# Black \[not\] like me; The Rachel Dolezal Story in the News **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 13, 2015, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-not-like-me-the-rachel-dolezal-story-in-the-news/722413 "2015-06-13T04:16:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2015, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-not-like-me-the-rachel-dolezal-story-in-the-news/722413/61 "2015-06-16T00:16:11Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Well, she resigned from the NAACP leadership role in Spokane. I wonder what the 6 black people in that city there think. That was mighty white of her. ---
**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2015, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-not-like-me-the-rachel-dolezal-story-in-the-news/722413/62 "2015-06-16T01:43:13Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > That was mighty white of her. Thread won. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2015, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-not-like-me-the-rachel-dolezal-story-in-the-news/722413/63 "2015-06-16T03:36:49Z")
Given this [new information](http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/woman-at-center-of-naacp-case-sued-university-in-2002-said-it-favored-black-students/ar-BBlbKIA?ocid=DELLDHP) that while she was at Howard she sued them for racial discrimination claiming they favored black students over her, I’m going with opportunistic scum who knew exactly what she was doing. ---
**Author:** ![Chauve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5daacb/32.png) [@Chauve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chauve)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2015, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-not-like-me-the-rachel-dolezal-story-in-the-news/722413/64 "2015-06-16T04:27:14Z")
Rachel Dolezal seems like one of those people who wants to be a surgeon or commercial airliner pilot or cop or whatever, but they’re disqualified from the job for some reason. They’re too set on their goal to take a lesser supporting role; so they study up on their own, get hold of a knock-off uniform, make up a fake resume, and get hired for that job anyway. I think they figure that by the time they get outed, they’ll have distinguished themselves in the job to such an extent that no one will care if they told a white lie or two on the way in. But in the end, they’re often not as good as they think they are. And they underestimate the public’s desire to be served by properly credentialed surgeons, pilots, and cops. Anyway, I don’t think anyone would care if some white gal wants to play at being black. It’s when she becomes head of a black organization (as insignificant as that office was), pursues legal discrimination cases, and otherwise acts in some official capacity that one has to ask about her credentials. Especially when some of those discrimination cases look like they were bogus. That stuff has consequences. Anyway, I’m going to go with one of those “wannabe” cases. It wasn’t just that she wanted to be black; she also wanted to be a big public mover and shaker. I suspect she thought if she became a big enough public figure (leader of the black community), her real ethnic background would become insignificant. (But if so, that’s kind of patronizing on her part–white gal rides to the rescue of the black community, and all that.) YMMV, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2015, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-not-like-me-the-rachel-dolezal-story-in-the-news/722413/65 "2015-06-16T05:00:03Z")
> [@Chauve](#): > > Rachel Dolezal seems like one of those people who wants to be a surgeon or commercial airliner pilot or cop or whatever, but they’re disqualified from the job for some reason. They’re too set on their goal to take a lesser supporting role; so they study up on their own, get hold of a knock-off uniform, make up a fake resume, and get hired for that job anyway. My mileage is going to have to vary on that. There’s nothing Dolezal did that she wouldn’t have been able to do if she was known to be white. White people teach African American studies and hold leadership positions in the NAACP. Dolezal apparently had no need to be black; she just wanted to be seen as black. ---
**Author:** ![Chauve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5daacb/32.png) [@Chauve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chauve)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2015, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-not-like-me-the-rachel-dolezal-story-in-the-news/722413/66 "2015-06-16T05:21:26Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > My mileage is going to have to vary on that. There’s nothing Dolezal did that she wouldn’t have been able to do if she was known to be white. White people teach African American studies and hold leadership positions in the NAACP. Dolezal apparently had no need to be black; she just wanted to be seen as black. Depends on where you put the emphasis. I don’t think Dolezal is just some white gal who wanted to be black and who also just happened to stumble into a leadership position in the NAACP. She has a long history of litigation and claims of harassment, going back to when she sued a black university claiming they discriminated against her for being white. I think the leadership posts, the litigation, the harassment claims, etc. were all a part of it, to the point where she appears to have cooked up some of the harassment claims in order to smooth her path and keep her in the limelight. I don’t know exactly where wanting to be black comes into it; she could have done the same things in the white community. Look at Anne Coulter and her shit-stirring. But in Dolezal’s case I don’t think that it was enough just to be black. I think it was also important to be in charge; IOW, to hold a high-profile position in that community. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2015, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-not-like-me-the-rachel-dolezal-story-in-the-news/722413/67 "2015-06-16T08:39:17Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Anyone know what provoked her parents to out her? From the article **psychobunny** linked to: > [@](#): > > Rachel Dolezal’s father said they had not spoken publicly about their daughter’s race before because they had never been asked. > > “We had never been asked to be involved, we had never been questioned before, but just short of a week ago, we were contacted by the Coeur d’Alene Press,” Larry Dolezal said on the “Today” show. > > “I guess it was part of some investigative reporting that was being done and somehow they got wind of us as her parents as a possibility, so they contacted us to see if we were, in fact, her parents,” Larry Dolezal said. “We taught our children, as we raised all six of them, tell the truth, always be honest. So we weren’t going to lie; we told the truth: Rachel is our birth daughter.” ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2015, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-not-like-me-the-rachel-dolezal-story-in-the-news/722413/68 "2015-06-16T09:54:14Z")
As I posted in the other thread about Rachel she caused her own outing, the only reason her parents were contacted by the media was because she insisted the media investigate why the postal service wasn’t taking her hate crime case seriously, so a reporter contacted her parents with the claims she was making about how they beat her with a baboon whip which was also used in slavery. She claimed in a facebook post after the movie 12 Years A Slave came out her grandmother taught her how to make corn husk dolls featured in the movie as a child. Rachel claimed she received a racially threatening letter in her PO Box, USPS investigators realized it was not processed through the mail system and was instead put directly in the box which only someone with a key to it could do, at this point they dismiss the claim. Rachel gets upset and contacts the media, a reporter looks into the case and discovers 7 other supposed hate crimes when they contact the police. The reporter gets suspicious and digs up her parents, at this point her whole story collapses. IF she is just a cynical scammer, WHY would she do this? WHY cause your own downfall for no gain? I think she clearly lost a sense of reality. ---
**Author:** ![Chauve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5daacb/32.png) [@Chauve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chauve)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2015, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-not-like-me-the-rachel-dolezal-story-in-the-news/722413/69 "2015-06-16T10:07:23Z")
> [@grude](#): > > […] IF she is just a cynical scammer, WHY would she do this? WHY cause your own downfall for no gain? I think she clearly lost a sense of reality. A lot of these “wannabe” folks aren’t too bright. They’re very loose with the truth, obviously. They tell a lot of lies to buttress their egos and be the center of attention, and when people try to check up on the lies the “wannabe” tells even bigger lies to divert attention from the previous lie. It snowballs quickly. Sounds like Dolezal was also a victim of her own success. As long as she was a small fry, she could tell any BS story she wanted, and no one cared. But once she got into a position of real authority, people started doing some professional-level fact-checking into her manufactured claims, scams, and stories. Again, these “wannabe” folks aren’t too bright. Like the thing about the harassment letters in the mailbox without a PO marking on the stamp. Dolezal wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, obviously. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2015, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-not-like-me-the-rachel-dolezal-story-in-the-news/722413/70 "2015-06-16T11:18:52Z")
I think this chick is lacking both sanity and scruples. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2015, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-not-like-me-the-rachel-dolezal-story-in-the-news/722413/71 "2015-06-16T16:08:25Z")
> [@psychobunny](#): > > Given this [new information](http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/woman-at-center-of-naacp-case-sued-university-in-2002-said-it-favored-black-students/ar-BBlbKIA?ocid=DELLDHP) that while she was at Howard she sued them for racial discrimination claiming they favored black students over her, I’m going with opportunistic scum who knew exactly what she was doing. That article made me think she has a pathological need to play the victim and receive as much attention and sympathy as possible. Claiming to be a white victim of racism didn’t cut it so she went black. And she wasn’t content to just be black, she had to create stories about growing up in some primitive environment while being parented by Simon Legree. Not to mention all the hate crimes she supposedly experienced. It probably never occurred to her that the reporters would look into her background while investigating the story. I think that if she lost her sense of reality, she would have stuck to her story when the reporter confronted her with the picture of her real parents. She knew what she was doing. She just got away with the lies for so long that she was overconfident. ---
**Author:** ![Chauve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5daacb/32.png) [@Chauve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chauve)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2015, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-not-like-me-the-rachel-dolezal-story-in-the-news/722413/72 "2015-06-16T16:44:02Z")
> [@Omega\_Glory](#): > > That article made me think she has a pathological need to play the victim and receive as much attention and sympathy as possible. Claiming to be a white victim of racism didn’t cut it so she went black. And she wasn’t content to just be black, she had to create stories about growing up in some primitive environment while being parented by Simon Legree. Not to mention all the hate crimes she supposedly experienced. […] Wikipedia now has a page on Rachel Dolezal, and it suggests something similar: > [@](#): > > […] Dolezal has been described as “the most spectacular example of the growing phenomenon of people posing as victims” by English journalist Dominic Lawson, who describes this as a “consequence of a culture which portrays victimhood as a form of moral superiority”. […] > > [Rachel Dolezal - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Dolezal#Allegations_of_discrimination_and_hate_crimes) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2015, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-not-like-me-the-rachel-dolezal-story-in-the-news/722413/73 "2015-06-17T13:36:36Z")
I can see the movie coming: The _Rachel Dolezal Story_, staring Brittany Spears as Rachel. ---
**Author:** ![piepiepie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47774/32.png) [@piepiepie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/piepiepie)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2015, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-not-like-me-the-rachel-dolezal-story-in-the-news/722413/74 "2015-06-17T13:58:46Z")
Nah Jennifer Lawrence. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2015, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-not-like-me-the-rachel-dolezal-story-in-the-news/722413/75 "2015-06-17T14:10:43Z")
Actually, it will be a groundbreaking casting effort, where the role will be split between Brittany Spears and Wanda Sykes. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2015, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-not-like-me-the-rachel-dolezal-story-in-the-news/722413/76 "2015-06-17T14:16:44Z")
> [@Chauve](#): > > I think they figure that by the time they get outed, they’ll have distinguished themselves in the job to such an extent that no one will care if they told a white lie or two on the way in. I saw what you did there. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2015, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-not-like-me-the-rachel-dolezal-story-in-the-news/722413/77 "2015-06-17T16:49:40Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Actually, it will be a groundbreaking casting effort, where the role will be split between Brittany Spears and Wanda Sykes. How about Mariah Carey? We could make it a musical featuring several works by Michael Jackson! It will be a hit, I tell you! ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2015, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-not-like-me-the-rachel-dolezal-story-in-the-news/722413/78 "2015-06-18T16:15:15Z")
People pretend things for status reasons. On the streets of New York where money is you can buy fake Rolexes or fake Loius Vuitton, in Hollywood where youth and beauty are status people buy fake boobs and use botox, this woman sought a career in academia where victimhood is status so she fakes being black and fakes stories of discrimination and hate crimes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-not-like-me-the-rachel-dolezal-story-in-the-news/722413.md?page=3)