LISTEN TO TLR’S LATEST PODCAST:
Rachel Dolezal, the controversial former president of a chapter of the NAACP, and African-AMerican studies professor is back in the spotlight for attempting to explain why her transracial identity faces more prejudice than transgendered people.
In an interview with Salon over her new book which speaks about racial identity, Dolezal tried to explain that she faces more stigma against “racial fluidity” as a “transracial” person than transgender people do for gender fluidity, reports the Daily Dot. Even comparing herself to Caitlyn Jenner.
“There was kind of this comparison [between Dolezal and Jenner.] What’s not similar is the stigma right now. There was stigma in the past for sure, and that still perpetuates to a degree. But there’s more stigma for race fluidity than gender fluidity right now, and I don’t think anybody would deny that,” Dolezal said.
Dolezal went on to explain, in the interview, that she is not the only “transracial” person. She offered anecdotes of conversations with black women and biracial women who have told her that they also struggle with their racial identity, as evidence, reports the Daily Dot.
“I get a lot of direct messages on social media. I have heard from many black and biracial women,” Dolezal said. “They say, ‘I constantly was told I wasn’t black enough, and I finally gave in and identified as Latina for my adult life, or let people see me as white, and didn’t bother correcting them anymore—just lived however people saw me.’”
3 comments