We previously discussed the bizarre case of Rachel Dolezal, 37, the head of an NAACP chapter accused of lying by her own mother. Worse yet, some have suggested that Rachel Dolezal, who is the head of the NAACP’s chapter in Spokane, planted hate mail at her office. Now it appears that Dolezal once sued Howard University over discriminating against her for being white — before she claimed she was black. If true, it makes a truly bizarre story all the more bizarre.
Dolezal reportedly sued Howard for discrimination in 2002 when she graduated from the historically black college with a Master of Fine Arts degree. She was then known as Rachel Moore and sued Howard and Professor Alfred Smith, chairman of Howard’s Department of Art. The lawsuit is quoted as alleging “discrimination based on race, pregnancy, family responsibilities and gender.” She alleged that she was denied a teaching assistant post and that her application was rejected for a post-graduate instructorship in favor of African-American students. The lawsuit was dismissed by Judge Zoe Bush and Bush’s decision was upheld by the D.C. Court of Appeals. In addition to an order forcing her to pay a “Bill of Costs” of $2,728.50, she was ordered to pay the university nearly $1,000.00 in connection with an “obstructive and vexatious” court filing.
The unfolding background reveals a tragic obsession (and transformation) with race. That obsession would lead to the alleged falsification of information on government forms. It is also unclear whether this controversy will produce criminal charges.
Source: Smoking Gun
Howard is an HBCU (Historically Black College or University), and as such receives lucrative funding from the federal government’s HBCU Capital Financing Program. They were created during segregation prior to 1964. Congress did not specifically require them to continue to be majority black, likely at the time not conceiving of such a thing. As segregation ended, universities became mixed, and black colleges had to start admitting non-black students to fill the gap.
Some in Congress want to end this funding based solely on historical contribution, as most universities now offer financial assistance to the poor. In fact, since Bluefield State is now a predominantly white school, it makes no sense to continue granting extra funds because of historical contributions. We should deal in the present. I would much rather see funding to help with scholarships and research than, again, hyper focus on skin.
http://time.com/2907332/historically-black-colleges-increasingly-serve-white-students/
@BFM
Oh thank you!!! It is nice to hear that people enjoy the little poems! That is what makes them worth while to write.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
TinEar – I will try to contact Howard tomorrow to ask about their application. Considering their stated mission is to not discriminate on race, I would think they would be required to track the race of their applicants and students in order to keep track.
Karen – a lot of that information falls under the Buckley Amendment. You can ask if she graduated from there, when, what her degree was, but not her race (if I remember correctly).
TinEar:
You had me till this part:
“But nonetheless she felt she had been mistreated because she was white, so it was at that time, around 2007, he said, that she began to present herself as black in order to avoid further discrimination.” She claimed she was discriminated against by the preferentially black university. But had she graduated by 2007? Even if she still attended the school, they KNEW she was white, so no perm could fool them. Was she planning on pursuit a career helping minorities, and felt that she would be discriminated against as a white, while working against discrimination against minorities? We’re going to need a flow chart soon to keep track of her tangled reasoning.
Nick – what as her position on the commission and what was its purpose? I assume that since she’s been proven a complete liar, it might have an effect similar to a discredited scientist having all his prior expert testimony called into question. Was she on some type of oversight committee?
Dolezal gave an interview last year in which she called for the boycott of the film “Exodus.” She felt that white actors portraying black characters was offensive.
Someone should really do a follow up interview with Whoopi.
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2015/06/17/rachel-dolezal-called-for-boycott-exodus-film-due-to-white-actors-playing/?intcmp=latestnews
Karen – anybody remember when Whoopi dressed up in white-face and Ted Danson dressed up in black-face?
” What’s the punishment, that she has to resign from a volunteer position that she has already resigned from? Perhaps they could reinstate her and then fire her”
At this point I think she should leave the post one way or another and that should be the end of it.
But many government forms including forms for local government volunteer positions are signed under penalty of perjury. Just how mad at her are they anyway? Lets see she embarrassed the mayor who appointed her, possibly pissed off the police union to gain creds to sit on the Police Ombudsman committee, and might be making the local DA look week and ineffective when it comes to someone who just hustled and insulted a large minority community.
I think this will just blow over. But one never knows, do one?
Was her lawsuit against Howard pro se? It appears that with the lack of evidence, the missed deadline, and so forth, it’s a claim that never should have been brought. Either it was pro se or she had an utterly incompetent attorney.
@Barkindog
This is NOT the actual Complaint, but it is a link to the dismissal:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/bizarre/rachel-dolezal-discrimination-lawsuit-786451
On page 3, there is a red arrow which reveals the direction of her claim—she was white and African Americans got preference.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Nick: The City of Spokane is investigating her for an ETHICS violation? That’s a stupid waste of taxpayer money. What’s the punishment, that she has to resign from a volunteer position that she has already resigned from? Perhaps they could reinstate her and then fire her. LOL!
BarkinDog: she never claimed to be black when she attended an historically black Christian college in Mississippi – I think it was called Belflower or something like that. She then applied to Howard for graduate school. The Howard app does not ask for the applicant’s race. Howard and all other HBCs admit non-black students, although most of the students, of course, are black. According to her black adopted brother, she was interested in black culture while a black undergraduate, and married a black man, but she never claimed to be black either in college or while she attended Howard. He said she was treated well by blacks in Mississippi, but the trouble started went she moved to D.C. to attend Howard. Some of the student’s, and particularly the staff, he said, were very hostile to her. She had some of her art accepted for an exhibit, but when they found out she was white, they removed it and told her that a black student should get the exposure. They also withdrew her financial aid, which had been granted based on need, telling her that she probably has some white relatives who could pay her tuition. So it was after graduating from Howard she filed the lawsuit based on discrimination, but it was dismissed because she could not prove some of her claims and there was something else where she missed a filing deadline. But nonetheless she felt she had been mistreated because she was white, so it was at that time, around 2007, he said, that she began to present herself as black in order to avoid further discrimination. As far as the name change, that’s a non-issue. While married for 5 years, she used her husband’s name (Moore). After the divorce, she resumed use of her birth name (Dolezal) which is common in most divorce decrees these days.
Good discussion today. I saw the parents interviewed and they deny any excessive corporal punishment. Gee, I wonder who I’ll choose to believe?? Also, they have wisely decided to bow out of the media circus. the City of Spokane is investigating this fraudulent woman for ethics violation in regards to her position policing the Spokane Police. How would you like to have this liar presiding over your career?
The mayor of Spokane, Washington, has asked former NAACP official Rachel Dolezal to resign from a police oversight panel for conduct he called “unacceptable.”
Spokane hired a law firm in May to investigate a whistleblower complaint filed against Dolezal and two others, alleging workplace harassment and improper government action in their roles with the volunteer citizen Police Ombudsman Commission. The investigation found that the commissioners acted inappropriately.
@BFM : You cite Native Americans, but NAs are the ONLY group whose relationship with the U.S. government derives from treaty rights and is therefore a legally enforceable claim. To claim benefits as a NA, one must produce a certificate from the Dept of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, attesting that the individual is a member of a tribe recognized by the federal govt. Sure, if it’s just some form asking what race you consider yourself, or what race you identify with, you can put whatever you want. But at least with NAs, the govt knows who is and who is not entitled to govt benefits based on historical injustices. Not so with other groups. We have a steady influx of blacks from other countries who can claim affirmative action benefits intended to compensate the descendants of slaves. So if your parents are recent immigrant doctors from Nigeria or wherever, you can claim preferential treatment in hiring or college admissions, which is unfair to American blacks, as well as whites and Asian-Americans. Although it’s never going to happen, I would like to see AA benefits limited to blacks whose ancestors experienced slavery. Because if these benefits can go to someone who arrived in the U.S. last week, then they may as well go to Ms. Dolezal or anyone else, because the system has no legitimacy.
@TinEar: “…. NAs are the ONLY group whose relationship with the U.S. government derives from treaty rights and is therefore a legally enforceable claim. To claim benefits as a NA, one must produce a certificate from the Dept of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, attesting that the individual is a member of a tribe recognized by the federal govt.”
I believe you just demonstrated that social constructs have real effects such as military action, treaties, and legally enforceable entitlements.
Affirmative action is a very imperfect attempt to identify and mitigate the damage to a well defined group of people. The fact the group is well defined does not mean that we have techniques that make easy to determine who is in the group and who is not in the group.
Further, there may be few or no legal penalties for making use of an affirmative action program regardless of one’s background.
Nevertheless, it seems to me that in some cases we can identify someone who is clearly not a part of the target group for affirmative action and has not suffered to damages of racism. It those cases, I see no reason why the individuals and the public should not give voice their point of view – which is frequently negative.
I see no reason to believe that the fact that the affirmative action programs are imperfect implies that anyone who chooses should step up and help themselves. On the contrary, If one has not been damaged by a history of slavery, Jim Crow, and other systematic racism I see no reason why that person should claim the support to minimize that damage. The fact that the programs do not have strong enforcement mechanisms does not change my view on that point.
” We have a steady influx of blacks from other countries who can claim affirmative action benefits intended to compensate the descendants of slaves. ”
That is an interesting point. In other comments,I have also described the target population of affirmative action programs as the descendants of slaves. However, if we were to actually look at the programs we might find the programs are intended to more broadly mitigate damage to victims of racism as well as the descendants of slaves. I am not sure. But racism continues to affect many individuals (what should we say?) of color regardless of their ancestral connection to slavery in the US.
I don’t think there are many clear answers. One of the few points of clarity, to me, is that Rachel Dolezal is not in the target population for affirmative action. Having said that we ought to point out: 1) we don’t know that she used affirmative action, 2) we may have a right to ask but she may not have an obligation to answer whether she did or did not, 3) even the administrators of affirmative action programs may have no obligation to answer to the general public 4) even if Rachel gamed the system there may be no penalty or meaningful response.
I went onto the Pacer.gov website and tried to find the Complaint filed by Rachel Moore against Howard University. I could not get the Complaint but the Ct of Appeals documents show that she alleged that she was White. So she is now estopped by written sworn statement and by judgment from denying she is White or claiming she is Black. She needs to be sued for fraud by those who work or control the NAACP where she just was employed. Those in the media on CNN need to stick this Complaint in her face and ask Rachel Moore to explain her name change and her race change. Next she will claim to have a weeny and change her name to Bruce Jenner.
DBQ – I love the complex nuances of Japanese etiquette. I’ve read that this extremely specialized behavior is eroding among the younger generations.
And I agree with you that her “self identifying” as a black person was not a harmless eccentricity if she used it to cheat to get ahead.
In my previous post, I listed how 8% of men who live in the area that used to be Genghis Khan’s empire have identical Y chromosomes. And yet the rates of education are quite different among the nomad Mongolians and their closest neighbors, because there are different cultural and lifestyle pressures on those similar genes.
@Karen S: “In my previous post, I listed how 8% of men who live in the area that used to be Genghis Khan’s empire have identical Y chromosomes.”
Sooo…. Genghis really used to get around? What ever else they say about Genghis, he had his charms and a way about him.
Skin color is an adaptation to optimize vitamin D production and sun protection. We need more sun to get through to make enough vitamin D in the north unless we eat enough fish to supplement. (That’s why Native Eskimos did not need to lose as much of the melanin in their skin.) In Africa, there is intense pressure for sun protection. In a land where sunscreen use is rare, albinism is an especially cruel disease. Without that inherent protection, sufferers develop cancer, vision problems, and other health issues.
I see the combination of different skin colors as well as the differences that arose from isolation of a population, such as the different characteristics of Japanese, Chinese, and Mongolians, to be beautiful variety.
I do not believe that an entire culture has better or worse inherent, hardwired skills than another, although talents often run in families. The multigenerational family of physicians can be at a loss when an artistic child pops up who just wants to be creative. There can be cultural emphasis on education that are much more pronounced in one region than another. (The intense pressure on Chinese students, for example.)
Detroit is a classic nature vs nurture experiment. Black and white kids raised in the same tough, inner city environment with similar family structures have similar outcomes as far as poverty, drug use, incarceration, etc.
Race is not a social construct. Race is a biological issue. Culture and ethnic identity are social constructs.
Choosing to identify as an ethnic cultural Afro American or identify with the Japanese culture, living, breathing even emulating the look of that culture or ethnicity is possible. Lots of people do it all the time and there is nothing wrong with finding a culture or ethnicity that appeals to you and adhering to it.
Culture is not race. Ethnicity is not race.
What this dimwit did was to try to become an ethnic African American (which again is not a terrible thing) What she also did, which was bad, was to lie about her biological status and use that as a tool to gain for herself and to club others with. She is a faker and a liar.
I am very drawn to the Japanese culture. The art, the food, the older traditions. I grew up around Japanese in my elementary and high school years and had some close friends who were Japanese. I learned much from them. Even if I decided to abandon my own ethnic and cultural traditions and live as a Japanese woman and be accepted by the Japanese community, I would never ever be able to actually become a biological Asian person. That would be living a lie.
@BFM
Oh, I am busy being a new kitten-mommy. One of my friends found him on a busy street a few days ago, sooo she brought him to me. He is just such a handful! He doesn’t hardly slow down for a minute. He’s into the round ring with the ball, and then the feathers, then the Mr. Mousy On The String, and in my lap, and out. Then he’s getting hissed at by the other cats. Then hopping on the laptop. But I did an Irish Poem on her the other day:
Hue And Cry???
An Irish Poem by Squeeky Fromm
There once was a woman named Rachel,
Who appeared very white by her facial.
But she made lots of dough
With her phony Afro- – –
Is this what they mean by “buy-racial”???
Sooo, I did another one for her “Rachel Moore” name, but it was a tad naughty so I didn’t post it. Plus, I had to use the British term “lift”, which is unfamiliar to a lot of people. But here it is, since you asked. . .
Shaft???
An Irish Poem by Squeeky Fromm
There once was a lady named Moore
My God! What a crazy a$$ wh—!
Like day and like night,
She’s black, and then white. . .
Her “lift” doesn’t reach the top floor!
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Kitties must be your muse. You seem to be in rare form today.
DBQ – you got me. I was supposed to use the genus species classification.
It’s true. We all belong to the same race according to the biological definition.
Actually……
We all belong to the same species. “a group of living organisms consisting of similar individuals capable of exchanging genes or interbreeding. The species is the principal natural taxonomic unit, ranking below a genus and denoted by a Latin binomial, e.g., Homo sapiens” Homo is the genus. Sapiens is the species. If we can find some others in the genus homo, like maybe Big Foot, then we would have another species classification.
Like dogs which are a classed as genus Canis, the species lupus and subspecies familiaris. Within the sub species of Dog we have various breeds. Dogs which can breed with each other but which have distinctly different biological characteristics. Shepherds, Bull Dogs, Toy Poodles, Chihuahuas. All off these are the same sub species. As a species….wolves can breed with the sub species.
Humans are not above the laws of nature or biology. We are a species and can breed with each other. However to deny that there are not “breeds” or races of homo sapiens, is to deny science.
When the races were more isolated from each other by sheer distance and inability to interbreed, the differences between the races was more pronounced visibly and biologically and morphologically. Isolation of groups who tended to breed only with each other. The races were evolved to deal with the environmental challenges of each isolated population. This is why those who come from sub Sahara Africa are different than those who come from the Arctic or those who inhabit areas of Asia. With the rise of civilization and mobility, the breeds or races have become more interbreed and eventually the concept of breed or race will be an obsolete construct. Interbreeding is a good thing and will gradually erase the demarcations between homo sapiens groups.
Until then, to deny that race or breed exists is basically sticking your head in the sand.
It is not racist to note that some dogs are better at running (greyhounds) and others at digging (rat terriers) and others at being able to track prey (bloodhounds and pointers). It isn’t racist to note that some breeds of human also have different skill sets. You don’t even need to see the person to determine some of the racial characteristics. A skeleton will suffice.
Gender is also a biological truth that we can’t just wish away. Men and women are different. Not interchangeable.
Science. Evolution. Genetics. Facts. Sorry they may not fit into people’s fantasy perception of how they wish the world would be.