-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Rachael Dolezal claims she's jobless and on food stamps
- Thread starter Black Republican
- Start date
- Status
Frozenprince
Banned
Yes because Amar'e embracing his Hebrew ancestry because his mother was, you know, Hebrew, is just like this.
Exactly the same.
Not one thing different.
Exactly the same.
Not one thing different.
I am not saying that Amare is at all comparable to Rachel. The picture was a direct response to the quoted post.
I like Amare. But read up. His grandmother told him there was Jewish in their ancestry. Despite a lot of trying both he and people who research this stuff were unable to find the link.
I was just a little put off by the "white white white" in that guys post.
*quotes image to find basketball player's name, because fuck if Nepenthe knows anything about basketball.*
*goes to his Wiki page*
Am I missing something here, or are you mad that I am broadly claiming white privilege on Rachel Dolezal's situation in your equation of a black man claiming Hebrew ancestry that he immediately has in his bloodline to a white woman claiming immediate black ancestry who ultimately has none?
EDIT:
So my second insinuation is correct. You're put off by me pointing the finger at largely white people trying to let a white women get away with claiming something she has no business claiming because even her own family denies her appeals to black ancestry, when the fact is we live in a long-winded historical context where it has never significantly worked in the reverse way for black people (and others like Asians) trying to claim the arbitrary, assimilating, forever-moving goalpost that is what we call the "white" identity. I'm not in the mood to try and be conciliatory to you or anyone else when it comes to this topic, because it does nothing but show the massive double standards that apply to the different racial classes of this country. If you're offended by me calling out white people, maybe some of y'all should stop doing, supporting, and caping for racist, transphobic, scientifically-illiterate shit like this when white people do it.
Frozenprince
Banned
Okay, so what, they are literally not comparable in ANY capacity. This woman has 0 black ancestry, nobody in her family told her she had any, nobody around her had any.
They are not even remotely comparable. It should also be noted that Amar'e (spell his name the way it's spelled please) has never tried to co-opt the Hebrew/Israeli/Jewish identity for himself, either.
They are not even remotely comparable. It should also be noted that Amar'e (spell his name the way it's spelled please) has never tried to co-opt the Hebrew/Israeli/Jewish identity for himself, either.
Edit:
For those of you who don't know what Soul Man is:
It's the film that torpedoed C. Thomas Howell's career.
Why do people insist that Soul Man sank Howell's career, when the film seems to have been relatively successful and he continued getting work for decades? The movie played in heavy rotation on television for decades as well, so I don't think you can make the case that it was even that controversial in its time (at least not for a wide audience).
You're right. It is.
Here is the quote
It was a direct response to that. There is nothing malicious about amare, he thinks Judaism is awesome and I love him more for it.
It was just an example of someone else doing exactly what is described in the quoted post.
Frozenprince
Banned
But he wasn't pretending to be Jewish or Hebrew, while knowing for an unequivocal fact that he wasn't. He was exploring what he thought and had been told told was a part of his ancestry.
He wasn't lying about it because he could.
she portrayed stereotypes in an attempt to be what she considered to be black
EatinOlives
Member
Get outta here. She wasn't being malicious when she tried talking down black women for marrying white men? She wasn't being malicious when she said a Hispanic girl shouldn't speak for not looking Hispanic enough?
not mention faking race attacks on her family. Or lying on her parents.
This. All of this.
It's a fucking 9-page argument to get people to understand the heaviness of the word "nigger," but a white woman putting on blackface and saying she's black being a potential case study of this shit called "transracialism?" Oh, well, suddenly everyone wants to be open-minded and listen to her!
This is the kind of hypocritical racism that makes me wanna tear my hair out.
Okay? What does that have to do with that posters "acting black" nonsense?
Let's be real here, it is pretty clear that these people don't give two fucks about whether "transracialism" exists or not. They're just using it to shit on people who are transgender.Jesus....
Fucking....
Christ
Almighty.....TRANSRACIALISM ISN'T A THING!! Stop comparing it to LBGT holy fuck.
Let me quote myself here:
Yep, no malice at all...
So she wasn't "acting black." There is no specific way for us to act.
I know right, why won't people let white people get away with whatever they want? How dare someone comment on white privilege.
Hold on, let me find some black person that has shit all to do with this story as some wacky counterpoint because "white white white!"
Whiteness was attacked!
ScriptedReality
Member
So you get "triggered" and tried ya hardest to find something?
Sure, if thats how you want to describe it.
By trying my hardest do you mean a situation I'm very familiar with and jumped into my mind as soon as I read the post?
Red Liquorice
Member
I read the interview in the Guardian at the weekend. It was incredibly fair (Decca Aitkenhead is always good) and I was still left without a shread of sympathy for her.
ScriptedReality
Member
Call it what you want.
You didn't even think about how the situations were different and just posted it.
You cant be that familiar with it.
Apparently she adopted her brothers with her parents' permission, and one of them went on to say that she was training him to hate white people. Yeesh. I didn't hear all this dirt on her when her story originally broke. I don't think anybody wins with this woman doing what she does.
Yes. Because a minority of idiots on the internet were standing up for this fool woman, we "are letting white people get away with everything"
But yes, even though it took me some time to get there over the last couple of years, I acknowledge my privilege. Even as someone who has been discriminated against due to my religion I acknowledge that my whiteness lets take a lot of things for granted.
Regardless, I saw a comment that I thought was a bit hypocritical.
You have two high profile cases of white people doing this (Rachel, Warren) who get roundly criticized for it at every opportunity (with good reason) and a high profile case of a black man who did it, with seemingly good intentions, but it also can't be argued that in NY and then especially when he left the NBA to play in the Israeli league, would help his popularity and therefore bank account and has never been criticized for it, as far as I have seen.
That was the first thing that came into my mind.
I know Amares situation very well because I adored him as a Knick and I am a Jew.
If pointing that out makes me some kind of asshole and offends, because of white privilege then I am sorry, certainly not my intention.
Mammoth Jones
Member
It has fuck all to do with this conversation about Dolezal. Wanting to be a part of a culture and trying to blacken your skin, curl your hair and actually physically pass as Black, claim you're Black is two completely different things.
Read this thread and previous threads about her. Plenty of people giving her the benefit of the doubt. Which she absolutely does not deserve.
Frozenprince
Banned
Amar'e*
Top point makes sense. Thank you.
Bottom point - Well, more than zero people giving her the benefit of the doubt is too many but they are still the minority (at least here on GAF)
@ Frozenprice - Well, I am lazy, you got me on that one.
Mammoth Jones
Member
The point I've continued to make is those same posters (regardless of if they're in the minority) would NOT give a Black person trying to be White the same type of understanding/compassion/benefit of the doubt/empathy.
Frozenprince
Banned
"But what about White Chicks?"
The Artisan
Member
i don't know.
Of course the NAACP didn't like it. Those complaints weren't really enough to stifle the film's box office, nor did they make the film toxic enough that TV networks refused to touch it.
It was more than a "minority of idiots" entertaining this nonsense. There were plenty of news stories discussing her minstrel show as if it were legitimate and it was only done because she is white.
Let's not forget how Micheal Jackson was treated for bleaching his skin and he didn't even claim he was white, he had vitiligo.
Amar'e Stoudemire's situation has dick all to do with this.
He didn't do anything similar to what Dolezal pulled.
Hell, even Elizabeth Warren's situation isn't comparable to Dolezal's clown show and most of the people criticizing her for it are right-wing wackjobs.
You bringing Stoudemire up was the saddest whataboutism to defend whiteness I have ever seen.
Okay... I am confused as to why you even responded then.
I guess that is the part I am missed/am missing. It's pretty hypothetical tho, but I don't doubt that you are correct. edit - Ahh, not so hypothetical. MJ
I would say that saying you are something that you aren't for possible monetary gain is comparable in all three situations.
Rachel is above and beyond the other two, but the similarities are there. I do however understand the point that neither Warren or Amar'e are trying to adopt the physical features.
The Jackson point is well taken and very apt. That makes me see the error in what I posted more than anything else. That when a black man did something similar he was brutally attacked for it over and over again. Thats not something I considered.
I will say that Jacksons situation is as different from Rachel as Amar'e's is (double apostrophe, is that correct?), and that sometimes similar situations even if they have big differences can be brought up as part of the discussion especially in a super weird case like this.
I have to leave work now but I will read and reply to responses later if there are more, I don't like running from threads even if I am being criticized. As silly as it sounds, I learn from all of you, all the time, and would rather hear the reactions then bury my head.
The Artisan
Member
it'd be nice if he responded you to himself but maybe what he meant by acting black was to just alter your (her) appearance to look as if she may have black heritage.
EatinOlives
Member
Yep. And, again, if people don't know about this story (because her shitty behavior was done over the course of many, many years) it's perfectly fine for them not to know these details. But to come into the thread and instantly proclaim they don't think she did anything "malicious" and just by default giving her the benefit of the doubt is pretty much emblematic of the problem here.
And that's not even getting into the "bu- bu- but what about transgender people!" false equivalences. The only thing those folks do is make it abundantly clear they know nothing about transgender issues on TOP of not knowing about cultural and racial appropriation.
Umm yeah thats why i put it in quotes, i think the same thing of it that you do, its stupid because she thought she was being black but really just playing to stereotypes, which is racist. im saying the same thing you are. She was "acting black", which is a problem.
Massive Duck. C.M.
Banned
Thought there would be some new jokes withbthe bump but it's just people humoring this woman again -_-
Pathetic
Pathetic
Are you talking about me saying she was playing into stereotypes? How am i humoring her?
Massive Duck. C.M.
Banned
I was not talking about you
Gotcha my bad
Charles Brandon
Member
It blew up because she was making life hell for the local police chief in her role as [can't remember, something in some local black rights group I think] and he hired an investigator to get dirt on her, the investigator got wind of her background and interviewed her parents who were happy to expose her. Then it went public.
The black college thing happened years before when she was still acting white but identifying with the black community due to her bond with her adopted younger siblings. She was teaching at the black college and, according to her, all was well until she got pregnant, then she got fired. Her lawyer, she says, told her to use the discrimination angle.
Source: The Guardian had an interview with her in their Saturday magazine last weekend which is where I assume this new debate has sprung from.
My take, from reading it, is that she had good intentions at least. Although this stuff about the Spanish student is news to me.
echoshifting
Banned
The Guardian article indicates that she still claims to be black on employment forms...probably a factor in her inability to get a job!
That version come from her? Because the way I remember it the press went to her family because of the hate crime threats she'd been posting to herself.
She brought herself down not some vindictive police chief.
Charles Brandon
Member
That's what the Guardian said happened without saying that was 'her version'. Maybe the press went to the family because the police dude tipped them off?
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/25/rachel-dolezal-not-going-stoop-apologise-grovel
Actually, re-reading it, I guess it did come from her.
echoshifting
Banned
The Guardian article makes it sound like the police chief tipped off a reporter simply because she had become a hassle but it was proooobably this:
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_...of_hate_crimes_the_former_naacp_official.html
^People who think she is deserving of sympathy should read that^
Edit: here's how they paint it in the Guardian:
No mention at all of the fact that she almost certainly faked at least one hate crime before she was exposed
Yeah the press were investigating the hate crime story, which she'd fabricated, and when they spoke to her parents the whole house of cards collapsed. If she hadn't wanted to jazz up her minority experience with some hate crime she'd probably still be doing what she was doing.
She'll never admit to doing it though so we get this new version without it all.
- Status