian? Was your upbringing more white or Indian in your perception?"
Of course he, lie I, like my spouse, have middle class "white" lives. He checked "white".
Sometimes those pesky morals instiled by my parents can get in the way. Thank God.

SGT Ted said...

Hey, since we're all from the African continent, we aren't racists anymore.

Anonymous said...

Tossing a philosophical log on the fire, isn't all this gender and race identity really just a religious belief? 'There is no scientific proof that you are a woman, but you believe you are...' kinda rings of 'There is no God because science cannot find God, yet people still continue to believe'.

To quote Gilbert and Sullivan:

A paradox?
A paradox!
A most ingenious paradox!
We’ve quips and quibbles heard in flocks,
But none to beat this paradox!

Popville said...

I read this excellent book when a 60s kid (~13 in '65): Black Like Me.

"Black Like Me is a nonfiction book by journalist John Howard Griffin first published in 1961. Griffin was a white native of Dallas, Texas and the book describes his six-week experience travelling on Greyhound buses (occasionally hitchhiking) throughout the racially segregated states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia passing as a black man. Sepia Magazine financed the project in exchange for the right to print the account first as a series of articles."

Carnifex said...

Fabi said: One of my girlfriends told me that I was hung like a nigger. I guess that's a compliment, but didn't ask her how she knew.

My great uncle was hung like a nigger too. They caught him stealing horses. **insert rimshot here**

That a woman that is obviously batshit crazy was/is able to rise to such a high position of authority within the NAACP speaks volumes about the quality of their leadership, and vetting process. But then we have Jeb Bush, sooo...

That someone as batshit crazy as Bruce Jenner is, pronounced the epitome of bravery, says alot about the combined IQ of the intelligentsia. I do note Bruce is keeping the dick, so he may not be as brave (insert obligatory Elizabeth Warren joke here) as some make him out to be. I heard he got it back from Chris at the divorce proceedings.

Ps. I would so "do" Chris Kardashian. She is such a hot milf piece of hot mess that you know she fucks like a wildcat. 'Course I'd have to scrub myself with a brillo pad afterwards, but think of the scars I'd get!!