# Rachel Dolezal learns what life is really like for many blacks **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 27, 2017, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-dolezal-learns-what-life-is-really-like-for-many-blacks/780943 "2017-02-27T13:04:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-dolezal-learns-what-life-is-really-like-for-many-blacks/780943/61 "2017-02-28T19:32:12Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by \*\*cochrane \*\* > I have no problem if Schwarzenegger calls himself an American, since he became a citizen in 1983. > [@Shodan](#): > > But he’s been calling himself _schwarz_ a lot longer than that, and he still gets work. Schwarze-negger, please. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-dolezal-learns-what-life-is-really-like-for-many-blacks/780943/62 "2017-02-28T22:50:13Z")
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3rz1mps\_XM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3rz1mps_XM) Arnold explains about his name in this old David Letterman clip a little past the 3 minute mark apparently its pronounced like Schwarzen-egger, and means “Black Plowman” ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-dolezal-learns-what-life-is-really-like-for-many-blacks/780943/63 "2017-03-01T01:54:24Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > It’s never been clear to me why Dolezal should get a negative reaction from anyone, let alone generate glee through her setbacks. I’m with you. She had black siblings, identifies with black culture, had a child with a dark-skinned man, and she actually had a position working for the NAACP. She’s a bit odd, but she seems like someone who tried to do good? Yeah, maybe she’s a pathological liar. Or maybe her parents really did alienate her that much that she just gave up on being white. Maybe a bit of both. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-dolezal-learns-what-life-is-really-like-for-many-blacks/780943/64 "2017-03-01T02:02:13Z")
> [@Belowjob2.0](#): > > No big deal. She invents a backstory to fit in better. It’s common for newcomers to go all in when joining a group, an organization, a culture. Alleviating one’s insecurity, proving one’s loyalty, and so on. Yeah, a lot of Americans of different ethnic backgrounds have just decided to be “Italian.” Might actually be Albanian, or Jewish, or might do it even if they’re really black and Seminole and their last name is something like “Nelson.” It’s hard for me to grasp the sheer ignorance of black people who don’t know that racial identity is already pretty fluid for black Americans, and don’t get that a woman with a black child and a dark-skinned Haitian ward who is a pan-Africanist really can’t just “go back to being white” without ripping her heart out. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-dolezal-learns-what-life-is-really-like-for-many-blacks/780943/65 "2017-03-01T02:11:36Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > Schwarze-negger, please. It’s actually \*schwarzen-Egger. \*“Black ploughman,” roughly, though I think \*Egg \*is closer to “harrow” (the implement) than to “plow.” ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-dolezal-learns-what-life-is-really-like-for-many-blacks/780943/66 "2017-03-01T02:39:01Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > It’s actually \*schwarzen-Egger. \*“Black ploughman,” roughly, though I think \*Egg \*is closer to “harrow” (the implement) than to “plow.” Now you’re just egging them on. All this is making me remember when my paternal grandmother, an Austrian-American war bride who went from assisting _Wehrmacht_ doctors in surgery after _Anschluss_ to thinking young men were peering into her bathroom through solid walls, who was adamant that Schwarzenegger had become a _persona non grata_ in his home town. I mean, she left Europe right after the war and certainly didn’t travel often or call a lot when long-distance was expensive, that would have been wasting money, something she never, ever did. She simply _knew_. Saves money that way. Where was I going with this? Oh, yeah: Schwarzenegger never claimed to be a Schwarzen\*gger. The roid monkey’s not that delusional. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-dolezal-learns-what-life-is-really-like-for-many-blacks/780943/67 "2017-03-02T16:24:59Z")
> [@pool](#): > > **Really Not All That Bright** , two posters, said most black people have homes, maybe I read that too literally as have to mean possess I see that now, that may be factually incorrect, though the statistic I quoted may not be correct either. I just thought it was an interesting statistic, maybe deserving a thread of its own, I guess serious discussion in the pits usually go nowhere. But a lot of you read way too much into my post, implying a motive that is not there, I hope this post clears up the misunderstanding. So the term “homeless” includes those living on the streets along with everyone that lives in an apartment or other form of rental? Because, you know, they don’t own a home. :smack::rolleyes: Gimme a freaking break. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-dolezal-learns-what-life-is-really-like-for-many-blacks/780943/68 "2017-03-02T18:10:45Z")
And she is Rachel Dolezal no longer. Meet Nkechi Amare Diallo. No cashews of almonds with this one, just plain nuts. > **[Rachel Dolezal gets new African name](https://www.koin.com/news/rachel-dolezal-gets-new-african-name/)** > > Former Spokane, Washington, NAACP leader Rachel Dolezal, who resigned amid criticism that she was passing herself off as black, has changed her name to Nkechi Amare Diallo. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-dolezal-learns-what-life-is-really-like-for-many-blacks/780943/69 "2017-03-02T21:28:33Z")
I don’t think changing her name to something “African” is particularly nuts, given her cultural identification. Now, as for her cultural identity being nuts, how do you figure? If a man from Nigeria moves to Germany and decides to be “Gerhard Berger,” is that nuts? If he stayed in Nigeria, but was a student of German culture, and started answering to “Gerhard Berger,” would that be nuts? I’m not so sure. ---
**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-dolezal-learns-what-life-is-really-like-for-many-blacks/780943/70 "2017-03-02T21:57:30Z")
What cultural identification? The name is the pastiche of the Nigeria, of the Senegalese Peul… Your example is better if the Nigerian moves to London and decides to name himself Johnson François Bömer to sound “european”… ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-dolezal-learns-what-life-is-really-like-for-many-blacks/780943/71 "2017-03-02T21:59:18Z")
Cultural identity is fine. Just don’t lie about your past to get an advantage. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-dolezal-learns-what-life-is-really-like-for-many-blacks/780943/72 "2017-03-02T22:19:54Z")
She’s becoming another Espera Oscar de Corti. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-dolezal-learns-what-life-is-really-like-for-many-blacks/780943/73 "2017-03-02T22:33:10Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > I don’t think changing her name to something “African” is particularly nuts, given her cultural identification. > > Now, as for her cultural identity being nuts, how do you figure? If a man from Nigeria moves to Germany and decides to be “Gerhard Berger,” is that nuts? If he stayed in Nigeria, but was a student of German culture, and started answering to “Gerhard Berger,” would that be nuts? I’m not so sure. It’s clear that she’s changing her name because her birth name is now tainted. Not just because she identifies as black. But yes, if I met a black dude who 1) changed his name to completely erase his African-ness and 2)lied about his past to portray himself as a white European, then I would feel certain that he had some psychological issues, or at least some racial hang-ups. Do I think he’s a evil demon deserving of lifelong ridicule? No. But would such a person make me feel uncomfortable? Yes. Compulsive liars and exaggerators tend to have that effect on me. ---
**Author:** ![Belowjob2.0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-dolezal-learns-what-life-is-really-like-for-many-blacks/780943/74 "2017-03-02T22:34:48Z")
> [@Ramira](#): > > What cultural identification? > The name is the pastiche of the Nigeria, of the Senegalese Peul… > > Your example is better if the Nigerian moves to London and decides to name himself Johnson François Bömer to sound “european”… Some black Americans have done this very thing: taking new names that are in fact pastiches of different African ethncities that have no relation to each other. In general, most black Americans are as uninformed about Africa as other Americans. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-dolezal-learns-what-life-is-really-like-for-many-blacks/780943/75 "2017-03-03T00:26:35Z")
That fits her pan-Africanism, though. > **[Pan-Africanism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan-Africanism)** > > Pan-Africanism is a worldwide movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all indigenous and diasporas of African ancestry. Based on a common goal dating back to the Atlantic slave trade, the movement extends beyond continental Africans with a substantial support base among the African diaspora in the Americas and Europe. > Pan-Africanism can be said to have its origins in the struggles of the African people against enslavement and colonization and this struggle ma... And really, that’s not that strange for a North American name. Take “Donald John Trump”: Please! “Donald” is Scots, “John” is English from a Hebrew root, and “Trump” is some sort of continental German. All European, all “white,” but patched together sort of arbitrarily. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-dolezal-learns-what-life-is-really-like-for-many-blacks/780943/76 "2017-03-03T01:04:07Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Can’t she go back to being lead singer for Tears for Fears? > [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > And she is Rachel Dolezal no longer. > > Meet Nkechi Amare Diallo. > > No cashews of almonds with this one, just plain nuts. > [http://koin.com/2017/03/02/rachel-dolezal-gets-new-african-name/](http://koin.com/2017/03/02/rachel-dolezal-gets-new-african-name/) I wonder if is a coincidence that she took the same last name as the man who’s murder is symbolic of the modern era of completely unwarranted and extreme white-on-black violence. ---
**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-dolezal-learns-what-life-is-really-like-for-many-blacks/780943/77 "2017-03-03T01:12:46Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > That fits her pan-Africanism, though. > [Pan-Africanism - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan-Africanism) No it has not a thing to do with pan Africanism. In africa we are not taking random names from the different regions and religions and cultures and making random combination. perhaps it is the american afrocenrism, but that does not fit the stupid example you used. > [@](#): > > “Donald” is Scots, “John” is English from a Hebrew root, and “Trump” is some sort of continental German. All European, all “white,” but patched together sort of arbitrarily. north american meltiing pot of names is not the example you ignorantly used, it was of the Nigerian to German culture. > [@Green\_Bean](#): > > I wonder if is a coincidence that she took the same last name as the man who’s murder is symbolic of the modern era of completely unwarranted and extreme white-on-black violence. ?? ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-dolezal-learns-what-life-is-really-like-for-many-blacks/780943/78 "2017-03-03T02:18:06Z")
Sorry, Ramira. That was American-centric of me. In 1999, the New York City police fired 41 shots at an unarmed man named Amadou Diallo, landing 19 of them. The level of overkill is one of the things that made the case so remarkable. I think for many white Americans, Amadou Diallo’s murder really brought home how hazardous having brown skin it can truly be. > **[Killing of Amadou Diallo](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Amadou_Diallo)** > > In the early hours of February 4, 1999, an unarmed 23-year-old Guinean student named Amadou Diallo (born September 2, 1975) was fired upon with 41 rounds and shot a total of 19 times by four New York City Police Department plainclothes officers: Sean Carroll, Richard Murphy, Edward McMellon, and Kenneth Boss. Carroll later claimed to have mistaken him for a rape suspect from one year earlier. > The four officers, who were part of the now-defunct Street Crime Unit, were charged with second-degree... ---
**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:** [March 3, 2017, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-dolezal-learns-what-life-is-really-like-for-many-blacks/780943/79 "2017-03-03T02:28:47Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > I wonder if is a coincidence that she took the same last name as the man who’s murder is symbolic of the modern era of completely unwarranted and extreme white-on-black violence. I think it’s more symbolic of why so many people, of varying ideologies, dislike Dolezal. She’s taken the name the name of somebody who was killed by the police. But Dolezal was not killed by the police. She’s just trying to associate herself with somebody who experienced something she did not herself experience. And that’s been her whole adult life. Dolezal is not black. She never had to experience the problems that actual black people have experienced. She wants the mantle of victimhood without having to be a victim. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-dolezal-learns-what-life-is-really-like-for-many-blacks/780943/80 "2017-03-03T02:29:55Z")
BTW - I specified “modern era” because Emmett Till’s murder happened in 1955. > **[Emmett Till](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Till)** > > City of Oxford > Other localities > Emmett Louis Till (July 25, 1941 – August 28, 1955) was a 14-year-old African American boy who was abducted, tortured, and lynched in Mississippi in 1955, after being accused of offending a white woman, Carolyn Bryant, in her family's grocery store. The brutality of his murder and the fact that his killers were acquitted drew attention to the long history of violent persecution of African Americans in the United States. Till posthumously became an icon of the... It was recently revealed that the woman he supposedly flirted with admitted making it up. ETA: Little Nemo - good point [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-dolezal-learns-what-life-is-really-like-for-many-blacks/780943.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-dolezal-learns-what-life-is-really-like-for-many-blacks/780943.md?page=5)