How Come Black Folks Won’t Let Rachel Dolezal Be “Black”?

Well, Rachel Dolezal is back in the news still fighting for her right to declare her “blackness”.  And like usual, the Knee Grow Delegation isn’t having it.  What I fail to understand is why exactly?  What exactly is black society’s problem with allowing Rachel Dolezal to identify as black?  I mean seriously, how is her “blackness” affecting yours?  Truth of the matter is…it’s not.

I wrote about Rachel Dolezal before where I stated that I don’t have a problem with her.  From what I can tell, her “blackness” hasn’t hindered or harmed any other black person, so for that, I didn’t see what the big deal was with her declaring that she identifies as black.  I know people have been saying since she was first exposed that she was going to eventually cash in her “I wanna be white again” coupons so she can get on with her life, but here we are 2 years later & I don’t see any signs of her slowing down with riding this “black” thing out.  She’s sacrificed her personal life & professional career all so that she can say she identifies with the knee grows, the most disenfranchised group in America…now either she’s bat shit crazy or she’s REALLY identifies with black culture to the tune of publicly denouncing the benefits associated with being a white person.  At this point, I’m leaning towards she truly identifies with black culture.

Speaking of “identifying with black culture”, you know who else identifies with black culture but isn’t actually “black”?  Me.  😳  How sway?

For those of you who don’t know, I am a mulatto.  For those of you who don’t know what the word mulatto means, that means I am a person who is half black & half white.  Some of you are reading this thinking to yourself, “Well mixed people are black!”  To that I say, “Says, who?  Black people?”  Let me explain something to you knee grows out there about us mixed people, especially us mulatto people since I just happen to be one.  YES, historically all mulatto people have been viewed as black but not because we woke one day to look in the mirror and saw a black-black person like the mother who birthed us or the father who donated the genetic material to give us life.  We “saw” a black person because we were TOLD to see a black person on account for how our black parent or black family felt that white society would treat/view us.  Those of us raised around black people (like me) have probably been told at one point in their early life that “no matter how light you are or the fact that you are mixed, society will always see you as black”.  And for the most part, we accepted it because, hey, what the fuck did we know about life as little kids.  For those of us raised around white people, a lot of them were rarely told that they were simply “black”.  Most of them were told that they were just biracial or mixed.  Sure you’ll have a few onsie & twosies white folks raising a mixed child here & there that will say their kid is black, but that’s probably not the case for the majority…and I base this purely off of the numerous mulatto people I have spoken to over the years that were raised by white people.  I’m willing to bet that Colin Kaepernick’s adoptive white parents didn’t even refer to him as black prior to his “infamy”.

My point in bringing all this up is to say this, black people have a very funny way of deciding who gets to say they are black and who doesn’t.  Sure, most of you will say, “Well Rachel Dolezal can’t say she’s black because she doesn’t have any black in her!”  Then you’ll say, “You are black simply because you are half black!”  You know what the problem with this supposed logic is?  The problem is knee grows thinking that they get to decide who gets to identify as black versus those who don’t.  I’m not fully black, but I simply IDENTIFY as black because I was raised around black people and grew up in black culture.  Tomorrow if I wanted, I could toss all that shit out the window and go on to live my life simply by identifying as biracial because at the end of the day, all of the shit that non-mixed black people complain about when it comes to issues pertaining to systemic racism & white supremacy, I’ve never really dealt with that shit on a personal level.  I’ve never had issues with the cops, I’ve rarely been called a nigger (as in maybe 3 or 4 times my whole life… & I’m in my late 30s and have lived the majority of my life in the South).  I’ve rarely ever dealt with some type of racist shit that I was fully aware of taking place.  For the most part, I’ve never had any real issues with white people period.  So, my reality as a “black” person has not been identical to that of a non-mixed black person to where I personally can 100% relate.  “Well, why do you talk about racism & white supremacy so much on your website?!”  Simple.  I grew up around black people.  I was immersed in black culture/society to the point where I’ve seen bullshit happen to black people that never happened me.  I’ve seen how people reacted to me versus my black family member or friend.  I know how to empathize.  Truth be told, most white people don’t even assume I’m black upon meeting me.  Most think I’m Hispanic…yes I know, Hispanic is not a race.  Point is, in most instances it is me who has to tell white people I identify as black & usually they follow up by saying, “oooooooo, ok”, as if they are genuinely surprised that I would do such a thing.

So what does this have to do with Rachel Dolezal?

Here’s the thing.  I read an article a few days ago titled “Rachel Dolezal:  ‘I don’t identify as African-American, I identify as black'”.  I think the distinction between African-American and black is important simply because the label African-American specifically speaks to a person of African descent whereas the label black merely refers to a cultural upbringing (which means raised in black culture).  Truth be told, black is a color that a whole bunch of African-Americans do not actually resemble.  A lot of you knee grows are brown for the most part…yet I don’t hear you running around calling yourself “brown”.  You claim black due to cultural upbringing…which is fine.  I’m definitely not here to tell you that you aren’t black.  But as far as Rachel Dolezal goes, even she knows that she is not African-American BUT somehow in here life she came to IDENTIFY with BLACK CULTURE to the point where she doesn’t even want to be labeled as white anymore.  Think about that.  Have you ever met a white person who apparently is so disgusted by white culture that they purposely chose to dedicate their life to identifying as black?  So much so, that she is willing to be punished by white society AND black society AND still chooses to roll with identifying as black?  Shit is crazy right?  Shit is so crazy that Rachel Dolezal wants to be black more than a lot of black people want to be black, maybe that’s why black people can’t stand her.  Well, I for one don’t see the problem.  Unless somebody can specifically identify how her “blackness” has harmed or hindered a black person, then I really do not see what all the complaining is about.  Your life as a black person will keep on chugging along dealing with all the shit black people have to deal with.  Let Rachel be black, it’s not like she’s about to gain anything.

The tragic mulatto has spoken.