Rachel Dolezal's Transracial Identity

Racial conflict has always been a source of tension in the United States and with the numerous cases of police brutality against young black men, tensions are higher than ever before, but now the issue revolves around Rachel Dolezal, a white woman who claims a transracial identity. Dolezal’s “transracial” identity has been questioned by a plethora of people and was discussed at length in the Newsela article entitled “Rachel Dolezal case unleashes storm of anger, sympathy.”
Rachel Dolezal was the head of the NAACP chapter in Spokane, Washington, but recently resigned when it was revealed that she was actually a white woman. After hearing her story, many have questioned her mental health in choosing such a stigmatized identity in which to portray herself. This opinion has been referred to as “discriminatory in itself....devalues black women” by Camille Gear Rich, a law and sociology professor at the University of Southern California. Rich’s opinion holds much significance when viewed in the larger picture of society. When a white woman is deemed mentally ill for portraying herself as a black woman, it implies that to be a black woman is something undesirable. While this implication is an important part of the …show more content…
In the United States, race relations play a large role in daily life especially in legal matters. Jody Armour, author of “Negrophobia and Reasonable Racism: The Hidden Costs of Being Black in America” and USC professor, made this point when he said, “I can’t get up in the morning and tell a police officer, ‘I’m transracial today. Treat me as a white man.’ ” Dolezal was able to choose to have people see her as a black woman, but in reality minority groups in the Unites States are not given this option. While Dolezal’s actions were not necessarily harmful, they showcase the racial problems present in