She Was White Before She Was Black: Race Identification Of Convenience

She was white before she was black, and that seems to have been evident to everyone but Rachel Dolezal, or was it. With the media explosion, in the last week, of the now former NAACP branch president’s false claims about her race, comes another bombshell. Perhaps she isn’t as confused about her race, as she is an expert at manipulating the system for personal gain.

While news stories speculate on her race identification, throughout her life, questions arise as to whether it was real or just a scam because in 2002 she sued Howard University on charges of discrimination. Not for being discriminated against because she was “black.” She sued the university because she felt they discriminated against her for being white.

JEZEBEL reports:

Prior to the suit’s dismissal in 2004, Dolezal’s claims against Howard included “discrimination based on race, pregnancy, family responsibilities and gender”:

She alleged that Smith and other school officials improperly blocked her appointment to a teaching assistant post, rejected her application for a post-graduate instructorship, and denied her scholarship aid while she was a student.

The court opinion also noted that Dolezal claimed that the university’s decision to remove some of her artworks from a February 2001 student exhibition was “motivated by a discriminatory purpose to favor African-American students over” her.

As detailed in the court opinion, Dolezal’s lawsuit contended that Howard was “permeated with discriminatory intimidation, ridicule, and insult.”

Dolezal had to pay Howard back $2728.50 after the dismissal, as well as roughly $1000 during the case.

So, by all appearances, maybe race identification is a matter of convenience than anything else.

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