I will say it. With a lessened sense of identity, 1970’s home perm and a great self tanner; I could be Rachel Dolezal.
As a mental health professional, my first thought on this issue was that Ms. Dolezal has identity related mental health issues, likely rooted in trauma, an opinion that I continue to hold. My first reaction as a human being was empathy. I understood a part of her story that perhaps many do not.
My own relationship with my own ethnic group has always been complicated. Early life cruelty by white people, the prevalence of white classism and a strong affinity for Mr. T at the age of 5 (Ms. Dolezal’s purported age of the genesis of her racial identity) caused in me, the beginnings of a strong identification with those of other cultures.
A bit later in life I found love and greater levels of acceptance amongst those of black and latino cultures. As my relationships deepened I felt special, appreciated and ultimately more loved than I had ever felt in the monocultural white world. However, even among others cultures there was always a bridge to cross, that of being an outsider, of being always almost at the table but never quite there.
As an outsider, I desperately wanted to belong. So why not? Why not do like Ms. Dolezal and darken my skin? Why not settle into an ever more complicated web of lies and self denial? Why not seek comfort in a culture that feels more familiar?
I have no doubt that Ms. Dolezal is intelligent and talented in her work as a civil rights leader. I empathize with her and hate the way the media has sensationalized her story , as they do everything else. However, my identification with Ms. Dolezal’s story stops there.
As a mental health professional, I am interested in the idea of the possibility of transracial identity and its’ prevalence in our society. If nothing else Ms. Dolezal’s story brings to light an area of psychology that is largely unresearched. As a human being interested in social justice and in breaking down the barriers that separate us as human beings, I am deeply troubled.
In my opinion Ms. Dolezal’s claims of being African American aren’t rooted in a deep appreciation and identification of other cultures, which she genuinely seems to possess. Many people immerse themselves in other cultures. Many identify with the struggles of others and become allies and defenders of human rights. However, unlike Ms. Dolezal, most do this without losing their own sense of identity.
By choosing to represent herself as something she is not, Ms. Dolezal arguably lessens a perception of what it means to black. She lessens the experiences of millions of people who have come before her and didn’t have the luxury of being able to gain greater advantages by lightening their skin to become a part of a dominant culture. She cheapens these struggles by simply having the choice to pull out when the full reality of being black in America becomes too hard.
However in the greater scheme of life, she is one person. She is one headline, one blip in a 24 hour news cycle. In choosing to represent herself as something she is not, the greatest damage Ms. Dolezal does, is not to black culture, white culture or the NAACP; but to herself. Though she may believe her own deceptions, these deceptions are rooted, not in a deep appreciation for black culture but in a deep down sense of hatred for herself. Self hatred that is like a fire and will ultimately consume her from the inside out.
No comments:
Post a Comment