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On view in Bedlam this week: the pseudo-black prof.

THIS WEEK’S BEDLAM-VIEWING has been provided by Ms Rachel Dolezal of Spokane, a professor in the Africana Studies Program at Eastern Washington University, and president of her local branch of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). Ms Dolezal, it turns out, has been masquerading as a black woman for at least ten years, despite being white and having white parents.

Since one of her extensive areas of experience includes “ethnic hair styling” she’d know how to get that Afro look to her hair; while a regular visit to the sunbed salon would account for the tanned complexion. Listening to the various video clips of her it’s clear she hasn’t gone as far as using the fake jive drawl both Obama and his missus have occasionally put on when condescending to black audiences, so we have that to be thankful for. But even so, the question to be asked is how so many people were happy to go along with the charade for so long. Surely there must have been dozens of people (sorry, “folks”) along the way who thought this woman is no more black than she is a Martian? If so, did they speak up and why did no one take any notice?

All wrongdoing is absolved by the boo-hoo, emotionally incontinent, and intellectually barren ethos of modern identity politics.

The media attention, as is to be expected, focuses more on Ms Dolezal’s psychology than her mendacity. What compelled to her to take such unusual actions? What family traumas lurk in her damaged psyche? What will all this pressure do to her emotional condition? The cynical and persistent liar thus becomes the wounded victim. And if someone is a victim, they can’t be judged guilty – or judged at all. All wrongdoing is absolved by the boo-hoo, emotionally-incontinent and intellectually barren ethos of modern identity politics. You can be whoever you want to be, is the call, and if you’ve deceived your way through a decade of your life what does that matter as long as you’ve done good works?

The NAACP certainly seems prepared to take that line. It “stands behind” her civil rights record, according to a press release, and it plays up Ms Dolezal’s victimhood status by referring to “Hate language sent through mail and social media along with credible threats”. The NAACP ought to take a good look at itself for falling for her deceit and for not condemning it immediately upon learning the truth. Dolezal may or may not have received “hate language” (just as she may or may not have previously been the victim of various threats and attacks by neo-Nazis as she had claimed) but it’s irrelevant to the fact that she pretended to be what she is not.

gelfwickIN THE MIASMA of identity politics nowadays everything goes; you can be trans-anything, so why not race? Ms Dolezal says she “identifies” as black, after all, and that seems to have been enough for her employers. So race has joined the ranks of social constructs, ie, something made up by society and therefore non-existent. If that is the case then it should mean the end of race politics, which would be a good thing. But we all know that’s not going to happen, certainly in America. There’s too much kudos, influence and cash dependent on continuing the race hustling business.

If you’re black and behave like it doesn’t matter you’re an Uncle Tom, especially if you’re a conservative, and the PC clerisy will disown you. But if you’re sick of being a white honky (best if you’re also a woman) you can black up, pretend to have changed race, and make a comfortable progressive career for yourself. You can also be fairly sure that even if you’re unmasked the professional race-hustlers will still support you and the squishy liberals on social media will fret about your fragile mental state.

rdonDolezal has resigned her position at NAACP, but with no word of apology and no obvious sign of shame. I say “resigned” but the word doesn’t appear in her Facebook press release. No, she has merely “stepped aside”. She will “never stop fighting for human rights,” she avers nobly. Since her professional life for the past decade has been one of deliberate deception and mendacity I think we can read that as meaning she will never stop fighting for her own aggrandisement, either as a black woman or a white one or something in between.

Michael Blackburn.

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